Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Ganache frosting

A one bowl chocolate cake layered with whipped salted caramel ganache. A great crowd pleaser. Perfect as a layered cake, but for a fuss free version turn it into a layered dessert/pudding.

It rained yesterday, because of which this post that should have gone live yesterday got pushed to today. The rain got with it a slightly grey, wrap yourself in blanket with good coffee, music and movies kind of day. I did get around to doing some baking in the evening. The soaked dried fruits needed to get in the cake batter to be ready in time for Christmas. I am already late in my plum cake baking but my oven has been giving some trouble and the guy who was supposed to come to fix it did not show up last week. I thought I would let him look at it before starting the bakes, but since that was not happening did my first trial bake.

But today we are not talking about plum cakes. We are talking about this insanely good Chocolate cake with salted caramel ganache frosting. I first saw this whipped salted caramel ganache on The Boy who Bakes instagram page. I love salted caramel. I love chocolate. I love this salted caramel ganache. And then you add a rich and moist chocolate cake to the mix, you have a winner dessert, my friends. One bite, and you are in heaven. In Chocolate cake, salted caramel, ganache heaven.

While I go through a ton of recipes, there are some that are bookmarked to be my go-to recipes. They are my fail safe recipes and this  chocolate cake with salted caramel ganache frosting is one of them. I have made it a few times now. I have passed on the recipe to a friend too, and this recipe is a keeper. Make it. Make it for yourself. Make it for your guests. And trust the winter woollen layers to cover the extra weight you put on after you cant stop at one bite. Or exercise. Or portion control. Or eat mindfully most of the time with an occasional binge here and there. Do you. Always do you.

So what makes this cake? Let’s break it down for you, shall we.

The Chocolate cake Layer

The recipe for the chocolate cake is adapted from this one bowl chocolate cupcake recipe that I keep returning to. Its also the recipe where I first tried the divine combination of chocolate with salted caramel. I have tweaked the chocolate cake since then and am sharing that chocolate cake version here. I probably should do a separate chocolate cake post. Hopefully some time in the future. You know me. I promise a lot of things, procrastinate, then don’t deliver- so do not hold your breath on this.

The chocolate cake recipe yields a nice chocolatey cake that is moist (yes, I use that word to describe cakes that are moist- I do not know what else to use.  None of these words make the cut ). It is also fairly easy to put together. One bowl, people. One bowl. No creaming. No fuss. And good results. That’s what you want!

The cake is NOT eggless. But since I know a lot of you will ask me about an eggless version, do not worry. I have you covered. You could sub the eggs with yogurt or even cream. For every egg replace with 1/4 cup yogurt -just make sure it isn’t too tart. If you have access to greek yogurt use that. For a vegan version try my vegan chocolate cake.

I use two 7 inch cake pans, and then tort each cake in half for the layers. I generally end up with a few scraps which are so perfect to dunk in the leftover syrup and ganache and make a pudding. This chocolate cake with salted caramel ganache frosting recipe actually makes a lovely pudding too. If your cake breaks- DO NOT FRET. Make the pudding. Your guests will love it still, or even more.

The Whipped Salted Caramel Ganache Frosting

The salted caramel ganache is the star. That salty, caramel-y chocolat-ey goodness. So good. Caramel can be sweet but with a touch of salt it becomes a mix of sweet and salty and if you are the kinds who is always struggling in the vicious circle of sweet-then savory-and back to sweet and then wanting something savory to keep the balance in your mouth then salted caramel is for you. To that you add chocolate. Mix. Whip. And get something so luscious. You have to restrain yourself from licking the entire bowl. We do need to frost the cake, remember.

And while the salted caramel ganache is the star it is also the trickiest part of the cake. Caramel always is. I was watching an episode of Nigella the other day, and she was making caramel. Her advice was to never have anyone in the kitchen when you are making caramel. Any distraction and you could go from the perfect rust penny color to bitter tasting burnt sugar and will need to start again. You can not rescue burnt sugar. So pay close attention. The moment you see that rust penny color, remove from the gas, give the pan a swirl so that the heat spreads across and then add the butter. This is the next crucial step. If you do not mix the butter well you could end up in a separated caramel and you do not want that (you can recover from it, but its not always a smooth sail). Stir the butter well, bring it back on the stove and then add the cream in two additions.  Once the cream is added and mixed well, you remove the caramel off the heat. Add the vanilla and salt. Then pour it into the chopped chocolate. Post that you wait for it to thicken to be able to whip it to spreadable consistency.

Now Edd insists on using milk chocolate for this frosting else the salted caramel flavor would get lost. But I did not. In fact I use dark chocolate and honestly I wont change a thing. Milk chocolate to me would be too sweet. And if you do not like your desserts overtly sweet, I would suggest stick to the dark chocolate.

The Assembly

If you follow my layered cake recipes and actually read through these long drawn blog posts you might probably remember how I like to soak my cake layers in a little syrup. I do it to get an added assurance that the resulting cake will be moist (yes, moist) and delightful. I also do it as an opportunity to add some liqueur. Yes, I love boozy desserts. And so do my friends. So why not! For this cake I used Cointreau. I think the slight hint of orange liqueur adds to the whole cake. I do not add too much, just a hint and it does the trick. We still want the salted caramel and chocolate to be the star. And they are. This is just to elevate it. You could choose to add whiskey too. I think it would do well here.

I hope that helps in demystifying this recipe. And in case it doesn’t feel free to ask your questions/doubts in the comments in the below. And I will try my best to answer. Also have a look at The Boy Who Bakes blog post – he has a video and you can see the exact color you would want your sugar to reach before adding the butter. If its not dark enough your caramel will be too sweet. If its too dark, your caramel might taste burnt.

So without any more delay, here is the recipe for this chocolate cake with salted caramel ganache frosting. Make it, tag me, share pictures, spread the love 🙂

Happy Sunday!

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Ganache frosting

 

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Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour

 

A one bowl chocolate cake layered with whipped salted caramel ganache. A great crowd pleaser. Perfect as a layered cake, but for a fuss free version turn it into a layered dessert/pudding.

Author: Shumaila

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 225 grams flour
• 225 grams granulated sugar
• ¾ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup minus 1 tbsp lukewarm milk mixed with 1 tbsp vinegar)
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 75 ml oil
• 1 cup hot water mixed with 1 tbsp instant coffee

For the salted caramel ganache

• 200 gms dark chocolate ( I used 75% this time but 60% will also do)
• 400 ml heavy cream
• 100 grams sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp flaked sea salt
• 50 grams unsalted butter, cut in cubes

For the simple syrup

• 8 tbsp sugar
• 10 tbsp water
• 1-2 tbsp cointreau

Instructions

For the salted caramel ganache

1. Make the ganache first as it needs a few hours to chill before whipping it.
2. In a medium sized bowl, keep the chocolate chopped and ready. You will be whipping in this bowl, so keep that in mind when choosing your bowl.
3. Place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.
4. Place the sugar in another saucepan and place over medium heat and cook until melted and caramelized to the colour of a rusty penny as Edd describes it.
5. Once caramelized, remove off heat and add the butter and salt and stir to combine. Put it back on heat.
6. Add the cream in two additions, being careful as the cream will splutter a bit. If the cream is not hot enough you may have a couple lumps which will melt if you just pop it back over low heat and stir for a couple minutes.
7. Add in the vanilla. Mix.
8. Pour the hot caramel over the chocolate. Set aside for 3-5 minutes. Stir to form a smooth ganache.
9. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or until thickened. Do not leave it in the refrigerator for too long since it might become too firm to whip up.

For the chocolate cake

1. Grease and line 2 7 inch cake pans with parchment paper.
2. Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F.
3. In a bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the sugar and mix. Make a well, and add in the eggs, oil, buttermilk. Beat for 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the hot coffee. Mix well.
5. Distrubute batter between the two pans. Bake till tester comes out clean. For me it bakes in 18-20 minutes (but my oven temperature is off, so I would suggest check at the 20 minute mark if you are using 7 inch cake pans or needs to bake more).
6. Let the cake cool for 15-20 minutes in the pan till its cool enough to handle. Remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack. If not frosting immediately, once the cakes are completely cool wrap them in cling wrap and keep in an airtight container till ready to use. The cake can be made ahead 2 days in advance, and kept in a dry cool environment till ready to frost.

Simple syrup:

1. In a saucepan add sugar and water.
2. Bring to a boil and stir until all sugar has dissolved. (1-2 minutes)
3. Allow the syrup to cool, then add the cointreau.

Assembly:

1. Remove the ganache from the fridge and use a hand mixer to whisk until pale and fluffy. This will take a couple of minutes, but be careful not to overdo it as whisked ganache can sometimes go grainy.
2. Divide each cake layer in half.
3. On the plate/cake stand you plan to serve, put a small dollop of the whipped ganache and spread it a bit. Place the first layer. Using a brush, brush 2 tbsp of the syrup on the cake. Spread a part of the ganache. I generally eye ball this so excuse if I can not give an exact measurement for the ganache layer.
4. For the second layer, brush 2 tbsp of the syrup on the side that will go on top of the ganache. Place the layer on top of the ganache, and then brush another 2 tbsp of the syrup on the top side of the cake layer. Repeat with ganache and the second cake layer halves.
5. Once layered, frost the top and sides however you like and let set for 1-2 hours before serving.

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