Since the thanksgiving tablescape was such a hit on social media or more importantly with me- it came out exactly how I envisioned it to (which does not always happen), I was under immense pressure for the Christmas tablescape. And since I had already announced I will be sharing it on the blog and social media channels there was no turning back. I would have liked this post to have gone live middle of last week, but by now you know how I delay things. The cold did not help either. Neither did final cut pro freezing on me several times while editing the videos. Nor did my mood (details on the instagram post). But here we are today, live with my Christmas decor DIY post.
For Christmas, I wanted to be a little more hands on with the decorations. I took to pinterest to find inspiration and found so much. Which can be a blessing and a curse. I wanted to do it all. But then there’s only so much one can do. I narrowed it to Air Dry Clay Ornaments, Clay candle houses, DIY White Yarn Trees and a christmas wreath.
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 🙂
A fall inspired thanksgiving tablescape with details on where to source the decor items for your own tablescape in India plus a video tutorial to set your own tablescape
The plan was to have this fall inspired thanksgiving tablescape go live at least a week earlier, but well things did not go as planned. We were not at home half of November, and before that work had kept me busy so the shoot got delayed and hence the post too. I do hope the post still gives you some idea/inspiration about how to set your table, or at least you get to save it for applying the tips next year. Thanks to 2020, things have been smaller in scale but just because its going to be a small gathering does not mean you can not make your place festive enough.
I know you might not believe it, given this last minute post, I actually started prepping for this year’s festive season last year. Last season I realized in terms of festive props, I did not have many, and as a stylist that can be a big problem. Especially since most festive shoots happen way in advance when festive decor stuff is not on the retail shelf yet. Also, since thanksgiving/halloween is not that big here in India, it means traditional decor stuff needs to be ordered online or DIY’ed which might take time. That in turn means either tell the client they will have to make do with what’s available or beg/borrow/steal from other stylist or prop houses (which in Delhi are not many and can be out of the client’s budget).
While the prep did start last year, the month of October is generally busy with client shoots since festive season shoots are at a peak. I had all plans to make content around Halloween and then Diwali but work kept me super busy last month. And even though I had planned out and prepped for the Thanksgiving tablescape way in advance, I just made it in time with the blog post. For Christmas though I am hoping to be better – not only with the tablescape but also with the recipes.
Although late, I still wanted to do this tablescape post mainly because I want to highlight some Indian brands plus brands available in India that are doing really good stuff in the decor department. As a stylist I am always looking for recommendations and thought this post might be helpful if you are ever in my position. Delhi people can avoid shipping time and actually visit the stores, but with Covid cases rising ordering the stuff online and getting delivered to your doorstep might be a better option. This post is not a sponsored post , but more of an appreciation post that thanks to them I was able to set up a fall inspired thanksgiving tablescape that I had envisioned.
