Recipe and Tutorial: Double Chocolate Caramel Cake

Double Chocolate Caramel Cake...mmmmm, that just *sounds* so tasty, doesn't it??
Let me tell you, it's even more delicious than it sounds! This cake will bring the house down when it comes to packing a flavour punch; if you have a caramel-lover in your family (even if it just you!), you simply HAVE to make this. Your waistline will hate me, but your tastebuds will love me...heh heh...

Feel free to decorate the outside of your cake any which way you like; I happened to have chocolate shavings on hand when I made the cake shown in the picture below, but this cake is just as yummy without them. I also apologise for the less-than-perfect decorating; this picture is a few years old now, and my baking and cake decorating skills have come a long way since then!

Since I'm a purist when it comes to baking, I like to make my own caramel and simple syrup for this cake, and so I've added those recipes below.  This cake takes a little longer to make due to the four recipes from scratch, but an easy way to reduce the time it takes to make this would be to make your simple syrup and caramel in advance. Both of these can be kept refrigerated for a while (caramel for up to 2 weeks, and simple syrup for up to 3 months). Just be sure to warm up your caramel to room temp well before you need it so it will be in more of a pouring consistency.

Double Chocolate Caramel Cake

Yield:  Two 9” rounds or 18-24 standard cupcakes

*Note: All ingredients are presumed to be room temperature*

• 3 cups AP flour
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 4 tbsp Dutch-process cocoa
• 4 tbsp brut cocoa
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1¼ tsp salt
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp white vinegar or lemon juice
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups lukewarm buttermilk/soured milk/coconut milk/thinned evaporated milk with lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Use ungreased, heavy-duty non-stick baking pans for this recipe. If heavy-duty pans are unavailable, double-pan to avoid burning.
2. Sift brown sugar separately; discard lumps.  Add to all other dry ingredients and sift into large bowl; stir well to blend. 
3. Mix vanilla, vinegar, and melted butter in a measuring cup; dig a hole in the dry ingredients and pour the liquid into it.  Pour buttermilk over all, stir and blend until smooth and no flour is showing; do not over-mix or batter will toughen. 
4. Pour into pans immediately and smooth, then bake in centre of oven for approximately 30 minutes, turning and rotating pans halfway through baking.  Cool in pan on cooling racks for 15 minutes, then de-mold on rack to cool completely.

Simple Syrup

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

While cake is baking, bring sugar and water to a boil on stovetop; boil rapidly for one minute, then take off heat and allow to cool completely. Stir in vanilla extract.

Caramel

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1. In a medium stainless steel saucepan with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand.
2. Brush down any stray sugar crystals on sides of pan with wet pastry brush.
3. With heat on high, cook sugar water to boiling, until colour appears here and there in pan. Note, this will be a slow...slow...slow...quickquickquick! process, so keep an eye on your pan AT ALL TIMES. Do not stir the sugar water as it boils, or this may cause crystallization. Swirl pan gently until sugar syrup colour is deep golden brown.
4. Take pan off heat, and very carefully whisk in cream. Caramel will foam up very quickly! (this is why you need a high-sided pan). This step can be dangerous -- boiling sugar is extremely hot! -- so have long sleeves on and prepared to step back.
5. Put pan back on medium heat and whisk until it has reduced slightly and has a creamy, thick consistency. Turn off heat, add vanilla and stir in until thoroughly dissolved; allow to cool completely.

(For safety reasons, I recommend you have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin).

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

• 2 cups/500mL unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 egg yolk (optional)
• 12 oz/750g bittersweet/semisweet chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled to room temp
• 2 tsp/10mL vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp/1mL salt
• 2 ½ cups/625mL icing sugar, sifted

1. Beat butter on high speed, scraping sides frequently, until light and fluffy. Reduce speed and beat in egg yolk.
2. Add melted chocolate and mix in.
3. Add vanilla, salt, and icing sugar. and beat until smooth.

Assembly

1. Level (cut off domed tops, if applicable) and torte (cut in half horizontally) both chocolate cake layers; using a pastry brush, "baste" each cut layer with simple syrup on top (don't soak the layers, but use enough to make top of cake a little moist).
2. Place one layer, basted side up, on cake plate or cake board; slather with about 1/2 cup chocolate buttercream and level top and sides. Drizzle a quantity of completely cooled caramel sauce over top of frosting, reserving 1/2 cup for final frosting layer. Repeat with two more layers, then place top (last) layer. 
3. Crumb coat (thin layer of frosting to hold any crumbs in) top and sides of cake; chill in fridge for at least 20 minutes.
4. Frost top and sides with final layer of buttercream frosting. Decorate as desired; drizzle reserved caramel sauce over cake in desired pattern.

Recipe and Tutorial: Espresso Chocolate Almond Biscotti

A confession: I'm a huge lover of soft, almost gooey cookies; for example, I love biting into a soft, super chocolatey, chocolate chip cookie, and letting the aromas and flavours of good quality chocolate and vanilla roll around on my tongue. How could people not love the intense flavour melding with a gooey cookie?

In other words, I am not so much of a fan of the crunchy cookies.  I always manage to drop bits of them on me, and I'm always worried that I look like Cookie Monster when I eat them. There is simply no way to look dainty eating a cookie that crumbles away in your hand as you try to consume it.

Having said that, I firmly believe in "different strokes for different folks", and my lesser-enjoyed cookie may well be another's favourite ever-EVAR.  So is the case for biscotti.  I cannot envision a time where I would make biscotti for myself as a treat (though I discount nothing), but some of my clients are positively gaga for them, and will order those over virtually anything else I could offer them. 

**shrug**

The recipe below is one I developed recently for a specific client, to have a bit of a "change up" from the same two biscotti recipes he orders from me every few weeks. In fact, I made some for him just a few days ago, and he was such a huge fan, he opened a package right then and there and started offering them out to his clients on the spot. There's no better advertising than a huge, goofy grin and "yum" face as someone eats something you baked for them!

Give them a try, if you like a crispy, crunchy cookie that is strong enough for you to dip in your latte or espresso; keep in mind, however, that as light in colour as they look, they are actually *very* intense and on the bitter-chocolate side in flavour.

Espresso Chocolate Almond Biscotti 

Prep Time: 25min | Bake Time: 40min + 20min | Cool Time: 20min + 30min

Yield: 24 biscotti

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, room temp
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 ¼ cups pastry flour
• 1tsp baking powder              
• 1 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1 cup milk or dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup slivered or whole almonds, blanched
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a heavy duty cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cream together butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. Sift together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and almonds.
4. Shape dough into one large, flat log approximately 18 inches long by 8 inches diameter. Place log on baking sheet, and flatten out to about 3/4" thickness. Brush with the beaten egg white.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until edges are golden and the center is firm, about 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking. Remove from oven to cool on the pans for about 15 minutes.
   Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for second baking.
6. When loaf is cool enough to handle, use a serrated knife to slice into 1/2" thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet, spread apart from one another by 1/4".
7. Bake in reduced heat oven about 15-20 minutes, or until they start to turn light brown on the edges. Cool completely, and store in an airtight container at room temperature.

 

Recipe and Tutorial: Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee Biscotti

Hoo boy! I am giving you the recipe for one of the most delicious cookies in my arsenal!

...hmmm, arsenal....why does that word look so RUDE?  I don't want to talk about cookies in my arsenal....I think I need food. My mind wanders when it's hungry.

Back to the point!  Yes, these biscotti are frelling delicious! They are so deep, dark and chocolatey, and the toasted hazelnuts work well with the toffee and chocolate....it's like a grownup's Nutella With a little twist.

This is a 5kg jar of Nutella. WTH.

Although from what I've seen of those friends around me who grew up with Nutella and are still horribly addicted to it to this day, Nutella is the grownup's Nutella. Doing a quick, casual Google image search for Nutella indicates that people are deeply bug-nutty for this stuff.  I was brought up in a British household, peeples...the closest I ever got to Nutella was peanut butter.  I had never even heard of hazelnuts until I was in my twenties.

Again with the wanderings!  Sorry. I really need some food. But I'll pass on the Nutella if I could have a plate of these Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee Biscotti...mmmm...

Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee Biscotti 

Yield: about 30 biscotti

• 1 cup (150 g) toasted and chopped hazelnuts
• 4 ounces (120 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup (210 g) firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 ¾ cups (230 g) all-purpose flour
• ¹/₃ cup (30 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon (4 g) instant espresso powder
• 1 teaspoon (5 g) baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup toffee bits

Topping:

• 1 egg white, lightly whisked
• ¼ cup white sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177˚ C). To toast hazelnuts: spread on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned and the skins begin to blister and peel. Remove from oven and place the nuts in a clean dish towel. Roll up the towel and let the nuts 'steam' for 5 minutes and then briskly rub the towel (with nuts inside) to remove the skins from the nuts.  Cool and then chop coarsely.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300˚ F (150˚ C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a food processor, fitted with a metal blade, place the coarsely chopped chocolate and brown sugar and process until the chocolate is very fine.

In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda and salt.

Beat the eggs and vanilla extract until combined (about 30 seconds). Add the chocolate/sugar mixture and the flour mixture and beat until a stiff dough forms, adding the hazelnuts and toffee bits about half way through mixing.
 


Scrape bowl and, with floured hands, divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface roll each half into a log about 10” long, 4” wide and 1” tall. Transfer the logs to the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 3” apart. Lightly whisk the egg white with a tablespoon of water, and brush over tops and sides of logs, coating sparingly but evenly.  Sprinkle both logs immediately with sanding sugar.

Bake until almost firm to the touch, about 35 - 40 minutes (logs will spread during baking). Remove from the oven, place on wire rack, and let cool for 10 minutes.

Using a long spatula transfer the logs to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife cut the dough into slices 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick. 

 
Arrange the slices standing on-end on the baking sheet and bake 15 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet(s) and bake for another 15 minutes, or until crisp and dry. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack. 

Store in an airtight container for several weeks.

Blast from the Past: A Very Special Wedding Cake Commission

Reposted and updated from my previous blog, Chronic Masterbakers:

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I've been thinking a lot about the past lately; I nearly splorted when I realized it has been over 18 months since my beautiful, smart, uber-rational baby sister married the love of her life in a lovely winter wedding ceremony in February 2012.

I was so pleased and honoured to be asked to make their wedding cake when they first announced their engagement the previous fall. What followed was a fun and informative journey into wedding cake research and formulation of a decision-making process for a wedding cake.

Eventually, after researching many different cake styles and pictures in books and online, they decided on a 9″ round top "bride and groom" cake, and 75 individual wedding cakelets (not to be mistaken for cupcakes, thankyouverymuch) for the guests.

Each cakelet and the main cake had a deep, dark chocolate bottom layer split with vanilla frosting, and the top was a vanilla bean layer split with milk chocolate frosting.  The two were combined and crumb-coated with more vanilla frosting to make a cakelet that was just about 4″ tall.

Each cakelet was covered with handmade white chocolate molding “clay”, then covered with pure white rolled fondant, and placed on its own little 3″ round silvered cake plate.

The cakelet decor was kept relatively simple, with several hundred handmade gumpaste snowflakes in three sizes and four shades of sparkly glitter, from pearlized white to two shades of silver to black.

Each cakelet had a ruby red ribbon around the base, mirroring the bridal gown’s deep ruby red back slit and corset, and ruby floral embroidering along the front bodice and sparkly gems and sequins.  Each cakelet was also pearlized, then decorated uniquely from the others, with the different sizes and colours of gumpaste snowflakes, and large black and red sugar pearls.
The main cake was left plain, with the exception of a ruby red gauze wired ribbon around the base and a handmade bouquet of fabric roses for the top.

All in all, it took me 3 months to help the happy couple plan and sign off on the cake design, a few more weeks to research and locate the items/ingredients required, and then a full week to make, decorate, and assemble the final product, which was ready for pickup by the wedding planner the morning before the wedding.

So, anyone who tells you that a wedding cake is a waste of money, obviously hasn't seen all the work that goes into making one (hint: a LOT!).

I love hearing from our readers!  If you have any questions, comments or requests, please don’t hesitate to leave me a comment below!