Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake

Salted Caramel Chocolate Birthday Cake
This. Cake. Is. Epic... It took me a whole evening to make it due to the sheer size of it but my god it is worth it for someone special. This multi-layered chocolate cake is sandwiched together with layers of oozing salted caramel and chocolate caramel ganache, then topped with shards of crunchy Dime bars. Decadent, rich, creamy and ridiculously mouth wateringly moreish.




Ingredients
Makes 12-16 slices 

For the Salted Caramel:
200g caster sugar
50g golden syrup
50ml water
120ml double cream
60ml sour cream
1tsp fine sea salt

For the Chocolate Ganache:
200g caster sugar
50g golden syrup
50ml water
300ml double cream
375g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
375g unsalted butter

For the Sponge:
300g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
225g soft light brown sugar
3 eggs
100g cocoa powder
1tsp instant coffee granules
60ml hot water
160ml buttermilk
1tsp vanilla essence
330g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
½tsp salt

6 Dime bars for decoration
Colourful candles and indoor sparklers
Three 20cm sandwich tins

First let's make the salted caramel. Put the caster sugar, syrup and water into a small saucepan and boil for about 10minutes until it is a rich clear caramel colour. Do not stir the caramel, just swirl it in the pan gently. Use a sugar thermometer if you have one. Whilst this is boiling, get another saucepan and pour in the double cream, sour cream and salt then gently bring to the boil until all of the salt has dissolved. Pour the cream mixture into the hot caramel, it will bubble up. Swirl gently then pour into a bowl and set aside to cool.

Now for the ganache. Similar to before, put the caster sugar, syrup & water into a small saucepan and boil for about 10minutes until it turns to caramel. Heat the cream in a separate pan, then pour this very slowly into the caramel, being careful not to let it overflow. Allow the caramel a few minutes to cool down, then tip in the chocolate and stir until it has melted. Pour the mixture into a bowl and leave to cool to room temperature before adding the butter. Once it is cool, add the butter then whisk with a handheld electric whisk or rotary whisk for at least 5 minutes until it thickens slightly. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for about 45 minutes.

Whilst the ganache is cooling, it's time to bake the cake. Preheat the oven to 170°C and grease and line three 20cm sandwich tins.

Cream together the butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy. Crack in the eggs and mix until smooth. In a jug, dissolve the coffee granules in the hot water. Add the cocoa powder, vanilla and buttermilk and mix to form a thick paste. Stir this paste into the creamed butter & sugar mixture. Finally, sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt and fold gently until well incorporated. Divide the mixture between the three tins (it helps to use scales to get an equal amount in each tin - about 480g in each tin) and smooth the tops.

Bake for approximately 25minutes or until a skewer comes out clean and it springs back when you touch it. Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes before running a knife around the edges and tipping out onto wire cooling racks. Leave the cakes to cool upside-down in the tins (this makes the layers flat as opposed to domed).

Once the cakes are completely cool, it's time for assembly. Layer it up by placing your first cake on a plate and spreading a layer of caramel over the top, followed by a layer of ganache, and so on. If the ganache has become too cold to spread, just leave it out of the fridge for a while to soften before spreading. Spread the remaining ganache around the edges of the cake using a palette knife to get a smooth finish (it helps to do this on a turntable). Break or chop the dime bars into triangular shards and arrange in concentric circles around the top of the cake. Scatter over any remaining pieces.

Voila. Epic Cake finished.

5 comments:

  1. What temperature should the salted caramel be prior to adding the cream?

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    Replies
    1. If you are using a sugar thermometer, the caramel stage is 245-250ºF (118-120ºC). Once it reaches this temperature, pour in the hot cream immediately (make sure that you use a large pan as it bubbles up vigorously!) Good luck!!

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    2. Thank you! Taking a second crack at the salted caramel. The ganache seems good but the caramel is runny. Bought a candy thermometer & hope to get it right this time.

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  2. I made this for a Cake & Pie auction at our local school fundraiser. It was a hit & sold for $60, the highest of any cake. The feedback that I received was that it was amazing. Thank you for a fabulous recipe. It's not a quick cake but it is worth it.

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