For my gorgeous girls birthday I let her pick a cake for me to create and of course it had chocolate and caramel in it! It was a day of baking 3 mini cake layers (separately), making the richest caramel butter cream (which is amazing) and the chocolatiest fudge frosting I have ever tasted! Needless to say the cake was delicious and I am so thankful I only made a baby cake as it was super rich and decadent.
3-layer cake
Chocolate Fudge Cake (I
used Donna Hays Chocolate Cake)
Ingredients
200g butter, chopped
200g dark chocolate, chopped
30ml water
3 eggs
220g caster sugar
¾ cup self-raising flour, sifted
¼ cup cocoa, sifted
Method
- Oven to 160°
- Place butter, chocolate, vanilla
and water in saucepan over a low heat and stir until melted and smooth
- Allow to cool
- Place the eggs and sugar in the
bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 6 mins or until pale and thick
- Add the chocolate mixture and beat
until combined
- Fold through flour and cocoa, don’t
over stir though
- Split the mixture into 3 bowls,
pour the first one into a lightly greased 22cm spring form tin and bake for
about 45-60 mins (keep checking)
- Repeat this with the other 2
batches of the cake so that you have 3 even cooked layers
- Set aside to cool
Salted Caramel Swiss
Buttercream (for the filling)
Ingredients
200g sugar
60 ml water
60ml heavy cream
generous pinch of sea salt 1 1/2
cups (340 g/12 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 large egg whites (120 g)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Method
- Place 130 grams of the sugar
and the water in a medium saucepan to a boil over medium heat.
- Brush down
the sides of the pot with a dampened pastry brush to prevent sugar
crystals from forming. Stop stirring and cook until caramel is dark amber, gently
swirling from time to time.
- Remove from heat, and slowly add
cream, whisking by hand until smooth. It will be splatter, so be careful.
Whisk in sea salt and vanilla. Let cool.
- Place butter in an
electric mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment and beat on medium
speed until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and
set aside.
- Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer
clean with lemon juice, and place egg whites and remaining sugar into bowl over
a pot of simmering water (not boiling–you don’t want to cook the eggs). Whisk
occasionally and gently until sugar dissolves and mixture registers 160° on a
candy thermometer.
- Remove the bowl
from heat, and place back onto the mixer fitted with the whisk
attachment. Whisk on medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high,
and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form (about 5-6 minutes). Once the bottom
of the bowl is neutral and no longer warm to the touch, reduce speed to
medium-low, and add beaten butter, one cup at a time, whisking well after each
addition.
- Switch to paddle attachment. With
mixer on low speed, add cooled caramel and beat until smooth (about 3-5
minutes).
Dark Chocolate Fudge
Frosting
(This makes a fair bit)
Ingredients
45g cocoa
powder
90ml boiling water
340g unsalted butter, room
temperature
63g icing sugar
pinch of salt
454 good-quality dark
chocolate, melted and cooled
Method
- Combine cocoa powder and the
boiling water in a small bowl or glass measuring cup, and stir until it cocoa
has dissolved.
- In an electric mixer fitted with
the flat beater attachment, beat the butter, the icing sugar, and salt on
medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy–about 5 minutes.
- Reduce mixer speed to low, and add
melted chocolate (cooled), beating until combined and scraping down the sides
of the bowl as needed.
- Beat in the cocoa mixture until
well incorporated.
Notes:
Frosting can be refrigerated for up
to 5 days, or frozen for up to 1 month in an airtight container.
Assembly of the Sweet &
Salty Cake
- Trim any doming from the tops
of your cake layers with a sharp, serrated knife and place first layer, face
up, on your cake board, pedestal, or plate.
- Using a small offset palette knife,
spread approximately 3/4 cup of the caramel buttercream evenly on the
top.
- Repeat this 1-2 until you come to
the final layer, which you will place face down on the top of the cake.
- Place cake on a turntable (if
possible), and using a small offset palette knife for the top of the cake, and
medium straight palette knife for the sides, cover the cake in a thin layer
of chocolate frosting (or chocolate butter cream, if using) to
mask (seal in crumbs).
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes (or more). *This does not
need to be perfect, as that will come with the top “coat” of butter cream.
- Once the icing has cooled, ice
again over the top, using a palette knife and a glass of warm water to get a
smooth clean finish.
- You can keep it in the fridge but
keep it out for 2 hours before serving so the butter cream has softened.
- Sprinkle with salt
- Use a sharp heated knife to cut the
cake, cleaning it every cut to get a nice clean finish
