Germany - Maulwurfkuchen

A traditional German cake, often eaten for birthdays. Maulwurfkuchen translates to ‘Mole Hill’ and I’m sure you can see why. It consists of a chocolate sponge which is hollowed out before being filled with sliced banana. It is then topped with the biggest mound of whipped cream you’ve ever seen (speckled with crunchy chocolate flecks) and finished with the chocolate crumbs that were scooped out earlier.

Ingredients

Cake:

90g unsalted butter, softened

75g soft light brown sugar

2 medium eggs

120g plain flour

10g cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

75ml whole milk

40g 70% dark chocolate, melted 

Filling:

1 banana, sliced

450ml double cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

45g sugar

1/2 tsp. cornflour

50g 70% dark chocolate, finely chopped 

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 6-inch cake tin with baking paper.

For the cake: cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined. Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together. Add into the creamed butter. Stir in the milk followed by the melted chocolate. Once everything is combined, pour the batter into the cake tin. Spread the mix until flat and level. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake. Take out of the tin after 10 minutes & cool completely. 

Trim off the top of the cake to make flat and run a knife around the inside of the cake, about half an inch from the edge. Make sure not to go all the way through! Scoop out the middle and set aside. Cut your banana into slices and place into the middle. 

For the cream: Mix together the sugar and cornflour in a small bowl. Whip the cream, vanilla and sugar/cornflour until soft peaks. Fold through the finely chopped chocolate. Spread the cream in a rounded mound on top of the cake. Break up the leftover cake into crumbs and press against the cream mound until completely covered. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving. Best served and eaten on the day