There is no mere hint of caramel. And no token caramel decoration. You certainly will not find a subtle caramel flavour in this cake. It is bold. It is unashamedly rich. And it superbly showcases caramel in many forms.
From the caramelised cake, to the soft caramel sauce infused buttercream, to the crisp hazelnut praline that crowns this four layer wonder.
Each component is a lesson in the versatility of caramel. Each blends harmoniously to bring you the ultimate caramel cake. This caramel extravaganza comes from the book, Caramel, by Trish Deseine.
It never ceases to amaze me how the simple variation of an ingredient in baking can produce a drastically different result. In this recipe, the simple use of brown sugar results in a sweeter, richer cake than its white sugar counterpart. The sweetness of the cake is amplified with a caramel sauce laced buttercream frosting. Lastly, the hazelnut praline provides the perfect crunch to this caramel cake, complementing the rich, creamy caramel cake and frosting.
This triple caramel feast certainly promises a very sweet start to caramel month. Down to the last caramel bite.
{ Caramel Cake } by Trish Deseine
Cake
* Ingredients *
3 ½ cup plain flour
1 ½ cup less 2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons white superfine sugar
8 eggs
2 cups salted butter
2 teaspoons baking powder
* Directions *
Preheat oven to 180C or 350 F. Spray and flour 2 x 22cm or 9” cake pans. Put all cake ingredients into bowl of mixer, mix until you have a smooth, creamy batter. Divide mixture equally into two cake pans. Smooth with spatula and bake 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Toothpick or tester should come out clean.
Buttercream
* Ingredients *
675g or 1 ½ lb powdered sugar
1 ½ cup unsalted butter
5 tablespoons caramel sauce
4 tablespoons marscapone
* Directions *
Beat powdered sugar and butter until smooth. Add caramel sauce and marscapone and beat together. Allow to set up for a few minutes in the fridge. Save about 1/3 of butter cream for top layer of cake. Use remaining buttercream to frost the other 3 layers.
Hazelnut Praline
* Ingredients *
1 cup toasted hazelnuts
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet and bake at 180C or 350F for 8 minutes until they start to turn golden. Let cool. Heat the sugar and water in a pan over medium heat. Continue to stir until mixture turns an amber caramel color (10-15 minutes). Pour hot caramel over hazelnuts. Let cool, then break caramel into small pieces.
* Assembly *
Cut two cake layers in half horizontally to make 4 layers.
Spread buttercream on tops only, of first three cake layers, stacking them, and saving 1/3 of buttercream for top of fourth layer. Let frosted cake chill.
Top with hazelnut praline. Optional – before serving, heat some caramel sauce and drizzle over the top, letting it run down the sides.
October 2, 2009 at 12:31 am
Oh, yeah! :)))))
October 2, 2009 at 2:30 am
This looks awesome!!!
October 2, 2009 at 2:46 am
Fantastic! Totally to die for, wow!
Cheers,
Rosa
October 2, 2009 at 4:59 am
This is amazing, Julia! What a great way to kick off the month. The directions are shorter than I would’ve expected too.
October 2, 2009 at 5:58 am
ohh my!! this is a work of art and looks so good. I m drooling all over the keyboard 🙂
October 2, 2009 at 6:22 am
WOW ! Talk about starting with a blast of caramel !!
You know Trish is my favorite, and I am so so glad I talked you into getting her book. Just look at the results above – divine divine divine. My eyes popped out in awe at that photo of the whole cake on its stand with the dark background… superb. Bravo ! Wow again !
October 2, 2009 at 8:05 am
Holy cow! That is the mother of all caramel cakes…amazing! It’s great that you’re kicking off the caramel theme all guns blazing 😀
October 2, 2009 at 9:52 am
WOW! What a start! I wonder what the rest of the month would be like.. Will there be some confectionery?
October 2, 2009 at 9:55 am
I love that you’ve only iced the cake scantly – it lets the beautiful colours of the layers come through so well! And my oh my we’ll have to book ourselves in for a dental appointment at the end of this month won’t we? I’m sure I won’t have any restraint at all when it comes to creating and eating one of your caramel month beauties 🙂
October 2, 2009 at 11:15 am
That is a beautiful cake- caramel overload 🙂 Actually when I read caramel cake, I always think of the Southern United States one, but this is an interesting variation!
October 2, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Simply irresistible!!!!
October 2, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Caramel heaven!!!! Is it care-a-mel or car-a-mel?
October 3, 2009 at 12:03 am
Wow…. that is an unbelievable cake! As I was reading the description I couldn’t help but think how long the instructions would be – what a nice surprise to see that was not the case! I had never thought about all the different ways caramel could be used and am thinking this is a must try!
You have started Caramel Month strong – can’t wait to see what’s next!
Thanks for sharing!
October 3, 2009 at 12:27 am
Out of the blocks and she’s flying! Way to go Julia, such a stunner of a cake. Can just imagine each mouthful a contrast of textures – yum!
October 3, 2009 at 4:48 am
Welcome back… and the cake is super stunning, like how the mascarpone sort of marbled all around…
ps:no honeymoon pics?
October 3, 2009 at 1:02 pm
That cake is a feast to eye and to my stomach. Welcome back too.
October 4, 2009 at 12:06 am
wow – that looks amazing
October 5, 2009 at 4:56 am
you are softly killing me!
October 6, 2009 at 1:56 pm
This looks superb!!! I love caramel, so I am sure that I would love this cake.
October 6, 2009 at 2:10 pm
This cake looks exactly how I imagine a caramel month should begin! It looks absolutely delicious and I love your beautiful pictures. I’m looking forward to following your caramel days this month! 🙂
October 6, 2009 at 11:03 pm
I think I’m already in love with Caramel Month. The intricacies and complexities of it are just lovely, and that cake looks fantastically delicious!
October 7, 2009 at 11:03 am
I have been lurking here awhile, enjoying your fabulous blog. Finally I decided to cook along with you. I made this for a friend’s birthday yesterday and wow, sinfully rich! The only change was to use macadamias instead of hazelnuts, as I have a ‘source’ and am always looking for ways to use them up, so I don’t eat them all on my own (a macadamia plus a piece of 70% Lindt is heaven on earth). I’m just checking the pans you used. I used 2 x 22cm pans, but they were too shallow so the cakes domed. Do you use the deeper pans, as for fruitcakes, rather than the sandwich(?) pans? It’s great to see a top notch food blogger from Brisbane. I’m looking forward to sseing what you have lined up for us for the rest of Caramel Month!
October 7, 2009 at 12:17 pm
[…] but David incorporates crunchy caramel throughout the churning process at the end. After the triple caramel feast, I elected to keep things simple, enjoying the single caramel overtones of the ice cream custard in […]
October 7, 2009 at 10:06 pm
all i can say is wow!!
October 8, 2009 at 6:37 am
Welcome back and congratulations once again.
I’ve just gone to heaven. What a beautiful looking cake. Your description is delightful and no doubt the taste is too. You certainly have captured the essence and put it into words.
October 10, 2009 at 7:42 pm
oh my god … ^^ love it!!! XOXO
October 11, 2009 at 1:45 pm
WOW. This cake looks unbelievably delicious, and is SO beautiful!!!
October 25, 2009 at 8:40 pm
this looks superb. THE perfect caramel cake. x
October 31, 2009 at 9:50 pm
[…] :: Triple Caramel Cake :: It is bold. It is unashamedly rich. And it superbly showcases caramel in many forms. From the caramelised cake, to the soft caramel sauce infused buttercream, to the crisp hazelnut praline that crowns this four layer wonder. { Recipe here … } […]
November 2, 2009 at 6:55 pm
There is something to be addicted to your house, with all the caramel, hum…!
PS: Thank you for your passage and your nice message! Bye