A Long Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away..

Sin Ming Cookhouse / Bakery / Whatever

What do you get when you mix the internet, a bag of candy and a 3 day weekend?  crazy stuff happening in the kitchen!  While surfing the information super highway I stumbled on a zany recipe on one of my favorite sites: The Pioneer Woman; yes the same lady who introduced me the using chipolate peppers as part of a slow cooked pulled pork recipe.  The recipe I took and adapted was for a Milky Way cake, I grew up eating these little bars through my childhood, so why not make a grown up desert out of it!

Before I go on I have to state here that there is a slight difference between the American milky way (which is used in Ree’s recipe) and the European / Australian version of the milky way (which I used).  The American version has included with it a layer of caramel (YUM!) which is similar to another bar that I grew up eating: a Mars bar!

Anyways back to the recipe / task at hand.  Here’s what you need to make yourself the Milky Way cake:

Ingredients

• 11 whole Milky Way bars (the packet that I bought only had mini bars so I used slightly less than the 11 specified)
• 3 x 100g of salted butter (the original recipe called for margarine, but butter’s my baby)
• 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup of buttermilk
• 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of sugar
• 4 whole eggs
• 2 cups of icing sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 cup of chopped Pecan nuts

Directions – Cake

		Milky Way Goodness in a Cake VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

1. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees Celsius (you’ll be low and slow cooking this to ensure your cake is deliciously moist
2. Using a bane Marie, melt the 8 Milky Way bars with 1 portion of butter continually stirring to melt and combine, remove from heat and set aside
3. Sift salt and flour together
4. Mix baking soda with the buttermilk and then add two teaspoons of vanilla essence
5. Cream one portion of butter with 2 cups of sugar until smooth and silky and add one egg to the butter at a time stirring until combined
6. Add 1/2 a cup of the flour mixture to the butter and eggs stir until combined
7. Add a small portion of the buttermilk and stir until combined
8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 until no more flour and buttermilk
9. Add melted Milky Way mixture and combine well.
10. Pour cake mixture into a 9”x13” baking pan and cook for an hour or until a skewer to the middle of the cake comes out dry
11. Remove from the oven and allow to cool

Directions – Icing

Sinful Milky Way Icing :) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

1. Dry roast  the Pecans to help bring out their flavor
2. Remove from pan and roughly chop
3. Using a bane Marie, melt 3Milky Way bars with 1 portion of butter continually stirring to melt and combine
4. Add the powdered sugar, salt, milk and a teaspoon of vanilla and incorporate well
5. Add roasted pecans
6. Pour over the cooled cake (for space reasons I divided my baked cake in two and made it thicker; double happiness!) and allow the icing to set

And the final taste.. the cake was moist with a unique texture; thanks primarily to the Milky Way.  Ideally you serve up this cake warm with a nice big scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Bon Appétit – Sidney