I’m actually a little frightful to make caramel from scratch cos of the probable splattering.
So when I tried out this recipe, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it’s super easy. And most of all, I didn’t have a hard time cleaning the pan!
This is a beautiful dark chocolate cake decorated with sea salt flakes (I bought the Maldon brand from Jason’s Market Place at $8.80 but you can get a smaller pack at Liang Court’s Meidi-ya).
The weather has been horrible these days with the relentless rain so my pics came out a bit meh~ But I assure you, the cake’s taste is nothing like that! I brought some to the office for my colleagues and all of them commented how wonderfully rich the taste is (albeit sinful) and good enough to sell! Haha! Definitely a cake for a special occassion or when you are looking to wow!
Adapted from April Carter’s, “Decorated“, I’ve reduced the sugar and halved the recipe to make two 6 inch cakes (further sliced into half for a 4 layered cake).
Sea-Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake
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55g cocoa powder
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3/4 tsp vanilla extract
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130g unsalted butter
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100g castor sugar
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100g light brown sugar
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3 medium eggs, lightly beaten
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210g all purpose flour
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2 tsp baking powder
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1/2 tsp salt
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135ml low-fat milk
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187g castor sugar
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225ml heavy cream
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37.5g unsalted butter
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1.5 tsp flaky sea salt
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200g dark choco, finely chopped
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200ml salted caramel sauce (from above)
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125g unsalted butter
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170g icing sugar
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75ml salted caramel sauce (from above)
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1. Preheat oven to 170℃. Line two 6-inch cake pans.
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2. Place cocoa powder, vanilla extract and 90ml boiling water in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside to cool.
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3. Beat butter and sugar together with electric mixer for 3 mins, or til pale and creamy. Add beaten eggs to butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add cooled cocoa mixture and beat til well incorporated.
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4. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into another clean bowl. Add 1/3 of flour mixture to butter mixture and beat til just combined. Add 1/2 of milk, continue beating and scraping down sides as you go along. Add another 1/3 of the flour, remaining milk, then remaining flour and beat til just combined.
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5. Divide batter between prepared pans and bake 50-60 mins.
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1. Heat sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat. Once sugar starts to melt, swirl sugar into liquid areas of the pan. (DO NOT STIR!)
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2. In a separate pan, warm cream and butter til butter melts. After about 10 mins, or once the sugar completely melted and becomes dark amber in colour, remove saucepan from heat.
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3. Immediately whisk in warm cream and butter mixture (be careful of splash). If the sugar solidifies, return pan to medium heat til mixture becomes liquid again.
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4. Stir in salt. Pour mixture through sieve.
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Place chopped chocolate in a bowl and pour 200ml of warm caramel sauce over it. Gently whisk til smooth and melted. Then chill for 20 mins.
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Beat butter 3-4 mins, add icing sugar and cooled salted caramel sauce and beat for 2-3 mins.
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Finally, level cakes and split into 4 layers. Spread 1st layer with salted caramel buttercream filling and drizzle over 1 tbsp salted caramel sauce. Place 2nd layer, repeat. Cover cake with remaining buttercream and chill 30 mins. Cover with chocolate ganache to finish.
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It’s important to let the cakes cool completely before spreading the buttercream! Do cool the buttercream in the fridge for a few minutes before you use it as well to ensure it doesn’t melt.
Interested in making this but don’t wanna buy a whole box of sea salt?
I’m giving out three 20g mini packs of my Maldon sea salt flakes, do leave a comment here and share this post on your Facebook to win!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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would love to use it and bake a cake for hubby on his birthday too! haven’t done that in a long while 😛
sakuraharuka at live dot com
Ai @ Sakura Haruka
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I want to use the sea salt to bake this cake that you have made!
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