Chocolate cake with salted caramel icing

The other day I bought this beautiful pale straight-out-the-70’s-green cake stand. It was quite pricey but I thought stuff it, if I was a cake I would want to live my short life on this piece of amazing.

I knew the first cake I was going to parade on it was a chocolate cake with salted caramel icing that I saw on this blog a while back and have been meaning to try out for ages. You see I’m in charge of making my friends Leigh and Brad’s wedding cakes for their shindig in September and this is one of the cakes I wanted to make. So I did and Leigh and Nick, who was Leigh’s stand-in-husband-to-be tried it out.

Lets start with the sponge, it’s dark and moist and the full cup of cocoa that is required makes this a winning chocolate cake recipe. Next, the icing. Oh the icing. You have to make the salted caramel sauce from scratch, which is pretty easy to do, the hard part is not eating it all of it before you mix it into the frosting for the cake. It is so so delicious.

So this cake has made the cut for the Brad/Leigh wedding, which I’m super happy about. I’m also going to start making it for Wolves, so if you fancy yourself a bit of chocolate cake covered in salted caramel cream cheese icing I suggest you come visit soon or gate crash the Reilly’s wedding.

Chocolate Cake (copied this recipe off Kimberly Taylor Images)

Ingredients
170 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup good cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 180° degrees and grease your cake pans- I used two x 20cm cake tins

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber spatula to be sure it’s completely blended. Divide your batter between your cake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cool for 10-15 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

 Salted caramel sauce

1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup – I didn’t have corn syrup so I used golden syrup instead, which just by the way is the preferred substitue
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Combine the sugar, water, and the corn syrup in a large saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
2. Cover the saucepan and let it cook over medium heat for 3 minutes.
3. After 3 minutes, remove the lid, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil.
4. Do not stir from this point on, but instead swirl the liquid around the pan so that the caramel doesn’t burn.
5. Continue to cook until the caramel turns an even amber color then remove from the heat and let stand for about 30 seconds.
6. *** Be careful here *** Pour the heavy cream into the mixture. The mixture will bubble up significantly and is very hot.
7. Stir the mixture, again being careful. Add the butter, lemon juice, and salt. Stir until combined.
8. Measure 1 cup into a Pyrex measuring cup. Stirring occasionally, allow to cool until thick like molasses and warm to the touch, about 20 minutes.

 Salted Caramel Frosting

° 225 grams cream cheese, room temp

° 450 grams icing sugar

° 113 grams soft butter

° 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

° 1 cup salted caramel (recipe above)

1. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy.
2. Then gradually add all the icing sugar, beat on high.
3. Add 1 cup of the salted caramel and beat to combine.