Lily O?Brien?s Mega Milk Chocolate Cake

The only thing better than a chocolate cake is a mega milk chocolate cake. This sponge cake with buttercream chocolate frosting is hard to beat. The sponginess and the decadent flavours of authentic chocolate come together for a genuine treat!

This beauty is the ultimate chocolate cake for get-togethers, birthdays and dinner parties. We?re also making the cake from scratch with the best chocolate online Ireland has to offer, Lily O?Brien?s. Put on your apron and get ready to make a massive cake with endless layers of chocolatey flavour; this is the Mega Milk Chocolate Cake recipe.

Put on your apron and get ready to make a massive cake with endless layers of chocolatey flavour; this is the Mega Milk Chocolate Cake recipe.?

Table of Contents

What Makes a Milk Chocolate Cake Great?

I?ve sure you?ve tried dozens if not hundreds of chocolate cakes in your life. So, what makes a chocolate cake great?

For starters, a chocolate cake must be spongy but a bit compact. You want the bread to be moist. You also want lots of flavour and not just brown-coloured bread. You must feel the chocolate in every bite, and not just in the frosting.?

Talking about frostings, a good frosting makes the cake. Store-bought, instant frostings are nice, but they?re rarely amazing. You must make yours for scratch.

The last thing to consider is the quality of the chocolate. It does make the difference. Lily O?Brien?s is amongst the best chocolate online Ireland chocolatiers use for projects like this one.?

What do You Need to Make a Milk Chocolate Cake?

For this recipe, we?re using relatively few ingredients. You?ll need unsalted butter for the cake, both for the batter and to grease the tin. You?ll also need golden caster sugar, granulated sugar made with beets or unrefined sugar. The recipe also calls for eggs, cocoa powder, self-rising flour and a splash of milk.?

The buttercream frosting is special too. Here?s where we?re using the premium chocolate ? Lily O?Brien?s Mega Milk Chocolate along with unsalted butter and icing sugar. The best part? The frosting is super easy to put together.

How to Make Lily O?Brien?s Mega Milk Chocolate Cake

Although you?ll find the complete recipe for Lily O?Brien?s Mega Milk Chocolate Cake, here?s a quick rundown of what we?ll be doing.

The first step is preheating the oven and greasing the cake tins. Then it?s time to cream the butter with the sugar. In another bowl, we?re combining the dry ingredients: the cocoa powder and the flour. Once we combine the butter mixture with the flour mixture, the eggs come in, and you get yourself a sweet, chocolate-scented batter.

Then we?re baking the cakes, which gives us enough time to prepare the buttermilk frosting. Assembling the cake is the fun part. Things might get a bit messy, but you want to use all the frosting ? with these things, the more, the better!

Tips for the Perfect Chocolate Cake?

This recipe calls for two 18-cm sandwich tins because we want a thick frosting layer in the middle, but if you?re confident in your serrated knife skills and have only one regular cake tin, you can cut the cake in half for similar results.
Let the cake cool down before adding the frosting, it?s still pretty much butter, and you don?t want it to melt while applying!
Store the finished cake in the fridge before serving; it will stiffen up the buttercream a bit and give it a nice chill.?
Source your premium chocolate online Ireland delivered through Lily O?Brien?s. It?s just fantastic chocolate!

Variations and Substitutions

This chocolate cake is absolutely delicious, but you can still make it yours with some easy substitutions.?
For starters, you can always add a teaspoon of instant espresso to the batter while adding the cocoa powder for a nice mocha flavour. You can also add coffee to the buttercream.
Decorate the cake with chocolate shavings, crushed chocolate cookies or chocolate chips. The more chocolate, the better.?
Strawberries are pretty garnishes, too and will add some contrast and freshness to the creaminess in the chocolate throughout the cake.
Why settle with a classic chocolate sponge cake when you can take it to the next level? Your friends and family will certainly appreciate the effort! Let?s check out the recipe and make some chocolate cake.?

Mega Milk Chocolate Cake Recipe

Cake Ingredients

175g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing the tin

175g golden caster sugar?

3 large eggs

50g cocoa powder

100g self-rising flour

1-2 tsp milk

Buttercream ingredients

50g Lily O?Brien?s Mega Milk Chocolate?

85g unsalted butter

175g icing sugar, sifted

Method

Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Grease with butter and line two 18-cm sandwich tins with baking parchment.
Using an electric mixer, beat the unsalted butter and golden caster sugar together in a bowl until creamy and light in colour. Then add 1 egg while still mixing.
Sieve the cocoa powder, self-rising flour and a pinch of salt into another bowl, stir to combine and add a third of this to your wet mixture.
Once combined, add 1 more egg and another third of the flour mixture, then add the last egg and the remaining flour and beat until you have a smooth, thick batter.
Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and smooth out to the edges with the back of a spoon.
Bake for 20-25 mins until springy to the touch. Take out of the oven and leave to cool a little in the tins for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the buttercream by melting the chocolate in the microwave, using 20-second bursts, leave to cool.
Beat the softened unsalted butter and half of the icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the remaining icing sugar and melted chocolate and mix everything together.
To assemble the cake, place your first cake on the plate or cake stand you would like to use, then spread the top with half the icing, leaving a 1cm border around the edge.
Place your second cake on top in line with your first, push down gently, and then spread the remaining icing over the top.

For more easy baking recipes using Lily O?Brien?s Chocolate visit our Chocolate Blog and source your premium chocolate in Ireland from our online store!