Malted Hot Chocolate Cake for £1
This quick and easy malted hot chocolate cake is not only a frugal one, but it’s delicious too. It’s made with drinking chocolate and Horlicks for flavour and includes both free range eggs and organic sunflower oil. The ingredients cost less than £1 and it produces a decent sized 8″ (20cm) round cake.
When I set this month’s We Should Cocoa challenge to make a chocolate cake for £1, I really wasn’t at all sure I would be able to do it. Many of the ingredients I use in baking are organic and thus relatively expensive. The chocolate, butter and eggs required for an 8″ round cake cost more than this alone. I knew I was going to have to compromise, but I still wanted it to taste good. Luckily, this malted hot chocolate cake was my second attempt at the challenge, so I knew I could do it.
I went off to our local co-op and costed up some possible ingredients. There was no doubt about it, the butter would have to go. As for the chocolate, I had a cunning plan! I would use drinking chocolate with just a smidgen of my Green & Black’s cocoa powder to give it some oomph.
I was very lucky to pick up some real free range organic eggs from a farm shop recently that only cost 60p per half dozen – I normally pay twice that amount. I’d also recently bought five large bananas for £1 so figured I might be able to use one of those for added flavour. Then of course there was my dandelion honey that cost very little to make – things were looking up.
The question was, did I make a chocolate cake with eggs and without a banana (I couldn’t manage both) or did I make a vegan chocolate banana cake? Well I did both of course.
Malted Hot Chocolate Cake for £1
- 190g plain flour – 15p
- 100g golden caster sugar – 17p
- 40ml organic sunflower oil – 12p
- 30g drinking chocolate – 17p
- 1 tsp G&B cocoa powder – 3p
- 20g Horlicks – 13p
- 2 x organic eggs – 20p
- 1 tsp baking powder + pinch of rock salt – 2p
- 180 ml water – 0p
Grand Total = 99p
I managed to get both cakes within the £1 budget and felt inordinately pleased with myself for doing so. Both cakes were good, but the banana chocolate vegan honey cake was splendid. It was bigger, had more flavour and a better texture. Actually, it reminded me of a banana version of sticky gingerbread. It was so good in fact, I think it might become my go to banana cake – what a revelation.
CT tasted them both blind and detected the respective Horlicks and banana flavours; he thought that despite the difference in textures, both were chocolatey and tasty. The banana was light and fluffy in his opinion and the malted cake was firmer and CT reckoned redolent of childhood birthday party chocolate cakes.
Other Malted Bakes You Might Like
- Chocolate malted loaf cake
- Malted choc chip cookies
- Malted chocolate bundt cake
- Malteser cake
- Malty superfood bars
- Wholemeal & rye malted bread loaf
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this malted hot chocolate cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Malted Hot Chocolate Cake – The Recipe
Malted Hot Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 190 g plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 30 g drinking chocolate
- 20 g Horlicks
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch fine sea or rock salt
- 100 g golden caster sugar
- 40 ml sunflower oil
- 2 eggs
- 180 ml water
Instructions
- Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir in the sugar.
- Beat the eggs with the oil and water.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and slowly add the liquid stirring gently as you go until all is just mixed.
- Pour batter into a prepared 20cm (8″) cake tin or mould and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Leave to cool for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
Of the two cakes I made, my entry to the #WeShouldCocoa £1 Chocolate Cake challenge is the Banana Chocolate Vegan Honey Cake. I’m really quite excited to see what others have come up with.
This malted hot chocolate cake also goes to Credit Crunch Munch which is being guest hosted by Gingey Bites. I’m not sure the credit for a chocolate cake can be crunched much more than this.
Vanesther of Banger’s & Mash participated in the Live Below the Line Challenge, so has come up with Cheap and Cheerful for this month’s Family Foodies event. My cakes fit the bill perfectly. This event is co-hosted by Lou over at Eat Your Veg.
Made from scratch and made with love, I am also submitting these cakes to Javelin Warrior’s Made with Love Mondays.
Both of these cakes only took 20 minutes to knock up, but as the banana and honey cake has a nice sticky texture, I reckon it is the more dessert like of the two. Served warm with some custard or cold with clotted cream, it would be even more delicious. Normally hosted by Sarah of Maison Cupcake, Dead Easy Desserts is being guest hosted this month by Tina of The Spicy Pear.
I love that you did both. Obviously 🙂 I’ve got friends coming round for tea tomorrow afternoon so I will be making mine then (it’s up to 82p so far!)
Thanks Rachel. I was so impressed with the 2nd cake, I’m making a gluten and sugar free version right now for CCC.
What a fabulously frugal pair of chocolate cakes – you are so clever! Great entries for this month’s Family Foodies ‘cheap and cheerful’ challenge. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Thanks Vanesther – I think you are the real hero in this saga. £1 a day for all food and drink is really hard.
Love the idea of a chocolate honey cake – what a bargain!
Haha, yes indeed CC 🙂
Wow, well done Choclette, that was a job and a half working that out I bet. I would never have thought it possible to make chocolate cake for so little.
Thanks Jac, I surprised myself.
How very creative- I love it. Can you please apply for a job as the chancellor?
Haha, Bintu – not sure how people would take to my austerity measures, but it’s hard to believe I could do a worse job. There might, of course, be chocolate cake for all!
wow you did well, you created a bargain cake haha! x
Even two bargain cakes Chloe 😉
It’s so true – with all the organic options and differing levels of quality for everything from flour to chocolate, baking your own cake can be a little pricey :/ And once you start talking imported chocolate and premium butter, then there’s most certainly a hefty price tag. These two cakes are a wonderful option for decadence on a budget!
Thanks JW – it’s really interesting when you start looking into the details.
Ooooo well done you! The cheaper the cake the better, helps that it tastes good too!
Thanks Latoyah, cheap isn’t always good, but luckily it was in this case 😉
The Malted Chocolate Cake really captures my interest! I love that!
Thank you. I’m a big fan of malted anything – especially Maltesers 😉
AMAZING! You’re a legend, Chocs.
Haha, thanks Kate 😉
“banana version of sticky gingerbread” sounds absolutely delicious! I think it would definitely be my preferred choice too. Pretty impressive that it only took £1 to make, as chocolate has become very expensive nowadays.
Thanks Tina and yes, I do worry about the price of chocolate, but it looks as though it is set to go up even more soon 🙁
Very creative use of drinking chocolate with added G&B to make it taste more chocolately! So great to see you achieved 2 cakes on that tight budget – very jealous of your organic 10p eggs! I’m excited to see how my brownies fit alongside your cakes and all the rest as part of the challenge!
Thanks Ceri. I was particularly lucky with those eggs and it was good timing. Sadly it doesn’t really warrant a 120 mile round trip to get any more. I’m looking forward to the round-up too.
Wow, two cakes! I love chocolate and banana together. Is Horlicks just a malt powder?
I know, showing off really! Yes Horlicks is a malt powder – tastes like maltesers.
I love how this has all been done for under £1 – very creative 🙂
Thanks Dannii, it was a fun thing to try and do – very satisfying somehow.
Amazing that you can make this lovely cake for 0.99p .It looks so moist.
Thanks Nayna – the secret is water 😉
I’m definitely going to bake the banana one, but I’m wondering what to use as a substitute for malt vinegar? I don’t have one, can I use apple cider vinegar?
Any vinegar will be fine Anna. Normally I would use cider vinegar, but for the purposes of this challenge malt vinegar is cheaper.
Great challenge, well done! The banana one sounds very tasty, and also seems very easy to make.
Thanks Felicity. One of the joys of these cakes is that they are really speedy to put together – win win 😉
I’ve been thinking about my £1 chocolate cake and realized that oil instead of butter is probably the way to go. Well done on two chocolate cakes – you’ve set the bar very high for this month!
Thanks Ness. Yes using oil was one of the compromises I had to make, but I surprised myself with how well it worked.
I didn’t think it is possible. Very impressive.
Thanks Galina. I surprised myself – didn’t think it would be possible either!
wow C you did it… TWICE!… you little show-off!… I love the sound of the banana one, that’s a great ingredient for a chocolate cake and I bet it kept it beautifully moist. That’s a recipe I will be ‘borrowing’ in the future… SUCH a brilliant challenge this month C, well done!
Hehe Dom, it’s my challenge and I’ll show off if I want to. The banana cake is a REAL winner, I had no idea it was going to be so good.
Thank you for these wonderful chocolate cake recipes, I’m particularly drawn the the banana one – another fabulous entry for Credit Crunch Munch:-)
Thanks Camilla. Much as I love the flavour of malt I was won over by the fabulous texture of the banana cake.
Brilliant cakes for that price, I think I would prefer the Banana version, I just really don’t like the taste of Horlicks and if it can be detected that would be a no-no for me. But chocolate cakes of that size and quality for a pound each – WOW!!
Thanks Sue. It would be the banana for you then – although there isn’t a great deal of Horlicks in there, it can be detected.
Fantastic! Very creative indeed; loving this WSC cocoa challenge and I do have a recipe to share once I get around to baking it! I’m spending more time writing about food these days than I am making it!
Thanks Elizabeth. Now that sounds like a very familiar state of affairs. I look forward to seeing what you bake when you find time to do it 😉
I’m seriously impressed Choclette! Very creative. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else produces for the challenge
Thanks Jo, me too 🙂
I’m seriously impressed! Especialky by the banana version. Such tasty looking outcomes that I would never guess how little they cost x
Thanks Denna. I’m not sure I’d believe it either if I was presented with a slice of either of these cakes. I wasn’t at all sure I would be able to manage it.
Excellent use of limited resources to produce some very fine looking cakes. I’m not sure that I could find good eggs for that price though. I’d better make friends with someone who keeps chickens.
Yes Phil, I struck lucky with that batch of eggs which I bought over the border. I took full advantage and came home with a couple of dozen.
Very nice chocolate cakes. I do love chocolate. Blessings, Catherine
Thank you Catherine – chocoholics does seem to be rather addictive 😉
I’ll be on this tomorrow! Trying generic nutella! I’ll let you know xx
Ahh, that’s a good idea. I’ve made brownies before that were just nutella, flour and egg.
The chocolate cake looks so light and fluffy, and you used G&B yum! 🙂
Thanks. The banana cake was light and fluffy, less so the malted one.
Both cakes have turned out great! I like the one with banana slightly more.
Thanks Angie – I think I do too 🙂
Choc, you are a genius. Two cakes for £1 each. I love this as a theme for WSC.
Thanks Kath – keep the accolades coming 😉