Golden Gaytime Cake

So I’ve finally gotten around to posting my first recipe… I said to Sunny that maybe we should rename the blog Sunny with a chance of Clouds! Anyway, here is the recipe  to the now infamous Golden Gaytime Cake, which proved quite a hit at the birthday party of a dear friend of Sunny’s and mine a little while ago. The main problem with baking this cake for an event is that there just won’t be any leftovers to take home and eat for breakfast!

I first saw this amazing cake recipe at the Tinman’s Treats, however I decided to take his ingenious idea one step further and make the Golden Gaytime Cake (GGC) even more decadent – transforming the caramel butter cream into a salted caramel cream cheese filling, making the frosting extra chocolatey and substituting diced Maltesers for the original sliced malt biscuits on top. I also served it with extra salted caramel sauce for very happy taste buds and sad, sad arteries.

Butter cakes

• 1 ½ cups SR flour
• ½ cup plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 150g chopped and softened unsalted butter
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 large free range eggs at room temp.
• 1/3 cup sour cream or plain yoghurt
• 2/3 cup milk or buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 150 °C fan-forced and grease two 20cm shallow cake tins.
2. Combine flours and salt in a bowl, set aside.
3. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy (could take up to five minutes but be patient!).
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well incorporated each time. Then add sour cream or yoghurt and beat until just combined.
5. Sift half the flour mix into the bowl and then pour in half the milk. Beat until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk. Don’t overbeat!
6. Pour mixture evenly between the two tins and bake them for about 35-40 minutes or until they are golden and spring back when touched in the middle. Allow cakes to cool in pans before turning out.

 

Caramel cream cheese filling

• 150g cream cheese, softened
• 50g butter, softened
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 6 tablespoons salted caramel (I made my own from an improvised recipe similar to this one, but you could also use store bought or just add a pinch of salt to Top n Fill caramel)

1. Beat butter and cream cheese together until well combined before adding the icing sugar slowly.
2. Once well combined, add the caramel – you can put in as much or as little as you want to get the consistency and flavour just right.
3. Feel free to add an extra pinch of salt or a teaspoon of vanilla extract if you think the filling needs it. If the filling seems a bit too wet for spreading between the cakes, refrigerate until it firms up a bit, and as a last resort add more icing sugar. If it’s too stiff, add more caramel (yum!) or a teaspoon of milk.

Extra chocolatey chocolate frosting

• 200g butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups icing sugar
• 200g dark chocolate, melted but at room temperature (NOT hot!)

1. Beat butter and sugar together until just combine.
2. While beating on a low speed, add melted chocolate until just combined.
3. If the mix seems too wet, refrigerate so that it firms up a little or add some more icing sugar. If you want the mix even more chocolatey, beat in some cocoa powder.

Malteser Topping

• 1 jumbo packet of Maltesers (280g)

1. Using a sharp knife and a large chopping board, cut the Maltesers into quarters and place in a bowl. Yes, this is time consuming, but eating the odd piece should help you through it! Although they don’t all have to be quarters – some halves are fine – taking the time to chop them nicely now (rather than just smashing them with a mallet) will really improve the overall presentation of the GGC at the end. Remember to store these pieces in an airtight container until you put them on the cake!

Assembly

1. To assemble the GGC, spread a thick layer of the caramel cream cheese filling on each butter cake before sandwiching them together. Don’t be stingy as this cake is all about extravagance – aim for a 2cm thick layer of filling.
2. Cover the sandwiched caked with a generous layer of chocolate frosting, spreading it all the way down the sides with a large butter knife.
3. Sprinkle thechopped Maltesers all over the cake, pressing them down lightly into the frosting so they stay in place. To coat the sides of the cake, get a big handful of Malteser pieces and gently – lovingly – slap them into place. Mmm how very Nigella 😉
4. Keep the GGC in an airtight container in the fridge until it’s needed. Let the cake come to room temperature before serving so the chocolate frosting glistens and the filling is softened and ready to melt in your mouth!