Milk Duds. Abba Zaba bars. Sugar Daddies. Atomic Fireballs. (Atomic Fireballs?! Yikes!)
Candy memories and Retro Candy. Who knew it was a thing? I didn’t.
But, then, I recently came across this recipe for a Banana Cake With Malted Milk Ball Garnish. Malted Milk Balls! I hadn’t thought about malted milk balls for decades. Back in the day, though, they were a decadent pleasure I enjoyed a lot; that smooth chocolaty goodness always promised the sweet crunch of the malted milk ball that lay below.
So, I made the cake and thoroughly enjoyed it. The recipe is from Snackable Bakes by Jessie Sheehan. Her book is available at your local bookstore or on Amazon here.
Reacquainting myself with malted milk balls got me to thinking about all those olde time candies that have disappeared or almost disappeared. I discovered that there is an Internet site to address those candy cravings of one’s youth: Old Time Candy. The site allows you to sort candy by the decade it was popular and to order decade-focused packs of candy. As I read through the lists of candies, I quickly realized that candy is not only a gustatory experience but a reflection of the history and even the propaganda of the times. For example, in the 1930s, people (who could afford candy) were eating a bit of optimism when they enjoyed 5th Avenue Bars and Good News Candy Bars. During the anxiety-driven 1950s of my youth, the candy story sometimes took a dark turn with candies like Atomic Fireballs, Sugar Daddies and those Bubble Gum Cigars that encouraged kids to mimic their tobacco-loving elders. (For my part, I can’t help but wonder what PR genius thought up atomic fireballs anyway? I still remember those scary drills where we hid under our desks at Long Beach Wilson High School to practice what to do in the event of a Russian nuclear attack.)
Here is the Banana Cake With Malted Milk Ball Garnish recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Banana Cake With Malted Milk Ball Garnish
Ingredients
- For the Cake:
- 1/2 C. unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
- 2/3 C. light brown sugar
- 2 t. vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1/4 C. buttermilk (I used buttermilk reconstituted from buttermilk powder--saves keeping that carton of buttermilk in your refrigerator forever)
- 1 C. mashed bananas (about 3 medium size bananas)
- 1 t. baking soda
- 1/2 t. kosher salt
- 1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
- For the Frosting:
- 1/4 C. unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 4 oz. cream cheese (at room temperature)
- 1/4 t. kosher salt
- 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 C. powdered sugar
- 1/4 C. Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used King Arthur Baking brand)
- 1/4 C. malted milk powder (Again, I used King Arthur brand)
- For Garnish
- Crushed malted milk balls and whole ones
Directions
- Step 1 Grease an 8 inch by 8 inch baking pan and line it with parchment paper. Allow the parchment paper on two sides of the pan to hang over the sides. You can use these long pieces of parchment as handles when you remove your cake from the pan.
- Step 2 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Step 3 Whisk together the butter, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Add the buttermilk and whisk to blend. Stir in the mashed bananas. Add the baking soda to the batter. Add the salt to the batter. Stir to disperse the baking soda and salt throughout the batter. Carefully fold in the flour being careful that the flour is thoroughly mixed into the batter and that no flour streaks remain. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
- Step 4 Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. rotating the pan midway through the bake. Your cake is done when it is firm to the touch and when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Step 5 Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about 20-30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
- Step 6 To prepare the frosting, mix butter and cream cheese. I used my stand mixer and the paddle attachment to make the frosting. When the butter and cream cheese are well mixed, add the vanilla extract and the salt. Then, gradually add the powdered sugar. Next, beat in the cocoa powder. Next, stir in the malted milk powder and mix until all the ingredients are well combined. Frost your cooled cake. Sprinkle top of the cake with crushed malted milk balls and a few whole ones. Refrigerate to let the frosting firm up a bit. Enjoy but resist the impulse to pick the malted milk balls off the top of the cake (I didn’t.). This cake gets better on the second and third days if it lasts that long.
