Peppermint Crisp Traybake

A delicious chocolate and caramel cake topped off with a peppermint crisp frosting

FOR THE CHOCOLATE AND CARAMEL MARBLE CAKE

• 40ml vegetable oil
• 140g salted butter
• 150g muscovado sugar
• 40g golden syrup
• 165g self-raising flour
• 35g malted milk powder (horlicks)
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 4 large eggs
• 45ml milk
• 2 teaspoons cocoa powder, mixed with about 1 teaspoon boiling water

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celcius. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper. It is important to do this properly, especially if using a shallow tin. To do this, line the base but also the sides with baking paper, which comes up about 5cm higher than the tin as the cake does rise a fair bit. This creates a collar and prevents the cake from sinking.
2. Place the butter, oil, muscovado sugar, golden syrup, self-raising flour, malted milk powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
3. In a separate jug, add in the eggs, milk and vanilla essence. Whisk by hand for about 30 seconds.
4. Pour a third of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix for about 30 seconds, then the next third and mix for 30 seconds and then the final third of the eggs and milk.
5. Then add in the remaining wet ingredients and mix on medium speed until the batter comes together and becomes voluminous, about 1 minute more. Do not worry if the batter looks slightly curdled.
6. In a larger bowl than you will need, add in the cocoa powder and boiling water and mix. The paste will be quite thick but do not worry. Then add in about two tablespoons of batter and mix with the cocoa. This makes mixing the rest of the batter easier. Add about a third of the batter into the bowl and mix to give it a slight chocolate tint.
7. Add half the caramel batter into the tin, then half the chocolate batter in between the caramel batter and repeat with the remaining caramel batter.
8. Bake for 45 – 55 minutes, checking on the cake at about 20 minutes. The milk powder in the recipe can cause it to darken so to avoid this, cover it with a bit of foil and continue to bake.
9. Once out of the oven, let the cake rest for 15 minutes before removing from the tin and letting it cool completely. If the top has domed slightly, trim that off so that it sits flat. Frost the cake only once completely cool.

FOR THE PEPPERMINT CRISP FROSTING

• 75g butter
• 75g mascarpone
• 150g tinned caramel
• 45ml whipping cream

• 1 Tablespoon of tinned caramel mixed with 1 tablespoon whipping cream
• 2 – 3 bars peppermint crisp chocolates
• mini tennis biscuits

METHOD

1. To make the icing beat the sugar for a few minutes until pale and fluffy. Then add in the mascarpone and tinned caramel and beat until everything just comes together. Finally, add in the whipping cream and beat until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Be careful not to overbeat or the mix can curdle.
2. Chop up two bars of the peppermint crisp chocolate and fold it into this cream and use it to frost the cake.
3. Then heat the 1 tablespoon of peppermint crisp tart and whipping cream together until everything is mixed together. Add this randomly in between the frosting and swirl for a marble effect.
4. Finally, chop up half of the third bar of peppermint crisp chocolate and add sprinkle it on top, finishing off with mini tennis biscuits if you like.

Recipe by adventureswithsugar.com