Caramel Vanilla Latte Cake
Ingredients:
Cake Ingredients:
1 small jar Caramel Sauce *This isn’t used until assembly of the cake
1 ½ sticks 169g unsalted butter, softened slightly
1 cup 200g sugar
½ cup 108g brown sugar (firmly pack the brown sugar into the cup)
4 large eggs, room temperature ( if cold, the eggs can be placed in a bowl with warm water for a few minutes)
2 ¾ cups 312g cake flour **(if you do not have cake flour see substitution below)
1 teaspoon 6g salt
2 ½ teaspoons 12g baking powder
1 cup 242g milk
1 Tablespoon 4g instant espresso powder (or instant coffee granules) dissolved in 1 Tablespoon hot water
2 teaspoons 8g vanilla extract
¼ cup 53g vegetable oil
Vanilla Latte Buttercream:
2 sticks 226g unsalted butter, slightly softened
6 cups 690g powdered sugar
2 teaspoons 4g instant espresso powder (or coffee granules) dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water
2 teaspoons 8g vanilla extract
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons 80g heavy cream, more if needed to reach desired spreading consistency
½ teaspoon 3g salt to cut sweetness (optional). Popcorn salt will dissolve more easily because of its fine grain
Cinnamon optional: Add a sprinkle of cinnamon over the top of the cake if desired.
Directions:
For the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans. Place a circle of parchment paper or wax paper in the bottom of each pan.
In a medium bowl, add the milk, coffee, vanilla, and vegetable oil. Set aside.
In the bowl of your mixer, cream the softened butter. Slowly add the sugar and beat at medium speed for 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow streaks are blended in.
Add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with dry ingredients (3 additions of dry and 2 of wet). Do not overmix.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Check at 20 minutes. It is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes, then turn out.
The recipe makes 6 ½ cups of batter.
Works well for cupcakes; the cupcakes will have a very slight dome
For the Vanilla Latte Buttercream:
{*A quick note. I piped a few stars of vanilla buttercream around the top of my finished cake for a bit of a color contrast. If you would like to do the same, do not add the espresso to the frosting recipe until the second round of mixing, which is the last few minutes of mixing on low speed.}
In the bowl of your mixer, mix the softened butter until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar along with the cream, vanilla, salt, and espresso.
Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes (longer if using a hand mixer), adding more liquid if needed to reach the desired spreading consistency.
Reduce the speed of the mixer to low and mix for 3 minutes or more until the buttercream is creamy and smooth.
To Assemble the Cake:
Place the first cake layer onto your pedestal or cake base. Pipe a dam of buttercream around the layer. Spread a thin layer of caramel. Follow with the Vanilla Latte Buttercream filling. Add another cake layer & repeat.
Frost the cake as desired with Vanilla Latte Buttercream. Drizzle caramel around edges and top. (I used a piping bag with the end snipped away for the caramel drizzle.)
If you wish, you can apply Vanilla Buttercream stars around the top edge. (I did so with an Ateco 863)
Notes:
***If you do not have cake flour, you can make your own. Substitution for cake flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of the all-purpose flour (plain) and replace it with 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch. For this recipe, remove 5 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons flour and replace with 5 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons cornstarch. Whisk to blend.
Recipe courtesy of My Cake School.com