Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting

Caramel, chocolate, a hint of coffee, it's all here!

This year, for the first time, I spent my birthday by myself. With a stay at home order in effect and living several states away from my family, it was inevitable. However, even though I was by myself, I didn’t feel lonely. I got to talk to my family and friends a lot and got many lovely birthday wishes.

However, I realized that if I wanted a birthday cake, I’d either have to run over to the grocery store and get a store-bought cake (which seemed like a bad idea) or I’d have to make one myself. So here’s my fancy quarantine birthday cake, complete with layers and caramel frosting and chocolate cake goodness.

The final result of my cake. It’s not the prettiest, but it was delicious!

You can make this cake as fancy or as simple as you’d like. You can do lots of layers and fancy frosting decorations, or you can just make some cupcakes and dollop frosting on and call it a day. I tried to stick to ingredients and methods that a beginner baker could accomplish. The hardest part is making the caramel, but don’t let it scare you. As long as you keep stirring, you’ll be fine!

If you make this cake, or if you embark on your own baking adventure, let me know how it goes in the comments!

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting

This recipe will make 1 big four-layer cake or 9 three-layer mini cakes, or 12-15 cupcakes

Cake

• 1 ½ cups (185 grams) all-purpose flour

• 1 ½ cups (300 grams) granulated sugar

• ¾ cup (115 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ¾ teaspoon baking powder

• ¾ teaspoons salt

• ¾ cup (175 grams) hot coffee (or hot water, but coffee gives a deeper, richer flavor)

• 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk

• ¾ cup (185 grams) buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, you can use ¾ cup of milk plus ¾ teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar or 1 ¼ teaspoons cream of tartar)

• 55 grams (1/4 cup) vegetable oil

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

• 12 tablespoons (170 grams) unsalted butter

• 1 1/2 cups (320 grams) packed dark brown sugar

• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons (90 grams) heavy cream, plus more as needed

• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 4 cups (500 grams) powdered sugar

It's always good to get your ingredients out before you start baking!

Making the cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay a piece of parchment paper on a 13×18 inch rimmed baking sheet, making sure that excess hangs over the side for easy cake removal. Grease the parchment paper. (If you’re making cupcakes, put the little paper cups in the cupcake tin. You know the drill.)

2. Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl until combined. You can use a stand mixer, hand beaters, or just a spoon for this.

3. Add the eggs and egg yolk, buttermilk, warm water, oil, and vanilla. Beat on a medium speed until smooth.

4. Pour the batter onto the baking sheet, making sure to spread it evenly, especially into the corner. If you’re doing cupcakes, fill the cupcake tins 2/3rds of the way full.

Your batter should come to halfway up the side of the sheet pan, with the parchment paper hanging over the edge.

5. Bake the sheet of cake for 17 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Bake cupcakes for closer to 20 minutes.

6. Let the cake cool a bit and then use the overhanging parchment paper to pull it out of the baking sheet and let it cool completely on a wire rack. If you have extra time, sticking the cake in the freezer for an hour will help firm it up when it comes time to frost. 

Making the frosting

7. In a medium pot, melt the butter over medium heat.

8. Stir in the brown sugar, cream, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook, stirring frequently to prevent scorching or sticking, until it has thickened slightly. This will take about 3 to 4 minutes, and the sugar will really want to stick to the bottom of your pot, so stirring is essential!

9. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and allow to cool. (The caramel will be very hot at this point. As good as it smells, do not try to taste it!)

I couldn’t take a picture of the caramel while also stirring it, but this is what it should look like once it’s done.

10. Once the caramel is at room temperature, add the vanilla. 

11. Fit your electric/stand mixer with the whip attachment, or get out a hand whip, and mix the caramel on low speed for 30 seconds.

12. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix to combine. The frosting should be smooth, creamy and thick, but it’s crystallized and can set up quickly. If needed, the frosting can be thinned to spreadable consistency with additional cream.

Putting it all together

13. If you’re making a layer cake, or mini layer cakes, cut the sheet cake to appropriate size. I just cut the sheet into quarters, but you can also use a cookie/biscuit cutter to make mini cakes, or use whatever round shape you have lying around to make a larger round cake.

14. To build the layer cake, place about 2 tablespoons of frosting on each layer, and stack the cakes three or four layers tall. Use the remaining frosting to frost the outside of the cakes. If you’re doing cupcakes, frost those delicious little treats however you want.

15. For some extra fanciness, you can sprinkle some sea salt on top to add a little zing and crunch.

FAQs

Q: Can I substitute (insert ingredient here) for (insert ingredient here)?

A: Probably. During this time of social distancing and grocery stores being out of random ingredients and people having food allergies, there’s all sorts of ingredients you might need to substitute. Here’s a nifty chart with just about every substitution you could imagine. Just DON’T substitute regular sugar for powdered sugar. I ran out of powdered sugar and my blender broke so I couldn’t make more, and that’s why my frosting looks all weird. It still tasted good, but it had a very grainy texture.

Q: Can I freeze the cake?

A: Yes. Freezing un-frosted cake works a lot better, so if you make more cake than you think you’ll be able to eat, or you’re just in a baking craze and want to prepare for the next several months, let the cake cool to room temperature, wrap it in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then stick it in the freezer. It’ll last about 3-6 months, depending on how tightly you wrap it and keep the moisture out. You can also freeze frosted cake, but the frosting will take on a bit of a weird texture and it won’t last as long.