Caramel chocolate cake

Do you know that moment when you're out to eat and everyone takes a bite of dessert and a brief moment of silence takes over the table as pure bliss passes over everyone's taste buds?

This cake will do that to you.

It's a chocolate cake filled with the most perfect caramel layers and frosted with a dense, deeply rich chocolate frosting. Oh, and a sprinkling of Maldon salt, because that's my jam.

I won't lie⁠—this cake is not for beginners. (As Matty Matheson says, it's a BIG DOG recipe.)

First off, there are multiple components, including a caramel that needs to be cooked to a precise temperature so that it's not too liquidy but doesn't turn into a hard candy. I also found the cake a bit challenging to work with in the assembly process.

I wasn't sure if I should include the recipe below, but in the end the final cake was so delicious I want to have a record of the combo for myself. Feel free to use whatever chocolate cake recipe you want.

But if you want that show stopper of a dessert that people will not believe came out of your kitchen, this might be it.

Yours in showing off to your friends and family with the most decadent recipes,
Jacqueline

Caramel chocolate cake, from Cooks Illustrated

I did have issues with the actual cake component of this recipe, as it had a lot of large holes in it and I felt like it wanted to fall apart when splitting the layers. I'm not sure if it was because I replaced the buttermilk with its common substitute of milk+vinegar, so I'd recommend using actual buttermilk. In the end you may want to make this with your favorite chocolate cake recipe instead. Some of my favorites are my old fashioned layer cake and Hershey's layer cake. 

The caramel layers and chocolate frosting are incredible though! This frosting is so unlike any I've made before and it was not only delicious but an absolute DREAM to work with. Soooo smooooooth. And it seemed like a lot of sugar in the frosting, but even my dark-chocolate loving self didn't find the frosting too sweet. (It is a tad sweet, but it worked great with the rest of the components of the cake.)

You can also prepare this cake over 2 days. On day 1 prepare the cake and cool overnight. One day 2, prepare the caramel filling and frosting and assemble your cake. The cake can also be made and assembled up to 2 days before; just make sure you have at least 5 hours for the cake to come to room temperature the day of serving.

Ingredients

Cake
1 ½ cups (7 ½ ounces) all-purpose flour
¾ cup (2 ¼ ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ cups (10 ½ ounces) granulated sugar
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
¾ cup buttermilk (do not substitute with acidulated milk)
½ cup water
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Caramel Filling
1 ¼ cups (8 ¾ ounces) granulated sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
¼ cup water
1 cup heavy cream
8 TBSP unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ tsp salt

Frosting
16 TBSP unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup (3 ounces) confectioners' sugar
½ cup (1 ½ ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch salt
½ cup light corn syrup
¾ tsp vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

For serving: coarse sea salt

Directions

1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, grease parchment, and flour pans. (Alternatively, spray the pans using baking spray with flour, line with parchment, and spray again.)
2. In a large bowl, sift flour and cocoa. Whisk in sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a second bowl, whisk buttermilk, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla together. 
4. Whisk buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until smooth batter forms. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and smooth tops with rubber spatula.
5. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 22 to 28 minutes, switching and rotating pans halfway through baking. Let cakes cool in pans on wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove cakes from pans, discarding parchment, and let cool completely on rack, at least 2 hours.
6. FOR THE CARAMEL FILLING: Lightly grease 8-inch square baking pan. 
7. Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in medium saucepan (heavy bottomed). Bring to boil over medium-high heat and cook, without stirring, until mixture is amber colored, 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, swirling saucepan occasionally, until dark amber, 2 to 5 minutes longer. Caramel will register between 375 and 380 degrees. (Note: I strongly recommend measuring the temperature of the caramel instead of going by time or eyesight.)
8. Off heat, carefully stir in cream, butter, vanilla, and salt (mixture will bubble and steam so be careful). Return saucepan to medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until smooth and caramel reaches 240 to 245 degrees; this can take anywhere from 3 to 10+ minutes. 
9. Carefully transfer caramel to prepared pan and let cool until just warm to touch (100 to 105 degrees), 20 to 30 minutes.
10. FOR THE FROSTING: Process butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add corn syrup and vanilla and process until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl, then add chocolate and pulse until smooth and creamy, 10 to 15 seconds. (Frosting can be made 3 hours in advance. For longer storage, cover and refrigerate frosting. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before using.)
11. TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE: Using long serrated knife, cut each cake layer into 2 even layers. Cut off any "domes" from the tops of your cakes so that the layers are all flat. (Snack on those delicious cake scraps!) Place all 4 cake layers on your countertop, as we'll top 3 of them separately with the caramel before assembling.
12. Using rubber spatula or large spoon, transfer 1/3 of caramel to center of 1 cake layer and use small offset spatula to spread over surface, leaving 1/2-inch border around edge. Repeat with remaining caramel and 2 of remaining cake layers. (Three of your cake layers should be topped with caramel and the 4th will be plain.)
13. Line edges of a cake platter with 4 strips of parchment to keep platter clean. Place 1 caramel-covered cake layer on platter. Top with second caramel-covered layer. Repeat with third caramel-covered layer and top with final (plain) layer. 
14. If you have time, I would highly recommend placing this assembled cake in your fridge to harden slightly before frosting. Check on the cake after 5-10 minutes; if any layers have started to "slide" around a bit you can use your hands to straighten the layers. Once the cake looks like there are no more shifting issues, proceed to the next step.
15. Spread frosting evenly over sides and top of cake. Use your spatula or spoon to get creative with the decoration! If you have time, I'd recommend using a "crumb coat" of frosting if you want your cake to look extra perfect and without any cake crumbs getting mixed in (ie, apply a thin layer of frosting to your whole cake, refrigerate until firm, and then frost the rest of the cake with your frosting). 
16. Once cake has been frosted, carefully remove the parchment strips. Let cake stand for at least 1 hour. 
17. Cake can be made 2 days in advance and refrigerated. Let stand at room temperature for at least 5 hours before serving. 
18. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, if using. Cut and serve.

If you made it all the way to the end of the recipe I'll leave you with this "moody shot" of the cake: