Caramel Chocolate Cake

• servings: 16 servings
• active time: 40 minutes
• total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

180 g warm coffee or water (for instant coffee use 1.5 teaspoon of instant coffee)

180 g all-purpose flour

1 tbsp cornstarch

150 g granulated sugar

75 g dark brown sugar

35 g unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

80 g vegetable oil

135 g sour cream (room temperature)

2 large eggs (room temperature)

2 tsp vanilla extract

90 g granulated sugar

1 tbsp water

100 g heavy cream

25 g butter

Pinch of salt

115 g powdered sugar

75 g unsalted butter (room temperature)

25 g caramel

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

CHOCOLATE CAKE

Preheat the oven at 170ºC/340ºF conventional oven and line a 20x20 cm/8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

Start by making the coffee and weigh it out so it can cool down a bit while preparing the other ingredients.

In a bowl, sift all of the dry ingredients together. Give it a stir to make sure everything has been combined.

In another mixing bowl add all of the wet ingredients, including coffee, and with a hand whisk, whisk them together until combined. Be sure to not mix the ingredients too vigorously so the eggs don’t get over mixed.

Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry while gently stirring it all together. Make sure there are no lumps left in the batter.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pan and bake it for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let the cake cool on a wire rack. After 10 minutes, gently remove the cake from the baking pan and let the cake cool down completely.

SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE

While the cake bakes, make the caramel.

In a medium sized saucepan, slowly melt the granulated sugar and water over medium heat until golden brown. At the same time in another small saucepan, heat the heavy cream to a boil and turn it off.

Once the caramel is golden brown, stir in the butter until it has melted into the caramel. Then add the heated heavy cream, a little at a time, while stirring. It will bubble up strongly so be careful of your fingers. Stir constantly until it has gathered.

Turn off the heat and add a pinch of salt and stir it in. Transfer it to a shallow bowl, so it can cool down faster, and let it cool down in the fridge. It takes about 30-60 minutes to become room temperature.

BUTTERCREAM

Once the cake and caramel have cooled down make the buttercream.

Sift the powdered sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, start by creaming the butter and 25 g of the homemade caramel for 2 minutes on medium/high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix 1 minute more.

On low speed, add the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla extract, mix it at low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix for 2 minutes on low/medium speed.

ASSEMBLE

Place the cake on a serving dish and add the buttercream on top of the cake and even it out. Add as much of the caramel as you’d like, and with a spoon or offset spatula swirl it into the buttercream. There might be a little bit of caramel left over. Save any leftover caramel in an airtight jar.

Nutrition

• Calories: 291 kcal
• Total Fat: 15 g
• Saturated Fat: 7 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
• Trans Fat: 1 g
• Cholesterol: 46 mg
• Sodium: 138 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 38 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1 g
• Total Sugars: 28 g
• Protein: 3 g