Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cake

This was my first attempt at this flavour combination but I have always liked the sound of it - I just needed the excuse to make a big cake! When my friend announced she was hosting a dinner party I jumped at the chance to make a dessert; and this is the cake I chose to make. I decided to make it in a bundt tin and so chose a recipe especially designed for this cake, so it would be easier to get out of the tin. Although the cake did end up sticking to the tin anyway, it's the sort of cake you can cover up with the icing and it tasted delicious despite this! Definitely worth a try. 

Recipe (from The Pink Whisk)

Cake

• 185g butter, softened
• 330g light muscovado sugar
• 3 eggs, large
• 230g plain flour
• 70g self-raising flour
• 80g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 250ml milk
• 2 tbsps vinegar (malt or white wine)

Salted Caramel Icing

• 70g caster sugar
• 25g light muscovado sugar
• 45g golden syrup
• 100ml double cream
• 25g butter, diced
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 175g icing sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 160c(fan)/180c. Measure the milk for the cake and add vinegar, setting it aside for now. 

Grease the tin, and then cream together the butter and sugar. 

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

To finish, add the flours, cocoa, bicarb of soda and the milk/vinegar mix. Fold together gently until everything is combined. Transfer to the tin.

Bake for around 45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for around half an hour and then transfer onto a wire rack. 

To make the salted caramel sauce, heat together the sugars and syrup until the sugar is melted.

Add the butter, cream and vanilla and stir until combined. Bring it to the boil and simmer for 1 minute. 

Take off the heat and stir in the salt. Add to the icing sugar and mix well. Keep stirring to cool & thicken if it is too runny. However I had the opposite problem, and stirred it for too long meaning it hardened up and was difficult to drizzle neatly. I wish someone could have warned me about this so I will warn you! Drizzle the icing onto the cake and finish with chocolate shavings, I used crumbled up toffee crisp. Enjoy!

 Liddie x