A friend asked if I could make a cake for her daughter’s birthday. Her only stipulation was that it had to be chocolate and had to feature my brownie cookies somewhere as her daughter loves them!!!
So after many doodles in my notebook I decided on my signature chocolate cake and a caramel buttercream. I made some smaller brownie cookies and a giant one in the cake tin I made the cakes in.
This cake has a layer of cake then the buttercream then the giant brownie cookie and more buttercream and then another layer of cake! So three layers in total but it is a 6” cake so not too big!
I was really pleased with how it turned out and my friend and her daughter said it was amazing so I can say it was definitely a success.
To make the cake:
Start by pre-heating the oven 180 degrees centigrade (160 fan) Gas Mark 4, then line and grease 2 x 6 inch tins. You only need to line the base of the tins for the cakes.
Weigh all the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer then make a well in the middle and add all the wet ingredients and beat until combined. It is a runny mixture but this is how it should be.
Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to slightly cool in the tins then transfer to a cooling rack.
To make the brownies:
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (160 fan)
Line a baking tray with baking parchment and line and grease a 6“ tin with baking parchment on the base and the sides.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a small pan, on a low heat until the butter and chocolate are fully melted. Set aside to cool.
In the bowl of a stand mixer whisk together the eggs, caster sugar, light brown sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.
With the whisk running pour in the cooled melted chocolate mixture until fully combined.
Then add the flour and baking powder and whisk again until the flour can no longer be seen.
Finally fold in the chocolate chips.
Pour enough mixture into the 6” tin so that it just covers the bottom of the tin.
Then with the remaining mixture spoon it onto the baking tray. Use a spoon and drop it onto the parchment. I made different sizes for decoration on the top of the cake.
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes and the large cookie for 15 minutes. They are ready when they crack and have a shine on the top.
Leave the cookies to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes and the giant cookie in the tin until set enough to move them to a wire cooling rack.
To make the icing:
Next to make the icing beat the butter until light and fluffy then add the sieved icing sugar, caramel and milk gradually until the icing is at consistency you can spread.
Building the cake:
Now place one of the cakes on the board, plate or cake stand you want to use.
Spread a layer of buttercream or pipe it on top of the cake then place the large brownie cookie on top then repeat with the second cake.
Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides.
Add the mini brownie cookies to decorate. I cut some in half for the front of the cake then added some candles.
Chocolate, Caramel and Brownie Cake
Sarah’s servings: 8
Baking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
Cake 200g Plain Flour
2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
150g Caster Sugar
40g Golden Syrup
2 Large Eggs
150 ml Vegetable Oil
150 ml Milk
Brownie
150g Cooking Chocolate
75g Butter
2 Large eggs
105g Caster sugar
100g Light brown sugar
1tsp Vanilla extract
95g Plain flour
25g Cocoa powder
1tsp Baking powder
100g Dark chocolate chips
Icing
200g Soft unsalted butter
50g Carnation caramel
400g Sieved icing sugar
1 Tbsp Milk (if needed)
Method:
To make the cake:
Preheat oven 180 degrees centigrade (160 fan) Gas Mark 4.
Line and grease 2 x 6 inch tins.
Weigh all the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer then make a well in the middle and add all the wet ingredients and beat until combined. It is a runny mixture but this is how it should be.
Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to slightly cool in the tins then transfer to a cooling rack.
To make the brownies:
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (160 fan)
Line a baking tray with baking parchment and line and grease a 6“ tin with baking parchment on the base and the sides.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a small pan, on a low heat until the butter and chocolate are fully melted. Set aside to cool.
In the bowl of a stand mixer whisk together the eggs, caster sugar, light brown sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.
With the whisk running pour in the cooled melted chocolate mixture until fully combined.
Then add the flour and baking powder and whisk again until the flour can no longer be seen.
Finally fold in the chocolate chips.
Pour enough mixture into the 6” tin so that it just covers the bottom of the tin.
Then with the remaining mixture spoon it onto the baking tray. Use a spoon and drop it onto the parchment. I made different sizes for decoration on the top of the cake.
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes and the large cookie for 15 minutes. They are ready when they crack and have a shine on the top.
Leave the cookies to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes and the giant cookie in the tin until set enough to move them to a wire cooling rack.
To make the icing:
Next to make the icing beat the butter until light and fluffy then add icing sugar, caramel and milk if needed so the icing is at consistency you can spread.
Building the cake:
Now place one of the cakes on the board, plate or cake stand you want to use.
Spread a layer of buttercream on top of the cake then place the large brownie cookie on top then repeat with the second cake.
Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides.
Add the mini brownie cookies to decorate.
Sarah’s extra slice…….
You can make the cookies any size you want and could cover the sides with mini ones if you wanted.
Make sure you use a good quality cooking chocolate for the brownie cookies.
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