DARK CHOCOLATE CARAMEL CAKE

DARK CHOCOLATE CARAMEL CAKE

CAKE

325 g (625 ml)             cake flour

290 g (350 ml)             sugar

10 ml                           bicarbonate of soda

100g (200 ml)              cacao powder

2,5 ml                          salt

3                                  eggs

350 ml                         sunflower oil

425 ml                         amasi or buttermilk

30 ml                           vinegar or lemon juice

10 ml                           vanilla essence

METHOD:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
• Sieve together the cake flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, cacao and the salt. Mix well
• In another bowl – mix together the eggs, oil, amasi, vinegar and the vanilla.
• Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix it very well to make the batter
• Spoon the batter into 4 greased and lined 20 cm cake tins and bake for ±25 minutes in the pre-heated oven. Cool completely

CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

100 g   dark chocolate, chopped into smaller pieces

60 ml   cream

125 g   butter (I prefer salted butter), cold but not straight out of the fridge

250 g   FULL FAT CREAM CHEESE

350 g   sifted icing sugar

METHOD:

• Melt together the dark chocolate and the cream in a double boiler or in the microwave to make the ganache.  Cool to room temperature
• Beat the butter until light and fluffy.  Add the cream cheese and vanilla and beat until very light and fluffy
• Add the icing sugar and beat well for sugar to dissolve. 
• Lastly beat in the ganache

CARAMEL DRIZZLE

210 g               castor sugar

110 g               butter

60 ml               cream             

METHOD:

• Melt the sugar on very low heat and allow it to caramelise.
• Add the butter, stir all the time to melt and allow to come to a gentle simmer
• Remove from the heat and stir in the cream – mix until smooth and cool down to room temperature (but do not allow to get too cold – test to see if it has a drizzling consistency)

TO ASSEMBLE:

• Spread some frosting between the cake layers – but not on the top layer
• Place in fridge to firm up
• Drizzle the cake with the caramel and top with some caramel chocolate shards
• TIP – to make the shards: Use 100 g easy melt caramel chocolate and melt in a double boiler over very low heat – be patient and do this slowly.  Spread the melted chocolate thinly on silicone or baking paper and roll up.  Place in fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.  Unroll the paper when needed to break off the shards