Caramel Mud Cake with a Caramel Buttercream

My little Queen B turned the Big 0 6 months this week, so in true Betti Baker family style we planned a nice dinner followed up with half a cake. Yep thats right half a cake for half a birthday.  Planning to only use half the cake I needed to bake one that freezes really well…mud cakes! 

I've made quite a few chocolate and white chocolate mud cakes in my time, but never a caramel mud cake, so thought that this was the perfect opportunity. In all honesty the caramel mud cake is very very similar to the white, the major difference is in the caramelising of the chocolate mixture, in a white mud cake you just melt the chocolate and butter mixture, in the caramel mud cake you take this mixture a little further and turn it into a caramel sauce. What made this cake truly special was the delicious caramel buttercream.

Caramel Mud Cake 

What you need… 

• 250 grams butter
• 200 gram white chocolate
• 2 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 eggs lightly beaten.
• 2 cups of plain flour
• 2/3 cup self raising flour

How you do it…

• Start by greasing and lining a 22cm deep round tin with baking paper and setting your oven to 150°c.
• Pop your butter, white chocolate, brown sugar and water into a saucepan and put onto a medium heat.
• whisk so it melts together, once it is all melted keep an eye on it and remove from the heat as soon as it turns a light golden colour. Pour into a large mixing bowl and let it cool for at least 15 mins
• Once the mixture has cooled whisk in the eggs and vanilla
• fold in flours and then give a good mix.
• pour into your prepared tin and bake for an hour and a half, or until baked through. *I always check with a clean skewer*
• Let cool completely in the tin.

Caramel Buttercream

What you need…

• 125 gram caster sugar
• 60 mls water
• 80 mls cream
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 160 grams soften butter
• 200 grams icing sugar

How you do it…

• We start by making a caramel sauce.
• In a saucepan over a low to medium heat add your sugar and water, give it a quick whisk then let it sit a start to bubble. Once it turns a golden colour remove from the heat.  The darker the colour the more bitter the caramel, so be careful not to take it too far. 
• Quickly add the cream and whisk fast until completely combined and a smooth caramel.  Set aside while making the buttercream.
• Place the butter into your mix master or use a hand mixer to beat for 5 mins.
• Slowly add the icing sugar, continuing to beat.
• Once all the icing sugar is mixed in beat for another 5 mins until light and fluffy.
• Pour the caramel sauce into the buttercream and use a spatular to mix it together well
  .

Our Caramel buttercream YouTube tutorial