Chocolate Caramel Cake

I should be finishing tidying up the house right now because we have friends coming for the weekend in just an hour or so, but I wanted to share this recipe with you.  After all, I’m sure one of you needs to bake a cake this weekend and still hasn’t found the perfect recipe.  If so, look no further than this little blog post, especially if you are a sweet frosting kind of person! 

I’ve been wanting to make caramel frosting ever since Scott and I watched an episode of America’s Test Kitchen during dinner one night.  It kind of was a fluke thing, us watching the episode.  You see, we try not to watch TV anymore while we are eating dinner.  Over the summer, we moved the TV to the basement and decided that we should try eating at the table instead of at the couch.  Both of us always ate at the table growing up, and I’m not exactly sure when we strayed away from it.

Eating at the table is way better than eating on the couch (duh!).  You don’t have to balance a plate on your knee, worry about spilling your drink, and can actually have a conversation and enjoy your food.  On this particular evening, the laptop happened to be on the table, and we were tempted to watch an episode online.  One of the things they made was a caramel cake and I was totally mesmerized by it.  So, when the opportunity to bake a cake recently presented itself, I knew what cake I would make: a caramel one.  Only it would be chocolate, because to me, a cake isn’t a cake unless it is chocolate.  Ok, ok, maybe I do have some exceptions like almond, lemon, and carrot....  Anyway, the important part is that you should try this cake and I should return to my Alice Nelson activities.     

Notes:
This cake is very rich and the frosting is very sweet.  The cocoa powder that I use Natural High Fat Cocoa Powder from Penzeys Spices.  It is a natural cocoa powder, and therefore, is not Dutch-processed.  I use full fat sour cream to make this cake.  I don’t think a low-fat sour cream would have the same results.  I like to chop up the chocolate into smaller pieces so that it melts quicker in the hot espresso (or coffee) mixture. Sorry, I forgot to weigh the water and espresso.  If you don’t have an espresso maker (Scott and I have a Bialetti 6-cup stovetop one), you can use 1 cup of strongly brewed coffee or dissolve some instant coffee crystals in 1 cup of water until the mixture is nice and strong.  If using instant coffee, I would be tempted to use double the amount of crystals it calls for making 1 cup of coffee.  Whatever you use, just make sure your espresso/coffee mixture is nice and hot so it can melt the chocolate. 

Scott just got me some Chicago Metallic non-stick 9-inch round cake pans and Rose's Heavenly Cake Strips for Christmas (!!!); I used both of them for this cake.  That being said, you don’t need fancy cake pans or silicone strips to make this cake.  The strips are supposed to help the cake bake evenly and give you a nice flat top.  I didn’t bake any control cakes to see how much the new pans and strips impacted the final result, but I can tell you that the cakes turned out very nicely using the strips and new pans.  Bake the cakes at the same level in the oven so one pan doesn’t block the heat from the other. 

Don’t skip on sifting the powdered sugar because you don’t want to end up with lumpy frosting.  The key with this frosting is not to let it get too cold while you are adding the powdered sugar and reserved butter.  When you frost the cake, you’ll have to work quickly because the frosting will start to set.  If you find that you can’t easily spread it, put some frosting in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it for a few seconds to warm it up.  It should become spreadable again.  Don’t worry if your frosting job isn’t perfect looking; it is how the cake tastes that counts!  (Meaning, my frosting job was rather dismal looking, but we still enjoyed the cake!)

Adapted from Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers and America's Test Kitchen Season 12:  Cold-Weather Comfort

Cake Ingredients:
1½ cups (195 g) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (25 g) natural cocoa powder
2 cups (407 g) granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon (5 g) baking soda
½ teaspoon (4 g)  salt
5 ounces (142 g) dark chocolate chunks or chips, finely chopped
½ cup hot espresso
½ cup hot water
2 eggs
½ cup (111 g) sour cream
½ cup (111 g) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
additional butter and flour for preparing two 9-inch cake pans

Frosting Ingredients:
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks; 169 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided use
2 cups (439 g) packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon (4 g) salt
½ cup (115 g) heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2½ cups (350 g) powdered sugar, sifted

Yields one fantastic 9-inch cake!

Prep the Pans:
Cut two pieces of parchment or wax paper so that they fit into the bottom of two 9-inch cake pans.  Grease the pans with some butter, and then place one piece of parchment paper in the bottom of each pan, pressing them down to remove any air bubbles.  Place a spoonful of flour in each greased and lined pan, and swirl the flour around so the sides and edges of the pans become covered with flour.  Tap out the excess flour, and set the pans aside, preferably away from your preheating oven.

Whisk, Pour, Whisk, Add, Fold, Bake, Cool:
Place a rack at the middle level of the oven, and preheat to 325°F.  In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.  In a separate medium-sized bowl, add the chocolate chunks or chips, and then pour the hot espresso and water over top.  All of the chocolate should be submerged.  Set bowl aside so the chocolate can melt.  In a third larger bowl, whisk the eggs together, and then whisk in the sour cream, then the vegetable oil, and finally the vanilla.  By this point, the chocolate should be melted.  Whisk the chocolate and coffee mixture together until it is nice and smooth, and then add it to the egg mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.  In thirds, fold the flour mixture into the egg and chocolate mixture.  Evenly divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans.  Bake at 325°F at the middle level of the oven (i.e., both pans on the same rack) for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.  Allow the cakes to rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn each cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper, flip the cakes back over so they are right side up, and allow the cakes to fully cool on two racks (or one large rack if you have it).  Once they are cool, either frost the cake, or wrap the cake layers well and frost the next day.

Heat, Whisk, Beat, Add, Frost:
Once the cakes are cool, set aside 4 tablespoons of butter cut into 4 pieces to use later.  In a medium-sized pan, combine the remaining 8 tablespoons of butter, the brown sugar, and salt, and cook over medium heat for 4-8 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbling at the edges of the pan.  Whisk in the cream and continue to cook for about 1 more minute, or until the mixture is bubbling again.  Remove the pan from the burner, and add the vanilla.  Immediately transfer the mixture to the bowl of your mixture, and begin to beat at low speed.  Add the sifted powdered sugar gradually, ¼-½ cup at a time.  Once all of the sugar has been added, increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 3-5 more minutes, or until the frosting is light brown, but still warm.  Add the reserved 4 tablespoons of butter, one piece at a time, and beat until fluffy.  Don’t overbeat the frosting, or it will become too cold, making iit harder to frost the cake. 

To frost the cake, put a blob of frosting on your serving plate, and then place one of the cooled cake layers on top.  The blob of frosting will secure the cake to the plate and keep it from sliding off.  Spread about ¾ cup of frosting on the first layer, and then top with the second cake layer.  Use the remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.  If the frosting becomes too difficult to work with, place some frosting in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat for a few seconds until the frosting is spreadable again.  Enjoy!

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