I've finally jumped on the salted caramel bandwagon. How many years late am I?
One of my brothers gave me the new Primrose Bakery book for Christmas (probably with some not so casual hints from my Mum, hehe) and many a bedtime since then has been happily spent flicking through the pretty pages. I've generally not felt very inspired by the latest baking books for the last year or so (I think the market hit saturation point, there's only so many ways you can pimp up a sponge) but for whatever reason this book really appealed to me.
After the sort-of success of Mum's birthday caramel cake I decided to try the salted caramel cake recipe. The first batch of caramel was, as expected, a bit of a disaster: disgustingly salty and borderline burnt. Luckily I had enough cream for a second attempt and it worked perfectly. If you're unsure about the whole salt and caramel thing like myself, I recommend reducing the salt to 1/2 teaspoon. You can always swap out some of the unsalted butter in the icing for salted if you want to increase the flavour afterwards. It can be added but not taken out.
This cake was soooooo good. The flavour of the salted caramel icing reminded me of the tablet/candy Mum and I make every Christmas; so sweet and fudgy. It was definitely worth swirling the remaining salted caramel sauce on top of the cake for extra flavour, although I have to admit it was hugely tempting just to scoop it up with a big spoon and shove it in my gob. I'm glad I reined in my greediness.
The sponge itself was also pleasingly soft and fluffy. I don't think I've ever used cornflour in a sponge cake before, so that's a new trick for me.
This is definitely a cake to bake again. The memory of that thick, fudgy, caramel icing will be too hard to resist.
Salted caramel cake
Recipe from the new Primrose Bakery book, "Everyday" by Martha Swift:
The only change I made, other than the salt quantity, was not including the caramel chocolates/sweeties for the cake filling and topping. As much as I love caramel chocolates, I thought that would be sweetness overkill.
The only change I made, other than the salt quantity, was not including the caramel chocolates/sweeties for the cake filling and topping. As much as I love caramel chocolates, I thought that would be sweetness overkill.
salted caramel:
100g granulated sugar
3 tblsp water
125ml double cream
1/2 - 1 tsp sea salt (not table salt)
Put the sugar water in a medium pan over a medium heat and wait for the sugar to dissolve. Gently swirl it every so often but don't stir as it will cause the sugar to crystallise. Once dissolved, whack up to a high heat and let the sugar boil until it turns golden in colour.
While the sugar is boiling, put the cream and sea salt in another saucepan over a medium heat and cook until it starts "smoking" - hot but not boiling. Don't let it boil. Once hot turn it down to a low heat and if needed stir to stop a skin forming on top of the cream.
Once the sugar has turned golden take it off the heat and quickly add a small amount of the hot cream whilst stirring with a wooden spoon to prevent any sticking in the saucepan. Add the remaining cream bit by bit, continually stirring, until it's all incorporated. Be careful at this stage as the mixture will be bubbling fiercely. Pour the caramel sauce into a heatproof bowl or jar and set aside to cool.
sponge:
225g golden caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
210g self raising flour
25g cornflour
225g softened unsalted butter
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp milk
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/ Gas 4. Grease two 20cm (8 inch) round cake tins and line the bases with greaseproof paper. Put the sugar, baking powder, flour and cornflour in a large bowl and mix until evenly combined. Add the butter, eggs, vanilla and milk and mix everything together until well combined, about a minute with a handheld or stand mixer. Don't overmix otherwise you'll end up with a heavy sponge.
Spoon the mixture evenly into the cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 25-30 minutes until well risen, golden, springy to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out to finish cooling on a wire rack.
salted caramel butter icing:
150g softened unsalted butter
150g salted caramel sauce
300g icing sugar
Mix the caramel and butter together in a large bowl until smooth. Add the icing sugar and mix for at least a minute until the icing is nice and smooth. Use half of the icing to sandwich the two (cooled) cakes together and the other half to cover the top. Swirl any remaining caramel sauce on top for decoration.