Do you love chocolate?
How about salted caramel?
You'll get something that is absolutely lovely and delicious. And this cake is just that.
I'm not just saying that because I made it!
Imagine what could possibly be the best chocolate cake you'll ever have frosted with a delicious cream cheese buttercream with a little something that takes it to another level.
Salted caramel.
Have you ever thought about making homemade caramel? I admit, like browning butter, making caramel frightens me. But like browning butter, too, when I finally tried it I found it isn't at all difficult.
Collect yourself, gather the ingredients needed and proceed to make your first ever homemade salted caramel. Now if you're going to search for a recipe on the Web, good luck, my friend. I've only ever tried one recipe but this is delicious. Plus, I always have the ingredients for this recipe on hand.
Now this one is not thick and gooey as I would've expected it to be. It's caramel! It should be, right? But I let that slip because, like I said, this is so good! It tasted just like the caramel candies I get from the grocery. But homemade.
My frosting skills still has to improve big time. But that bit aside, let's talk about the frosting. I may have not proclaimed any frosting I've made as a favorite but I think I have found one.
Cream cheese buttercream mixed with just enough salted caramel which you could then eat by the teaspoon (or tablespoon, let's be real).
And how can that not be anybody's favorite?!
Let's build this layered cake, shall we?
What you'll be needing:
Ina's chocolate layer cake (this recipe produces two 8-inch round cake layers)
Morgan's easy salted caramel sauce (I halved the recipe but I urge you not to because it's perfect for snacking)
Linda's salted caramel frosting (recipe below)
chocolate sprinkles, optional
What you'll be doing:
I made the caramel the night before but it doesn't take that long and you could make everything in one whole day.
Once the cake layers are done baking, cool them in the pans before inverting onto a rack to cool completely. Be careful with this part because one of the layers I inverted tore in half. After freaking out for a few minutes, I took deep breaths and went ahead and made the frosting.
Salted Caramel Frosting by Linda Lomelino
This recipe is from her book, Lomelino's Cakes.
What you'll be needing:
1 1/4 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
7oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1/4 heaping cup of Morgan's salted caramel sauce
What you'll be doing:
Simply beat the butter until pale then add the cream cheese and continue to beat until smooth for about 4 minutes. Gradually add the icing sugar and once incorporated proceed to add the caramel sauce. At this point, you can taste the frosting and adjust to your preferences. You can add more sugar or even a pinch of salt or a little more caramel. If the frosting if too soft, put in the fridge for at least 20 minutes or until it can be spread easily and not runny.
Once the cake layers have cooled, proceed to level them. Do. Not. Freak. Out.
After leveling both cake layers, proceed to stack, fill, crumb coat and design! Watch a pro do it and take notes. This cake doesn't need any sugar syrup because it's already moist on its own.
As for the design, you can do the swirl shown on the video or you can leave it plain and smooth. Then take about 3 tablespoons (I definitely used more than that) of salted caramel and pour on top of the cake and push gently towards the edge.
Take a few good pinches of chocolate sprinkles and go around the edge once more. If your frosting is still firm enough, proceed to pipe at least 10 blobs (such a funny word) on top of the sprinkles, yet making sure they are evenly spaced apart. But if your frosting has become runny and soft, you can chill for 20 minutes or until it has firmed up. Take another tablespoon of caramel and drizzle on top of the blobs. Chill until ready to serve!
The blobs I created aren't perfect blobs but we're not here to judge them. We shall let them be!
Guess who just turned 23 two days ago?
Me! I'm still young but not that young. Do I have my life figured out? Absolutely not. I'll give it another 3 or 4 years and I'll report back to you. If not then...there's always cake, right?
This is already such a long post but would you look at that slice I took for you.
Did I tell you that this is the best chocolate cake I've ever made? Sure, I still adore this other chocolate cake but this one right here is the one. Thank you so much, Ina!
The frosting? So good!
Lastly, the salted caramel, I'm telling you, once you make it you'll want to make a big batch so you'll always have some on hand.
Oh and did you know that Abbyisabee's blogoversary is today? Yes! We're celebrating this babe of a blog's 1st year today!
Wow... Time flies, my friends, time does fly so fast! I remember feeling very nervous yet excited when I published my first two posts which were my 'welcome to the food blogging' one and my first cupcake recipe! I still do today whenever I publish something!
And if you do make this cake combo or any recipe for that matter, comment or tag me? The links are on the right side of your screen, friends!
Til the next post!
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