Saturday 15 November 2014

Let's Bake: Candlelight Caramel Cake


This is the perfect cake if you're looking for a real winter warmer pud. It's a really straightforward cake to make and doesn't take long to bake. Two layers of super light caramel pecan cake sandwich a creamy caramel buttercream before being draped in a flourish of more caramel buttercream and a garnish (or mindless scattering) of pecans and chocolate bits. Caramel cake has been on my mind for a while now, and after an endless struggle to find a recipe that didn't contain an ounce of salt (i'm afraid salted caramel doesn't quite cut it for me) I ended up adapting a fabulous recipe from The Pink Whisk and added pecans to give the cake more substance. 

In terms of decorating, I tried to go for effortless chic, but to be honest I just really wanted to eat the cake so I quickly slathered on some buttercream, aimlessly threw on some pecans and chocolate, and dribbled some caramel on the side. My peeps seems to like the whole look, but to be honest I think they were just grateful that a cake had been baked, so I  went with the whole messy-but-so-totally-2014-vibe. I've seen this look a lot recently, where the poor cake is left to fend for itself beneath a pile of sweets, fruits or whatever else may lurking in the kitchen cupboards.  



Ingredients:
(Recipe adapted from The Pink Whisk)

Cake:

300g butter or baking spread

180g dark muscovado sugar

2/3 397g tin Carnation Caramel

6 eggs

320g self raising flour

handful of pecans

Buttercream:

125g unsalted butter

250g icing sugar

4-5 tsp remaining Carnation Caramel

To Decorate:

Any knickknacks lying around.
I used pecans, some chocolate from the back of the cupboard
and a swirl of caramel. 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas mark 4. Line two 8" sandwich tins with baking parchment. This batter is enough for three layers, so if you happen to have an sandwich tins lying around then by all means line it and just divide the batter in thirds.

2. Cream the butter with the dark muscovado sugar until light and fluffy. I prefer using baking spread, but its only personal preference. Either will do just fine, but do make sure that whatever you end up using is at room temperature. This goes for eggs as well. Room temperature eggs reduce chances of any nasty scrambling.   

3. Add the caramel and mix together until combined.

4. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl until frothy then add to the mixture slowly a little at a time. I find it best to mix the eggs in a mixing jug, as it's easier to poor without any eggy dribbles on the worktops. If the mixture starts to separate then add a spoonful of flour to stabilize the cake mix.

Warning: Do not panic if the mixture resembles scrambled eggs. I repeat do not panic! Once you add all the flour, the mixture looks more civilised. I promise.

5. Sift in the flour, leaving a tsp or so to coat the pecans. Fold the flour gently into the mixture. Avoid over beating at this stage otherwise you'll end up with a tough cake.

6. Coat the pecans in the remaining flour before gently incorporating into the mixture. If the mixture is quite thick, you may want to add a splash of milk to loosen it up.

7. Divide the mixture into the tins and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

8. Leave the cake to cool before turning it out of the tin after 10 minutes. 

9. For the buttercream, beat the butter (argg brutal) until it is creamy and pale.

10. Add the icing sugar and beat together for as long as you can. Seriously! You want the buttercream to be smooth and luscious and not stodgy, so I suggest either use a stand mixer or a brother/dad/random man for added brute force. Add 4-5tsp of caramel to the buttercream. I suggest tasting as you go along (cook's privilege) to ensure you have the right amount of caramel flavour.  

11. Once the cakes have cooled, arrange the first layer on a serving dish before adding a dollop of buttercream and spreading across the cake. You could also add a spoonful of caramel for added ooziness. Place the second layer on top of the buttercream and then frost the entire cake in buttercream. 

12. For the grand finale, add a flourish of pecans and chocolate bits before dribbling some caramel across the cake.

Ta daa

Say goodbye to crusty old shop bought cakes.
There's a new cake in town.

3 comments :

  1. Wow that looks awesome. Will have to try it this weekend.

    Will let u know if it looks as goose as yours.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks super yum! I will deffinitely be giving this a try:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww thank you hun!
      Let me know how you get on!
      x

      Delete