Did I make my own birthday cake?

by admin February 19, 2022

Ope, you betcha I did, ya.

Yes. I am from the Midwest, and darn proud of it! Additionally, I am darn proud of this chocolate cake with caramel filling. Typically, I do not like chocolate cake because they can taste chalky or dry, but this cake that I baked from the America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook was legit moist (no I do not dislike that word, do you?) and so flavorful without being dry.

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Disclosure
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As I write this post, it is my 35th birthday. Happy birthday to me! As I am a stay-at-home mom and my husband Tyler works and we have four kids with three in school, I knew that the only way to get a cake was to either buy one or make it myself. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like the easy way out as much as the next busy mom and I am NOT knocking buying a cake. Please, do not come at me from that. What I mean is, I am allergic to almond and cannot, in good conscience, buy baked goods thinking they will not make me use my EpiPen or have to be rushed to the ER. I have only known about my almond allergy since summer of 2019, and it has been a journey.

I read every food label before I buy them, and if the label says, “may contain Tree Nuts/Almonds”, I cannot consume it. No biggie, right? Well, that is where it gets dicey because just about every product that can be purchased from a bakery has that warning. So, can I trust them? Or should I just give it a go? Personally, I am not willing to risk that chance.

I have four kids you see, and do not want to spend my birthday in the hospital after anaphylaxis. I did spend my birthday in the cardiac ICU with a 6-day old baby Elliana in 2019, and let me tell you, it was not as fun as you’d think. Let’s not repeat that experience, m’kay? I feel like I am getting snarky in my old age. But I digress. Onto cake!

Additionally, as we are on a budget, buying a birthday cake does not entirely fit into that monthly plan. Making a cake is actually really inexpensive and can help to save you quite a bit of money. Having staples in your pantry such as light corn syrup, vanilla, cocoa powder and powdered sugar on hand help to prevent panicking and impulsive purchases while at the store picking up a jar of powdered sugar. If you make a food budget, stick to it, and allow room in your budget for pantry items that you need only on a semi-regular basis.

Why to use heavy cream

This past week when I went grocery shopping, we had heavy cream on the grocery list. There are a few random recipes that I use heavy cream for, like soups, and it is one of the staples that is always in our fridge. Plus, with two birthdays within a week, mine and Elliana’s, having heavy cream to make whipped cream is essential.

Now, picture a freezing cold day and a momma trying to get all the things done with a daughter who did not want to put her coat on. And also, picture trying to take said daughter into our favorite place, ALDI, and do the shopping. When we got to the dairy section, I literally opened those doors with Elliana of course holding them to help mamma and put items in on autopilot. So, this morning as I was making the caramel filling for this cake and opened the fridge looking for that said heavy cream, grabbing the container and placing it on the counter, and JUST realizing it was Half & Half and NOT heavy cream. You’d be amazed at the self-restraint I had with my language. Fiddlesticks was said. Fiddlesticks is not what was thought.

Some of you may know that heavy cream, and NOT Half & Half is required to make caramel. I knew this and still am shocked that the wrong container landed itself in our cart. But again, it was a Monday, and we were crabby.

This is just the reason that I budget, meal plan, grocery plan and make lists all day every day for everything. If it isn’t written down, if I don’t make the list, if the list is not there, mistakes will be made. So, a mistake was made, and I mistakenly bought Half & Half instead of heavy cream. Does it alter the final result of the caramel you may be asking? Stay tuned to the end to find out!

Chocolate-Caramel Layer Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Caramel filling
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 cup heavy cream
8 Tbsp butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp salt

Frosting
16 Tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3/4 tsp vanilla
6 ounces chocolate, melted and cooled
1/4-1/2 tsp coarse sea salt, optional

Directions for the Cake
1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans, flour pans, then place parchment paper in the bottom.
To get the perfect parchment paper size, lay your baking pan on a piece of parchment and draw around the base with a pencil. Cut the circle out, crumble it up, then uncrumple it and lay it in the base of the pan. Crumbling the piece of parchment helps to hold it in place and not roll up on you. Do this for both pans and set aside when done.

2. In a large bowl, sift together flour and cocoa.

3. To the flour mixture, whisk in sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer add water, oil, eggs, and vanilla until combined.
Pro tip- crack your eggs into a separate bowl before adding to your ingredients to make sure you do not have any eggshells in the mixture.

5. Add the buttermilk to the mixture and combine.
If you do not have buttermilk, as I do not regularly purchase it, you can warm 1 Tbsp butter and add to 1 cup of milk, whisking to combine.

6. Whisk flour mixture into buttermilk mixture until a smooth batter forms.

7. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans, smooth the tops with a spatula, and tap on the countertop three times to loosen any air bubbles.

8. Bake for 22-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Rotate and switch the pans in the oven halfway through baking.
9. Remove cake pans from the oven and let them rest to cool on a rack for 15 minutes.
10. Remove cakes from the pans and carefully peel off the parchment from the bottom of each cake, discarding the pieces. Let the cakes cool completely, around 2 hours.

Directions for the caramel filling
1. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan. Set aside.

2. Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook without stirring for 8-10 minutes. Matthew wanted to help make caramel with me this morning. He even let me take his picture!

3. Reduce heat and continue to cook, swirling saucepan occasionally, until it turns a dark amber color, 2-5 minutes. The temperature should reach 375-380 degrees.

4. Take the saucepan off heat and add heavy cream, butter, vanilla, and salt. This mixture will bubble and steam.
As you can see in the second image below, this mixture did not bubble or steam. I was hoping that the Half & Half would have been an okay replacement, as my mistake was terrible and at horrible timing, but alas it was unsuccessful. As a result, the caramel was not fluffy but quite runny, yet surprisingly delicious and still great to drizzle over the cakes.

5. Return saucepan to medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the caramel becomes smooth and reaches a temperature of 240-245 degrees. This can take 3-5 minutes.
This mixture was brought to a boil, reached a temperature of 245 degrees, and still did not form as solid of a caramel as desired. Oh well. Half & Half is NOT ok to make caramel.

6. Carefully transfer caramel to the prepared pan and set aside to cool, 20-30 minutes. Just try not to grab as many spoons as you can to taste test it.

Directions for the frosting
1. In the bowl of a Cuisinart Food Processor, process butter, sugar, cocoa and salt with the blade attachment, for 30 seconds until smooth.

2. Add corn syrup and vanilla and process an additional 5-10 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.

3. Add the chocolate and process until creamy, around 10-15 seconds.
As we did not have chocolate to melt, and I am being a resourceful momma, the Nutella (Hazelnut spread) was busted out of the pantry and used instead of melted chocolate. Folks, let me tell you, this was a WIN! As I am not allergic to hazelnuts, and the ingredients do not list almond, I am able to eat Nutella without a visit to the ER.

Finishing the cake
1. Using a long and serrated knife, score the outside of each cake in a horizontal line around the entire thing. Then, cut each cake into two pieces. If your cake has a bit of a dome, use your knife to level it off so the cake top is flat. These amazing pieces are now at your tasting disposal. I tell the kids that these are for “quality control and if I die, don’t eat the cake”.

2. Line the edges of a cake platter with 3-4 pieces of parchment paper or wax paper. This will help keep your platter clean of frosting while you decorate. These will be removed later.

3. Place one cake layer on top of the pieces of wax paper on the cake stand.

4. Using a rubber spatula or large spoon, scoop 1/3 of the caramel onto the tops of three cake layers, then use an offset spatula to spread the mixture over the surfaces leaving a 1/2-inch boarder around each edge

5. Top with the second and third pieces of caramel covered cake layers.

6. Top the cake with the final cake layer. This piece should not be covered in caramel.

7. Use a spatula to place dollops of frosting onto the top of the cake.

8. Use an offset spatula to spread the frosting evenly on the top and edges of the cake, being careful to not get any crumb in the frosting.

9. Carefully remove pieces of parchment or wax paper.

10. Sprinkle the top of the cake with coarse sea salt and let the cake rest for 1 hour before cutting. Enjoy! I know our family will love taste testing this delicious Chocolate-Caramel Layer Cake!
~Monica

Chocolate-Caramel Layer Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Caramel filling
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 cup heavy cream
8 Tbsp butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp salt
Frosting
16 Tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3/4 tsp vanilla
6 ounces chocolate, melted and cooled
1/4-1/2 tsp coarse sea salt, optional

Directions for the cake
1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans, flour pans, then place parchment paper in the bottom.
To get the perfect parchment paper size, lay your baking pan on a piece of parchment and draw around the base with a pencil. Cut the circle out, crumble it up, then uncrumple it and lay it in the base of the pan. Crumbling the piece of parchment helps to hold it in place and not roll up on you. Do this for both pans and set aside when done.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour and cocoa.
3. To the flour mixture, whisk in sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer, whisk buttermilk, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla until combined.
5. Whisk flour mixture into buttermilk mixture until a smooth batter forms.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans, smooth the tops with a spatula, and tap on the countertop three times to loosen any air bubbles.
7. Bake for 22-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Rotate and switch the pans in the oven halfway through baking.
8. Remove cake pans from the oven and let them rest to cool on a rack for 15 minutes.
9. Remove cakes from the pans and carefully peel off the parchment from the bottom of each cake, discarding the pieces. Let the cakes cool completely, around 2 hours.

Directions for the caramel filling
1. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan. Set aside.
2. Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook without stirring for 8-10 minutes.
3. Reduce heat and continue to cook, swirling saucepan occasionally, until it turns a dark amber color, 2-5 minutes. The temperature should reach 375-380 degrees.
4. Take the saucepan off heat and add heavy cream, butter, vanilla, and salt. This mixture will bubble and steam.
5. Return saucepan to medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the caramel becomes smooth and reaches a temperature of 240-245 degrees. This can take 3-5 minutes.
6. Carefully transfer caramel to the prepared pan and set aside to cool, 20-30 minutes.

Directions for the frosting
1. In the bowl of a Cuisinart Food Processor, process butter, sugar, cocoa and salt with the blade attachment, for 30 seconds until smooth.
2. Add corn syrup and vanilla and process an additional 5-10 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
3. Add the chocolate and process until creamy, around 10-15 seconds.

Finishing the cake
1. Using a long serrated knife, score the outside of each cake in a horizontal line around the entire thing. Then, cut each cake into two pieces.
2. Using a rubber spatula or large spoon, scoop 1/3 of the caramel onto the tops of three cake layers, then use an offset spatula to spread the mixture over the surfaces leaving a 1/2-inch boarder around each edge.
3. Line the edges of a cake platter with 3-4 pieces of parchment paper or wax paper. This will help keep your platter clean of frosting while you decorate. These will be removed later.
4. Place 1 piece of caramel covered cake layers on the cake platter.
5. Top with the second and third pieces of caramel covered cake layers.
6. Top the cake with the final cake layer.
7. Use a spatula to place dollops of frosting onto the top of the cake.
8. Use an offset spatula to spread the frosting evenly on the top and edges of the cake.
9. Carefully remove pieces of parchment or wax paper.
10. Let the cake rest for 1 hour before cutting.
11. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt if using and enjoy!
~Monica