Malted Chocolate Cake With Namelaka and Cherries

Chocolate and cherries have always been a classic flavor combination. In Black Forest Cake, or a classic chocolate-cherry sheet cake—not to mention chocolate-covered cherries. Here, I take the pairing a step further by filling and topping malted chocolate cake layers with creamy namelaka. What’s namelaka? It translates directly to “smooth” or “creamy” in Japanese and is a chocolate cream that lies somewhere among chocolate ganache, crémeux, and pastry cream. At its simplest, namelaka consists of just four ingredients: chocolate, milk, cream, and gelatin; but here I’ve added a touch of salt and optional malted milk powder to enhance the flavor. The latter ingredient is optional in both the cake and namelaka but adds a subtle toasty, butterscotch-y flavor that enhances the creamy richness of the chocolate cream.

Namelaka has no added sugar, so its sweetness level will be determined by the chocolate you use. The higher the percentage of cacao, the less sweet the namelaka will be. If you can’t find cherries, you can use store-bought cherry (or any variety) jam instead of making your own. And if you have only one cake pan, pour half of the batter into the pan, bake, and cool the first cake layer according to the recipe. After removing the cake from the pan to cool, wash and dry the pan and repeat the process.

If you don’t frost the entire cake, any leftover namelaka can be used to fill choux pastry (like eclairs and cream puffs), fully baked tart shells, or pie crusts—or simply eaten like pudding. Any leftover jam can be used however you prefer to enjoy jam.