Caramel Layer Cake

     This is a simple cake that I should have made a long time ago.

     Caramel cake is a classic Southern dessert, and I think that, as a borderline Southerner, I have been deprived of the privilege of eating this cake up to this point.

     I made this cake for my mom's birthday last weekend.  We also had colorful candles and Oreo ice cream!

     (My mom isn't turning 5, by the way.)

      I've been looking for a good caramel cake recipe for a while. The recipe I used was from the Galley Gourmet, and the cake did not disappoint.  The cake is a simple vanilla cake with a tender crumb, and the icing is the phenomenal part. Sure, it's really sugary (caramel is, after all, cooked sugar), but don't let that stop you.  Enjoy the full glory of it.

     I made a 2-layer cake to save time, instead of the 3-layer cake the recipe suggested.  You can use whatever cake pans you have.  Making the caramel sauce is really easy, but be careful and take it off the heat when it is golden brown or else it'll burn really quickly.

Caramel Layer Cake

Serves 10-12

Recipe adapted from The Galley Gourmet

Ingredients

For the Cake

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

5 large eggs, at room temperature

3 cups self rising flour 

1 cup whole buttermilk, or 1tbs vinegar plus 1 cup whole milk

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the Caramel Frosting

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

2 Tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 cup cold butter

1 cup hot heavy cream

Pinch of kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

6 cups confectioners' sugar

For Finishing (optional)

Toasted pecans

Directions

Make the Cake. Preheat the oven to 350* F.  Butter and flour 2 or 3 9" cake pans, and line with parchment or wax paper. 

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Alternate adding 1/3 of the flour with adding 1/2 of the buttermilk, and then stir in the vanilla. Divide the batter between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then remove the cake and let it cool completely.

Make the Caramel Sauce. Place the water and corn syrup in a small bowl and whisk until the syrup is dissolved. Place the sugar in a medium saucepan, and add the water, stirring just until everything is moistened. Heat over medium heat until all the sugar is dissolved (it will start bubbling) and increase the heat to medium-high.  If sugar crystals form on the side of the pan while you're cooking, brush them off with a wet pastry brush. Cook without stirring until the mixture is golden brown, no longer.  Remove the pan from the heat and add the cold butter, stirring until melted. Slowly stir in the heavy cream, then stir in the vanilla and salt.  

Let cool for at least one hour or refrigerate. Set 1/3 cup aside to pour on the cake after frosting it.

Make the Frosting.  Place all the caramel except 1/3 cup in a large bowl with the softened butter (make sure the caramel's cool or the butter will melt). Cream until smooth, and then gradually add the confectioners sugar, beating until fluffy.

Assemble. Spread the frosting between layers and top and sides of the cake layers.  Drizzle with the reserved caramel sauce.  Garnish with toasted pecans.

Dulce de Leche Stuffed Mexican Chocolate Cookies

      

       I'm in the process of coming up with some recipes for a themed bake sale I'm holding at school.  The particular theme I'm working on is "ancient civilizations," which is pretty hard since ancient people basically ate some type of meat and grain, and that was it.  Anyways, I came up with these cookies to represent the ancient Incas, since they lived in what is now Mexico and (fortunately) had access to cocoa beans.  

       This is a thick, dark chocolate cookie with a dash of cinnamon, filled and stuffed with dulce de leche. The good thing about stuffing the cookies with dulce de leche is that the filling never hardens and always remains gooey.  Other caramel-stuffed cookies have to be eaten warm.  Also, these cookies are big, about the size of the palm of your hand, so they are perfect for selling.  

        Dulce de leche is a common Mexican ingredient, which is like carmelized milk.  You can buy it at a grocery store, or you can make it by yourself out of sweetened condensed milk.  Since I had a can of sweetened condensed milk already sitting in my pantry, and curiosity, I decided to go with the latter option. 

         There are lots of ways to make dulce de leche (just google it).  I chose the oven method.  All you need is a roasting pan, hot water, a glass dish that fits in the roasting pan, an oven, and a can of sweetened condensed milk.  

Place one can of sweetened condensed milk in a glass dish. I used a pie plate.

Cover the dish tightly with foil.

Place the dish in the roasting pan.  Pour hot water into the pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the glass dish. Remove the dish from the roasting pan, and place the roasting pan on the bottom rack of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 425*F. 

When the oven is heated, place the glass dish back into the roasting pan.  Bake for 1 hr and 15 minutes.  Check the water level in the pan every half hour and add water if necessary.  Take the glass dish out of the oven and let cool for at least  hour. 

Remove the foil.  You should have a deep brown caramel. 

Stir the dulce de leche in a bowl until smooth and refrigerate until completely cool.  

     Making the cookies is very simple.  To start, you make a simple chocolate cookie dough.  It will be very thick.

Make the chocolate cookie dough.

Make a cinnamon-sugar mixture out of 3 tbs granulated sugar, 1 tsp cocoa powder, and 2 tsp cinnamon.

Scoop rounds of tbs of cookie dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet,  1-1/2 inches apart.  Then scoop about 1 tsp of  dulce de leche on top.

Scoop another 2 tbs of chocolate cookie dough on top of the dulce de leche.  Pinch the dough into a ball to enclose the dulce de leche.  Roll it in the cinnamon sugar and place back on the baking sheet.  Press the dough down to a make a disk about 3/4" in diameter. 

 Bake at 350*F for 16-20 minutes.  Let cool.

Pipe more dulce de leche on top. 

       I was excited to make these cookies and I'm happy with how they turned out.  I already had all the ingredients at home, so I didn't have to wait for anyone to take me to the grocery store (which I hate doing; once I have a recipe in my mind, it's all I can think about until I actually make it).  The cinnamon and dulce de leche really add flair to the rich but ordinary chocolate cookies.

        If you want a spicier Mexican chocolate cookie, try adding 1/4 tsp chili powder to add warmth.

      Enjoy!

Dulce de Leche Stuffed Mexican Chocolate Cookies

makes 12 large cookies

adapted from My Baking Additction

Ingredients

For the Cookie Dough:

2 sticks cold and cubed unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup good quality dark cocoa powder (like Hershey's Special Dark)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

For Finishing:

about 1 cup dulce de leche (see above for instructions for homemade)

3 tbs granulated sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp cocoa powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until well-combined. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Mix in the cocoa powder well.  
3. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon in a medium bowl, and then fold into the wet ingredients until combined.  
4. Scoop 2 tbs of dough onto the cookie sheets, 1-1/2 inches apart.  Scoop 1 tsp of dulce de leche on top of the dough, and then scoop another 2 tbs of dough on top.  
5. Pinch the dough around the dulce de leche filling to form a ball.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder for finishing.  Roll the balls of cookie dough in the sugar mixture and place back on the cookie sheets.  Press the dough balls into 3/4" thick disks.  
7. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 16-20 minutes.  Let cool on the pans for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. Fill a piping bag with dulce de leche and pipe onto the cooled cookies in any pattern you wish.  Store the cookies at room temperature in a sealed container.  

Milky Way Cake

    

The best birthday cake.

       Strangely, I don't like candy bars that much.  They're good once in a while I guess, but I would much rather eat a chewy oatmeal raisin cookie or a soft, fluffy muffin than a Hershey's bar.  

       This wasn't always the case.  Before I became accustomed to freshly baked goods and foods made from scratch, I loved candy, and Milky Way bars were my favorite.  Milky Ways, as I remember, were basically just a nougat and caramel dipped in chocolate.  After seeing other desserts based off of candy bars, I was inspired to elevate this candy bar into a chocolate layer cake with salted caramel buttercream, covered in milk chocolate ganache and homemade caramel sauce.  Since it was my birthday when I made this, it was justified that I indulge in this rich, sweet, and just scrumptious cake. 

       Food can symbolize a lot.  I should know because I just finished baking my English final project (more details to come).   In this case, the cake symbolizes how I got older.  Similar to how I grew into a highschooler,  the Milky Way bar grew into a gorgeous five-layer cake.  

        For the basic cake, I used my favorite one-bowl chocolate cake recipe, which is quick and easy to make.  I made 3 8" layer and then split 2 of the layer in half (the third layer was thinner than the others). 

        Then I modified a nougat recipe according to the things I had.  All you need is marshmallow fluff (found in the peanut butter isle), chocolate malted milk powder (found where the dehydrated milk is), milk, butter, and vanilla extract.  The result was just what I wanted, and it was exactly like the filling in Milky Way bars.  

         I made some caramel sauce (which is basically almost-burnt sugar mixed with heavy cream and butter) and incorporated it into a buttercream.  Then I filled and frosted the cake and poured ganache and more caramel sauce on top.  I was kind of lazy and I didn't feel like making the cake pretty.  Also, everyone in my house was pressuring me to finish the cake so that they could eat it.  If you want it to look pretty, let the ganache cool and thicken more before you pour it.  

         I really liked this cake, and so did my family.  They said that it was the best cake I ever made.  They always say that, but I agree that it was pretty awesome.  The cake was moist and chocolatey, the filling was fluffy and nougaty, the frosting was creamy and so delicious, and...need I say more?

         Please do yourself and those around you a favor and make this.  Enjoy!

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Recipe in this post

*Spread batter evenly into 3 8" or 2 9" cake pans and bake.

*When the cakes are cool, or, preferably, chilled in the refrigerator, cut each cake in half vertically so you get 4-6 cake layers.

Nougat Cake Filling

makes about 2-1/2 cups

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup chocolate malted milk powder

7.5oz (1 small jar) Marshmallow Fluff

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Stir in the sugar, milk, and malted milk powder.  When the mixture is smooth, remove it from the heat.  Stir in marshmallow fluff and vanilla until well combined.  Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room temperature, stirring every so often.  Yo can also refrigerate the filling and then microwave it to get it back to room temperature.

Caramel Sauce

adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

makes one cup

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar

6 tbs butter, at room temperature and cut into pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

1-1/2 tsp fleur de sel or flaky sea salt (optional)

Directions

1. In a medium pot, add the sugar and melt over medium heat, stirring constantly until it is all melted.  Once it's smooth, stop stirring and just swirl the pot around instead.  When the caramel is golden and reaches 350*F, remove it from the heat.  Be careful or it will burn. 
2. Add the butter pieces, carefully because the mixture will start bubbling.  Stir until smooth.  
3. Slowly add the heavy cream and whisk to incorporate. Stir in salt if using.
4. Let sauce cool for ten minutes, then transfer into a glass jar.  Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.
5. This can be refrigerated for up to two weeks.  Microwave until liquid before using.  

Caramel Buttercream

adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

enough to frost one cake

Ingredients

1 stick (1/2cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 caramel sauce (recipe above)

2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

Directions

1. Cream together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Then beat in the caramel sauce.  Add the sugar bit by bit and beat to incorporate.  Beat the frosting for a couple of minutes until fluffy.

Milk Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

8oz milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Bring the heavy cream to a boil and then pour over the chocolate. Stir until smooth. Let cool a bit before pouring over the frosted cake.

Assembly of Milky Way Cake

1. Spread nougat filling onto one cake layer and then place another cake on top.  Repeat with the rest of the cake layers.
2. Frost the cake with the caramel buttercream
3. Pour the ganache over the cake, then drizzle on some more caramel sauce.
4. Refrigerate until serving.