Salted Caramel Cake with a Caramel Chocolate Drip
Sweet and salty has long been one of the top combinations for any treat or snack. My salted caramel cake recipe nails this delicious duo. Salted caramel frosting lightly covers a caramel cake with a caramel chocolate ganache filling for the perfect balance of sweet, bitter, and salty.
This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission as an Amazon Associate (or other affiliate program) from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products that I use and trust.
This recipe was originally published on October 17, 2019. It was republished on October 6, 2022 with updates.
Jump to Recipe
Celebration Time!
Bakes & Blunders and I just celebrated some birthdays this month. While I am slaying my mid thirties, this little ole baking blog just turned 4 years old! To celebrate, I decided to update one delicious cake. My salted caramel cake!
But this time around, I gave the cake part of the recipe a major overhaul with some new toys I got from King Arthur Baking. Nope, I’m not an affiliate or paid to promote them. I just have some awesome grandparents that know a King Arthur Baking gift card is always the right gift for a baker like me!
Let’s Break It Down
Okay, for this banger of a cake we’ve got several elements to go over. There’s the salted caramel buttercream, caramel chocolate ganache, caramel cake layers, and the crown of buttercream flowers. Let’s take it one step at a time.
Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting
First rule of salted caramel buttercream is it’s highly dependent on personal taste. If the frosting becomes too salty, you’ll end up with a salt lick cake. Add the salt a bit at a time and taste as you go. You can also add more or less caramel, depending on your personal preference.
This is a small batch of frosting. I decided to make a semi-naked cake, so I didn’t need a ton. You can easily double this recipe for fully covered cake. It’s always better to have too much frosting than too little. You can keep extra frosting in the fridge for 2- 3 weeks or in the freezer for 3 months.
Top Tips for American Buttercream
- Beat the butter alone on a medium speed for 8- 10 minutes to get it super pale and fluffy.
- Warm up your liquid (cream, milk, water, etc.) slightly to get a smooth buttercream. Cold liquid can curdle the frosting.
- Once you begin adding the powdered sugar, never go above a medium speed to avoid too many air bubbles.
Related Video: American Buttercream 101
Caramel Chocolate Ganache
To further prevent this salted caramel cake from becoming overpoweringly sweet, I decided to fill it with a rich ganache. The semi-sweet chocolate added just enough bitterness to balance out the flavors and the added caramel tied it all together.
Make the ganache a few hours in advance and let it sit on the counter to firm up. It will look like chocolate soup at first, but I promise it will thicken up perfectly. I actually made mine a few days in advance. Just make sure it is room temperature and a good consistency before you fill the cake.
Exclusive Cake Resources FREE for Subscribers
Salted Caramel Cake
When I made this cake for the first time in 2019, I used a Cupcake Jemma recipe because I absolutely adore that channel. Unfortunately for me, the cakes sank a bit, so I wanted to try something different this time around.
I created a brand new recipe and ended up with the most perfect cake layers ever! First of all, I used a combo of butter and oil for maximum structure and moisture. Then I baked the cakes at 325℉ instead of 350℉. That gave me perfectly flat, golden cake layers.
But I also used two new ingredients. Cake enhancer and dried buttermilk. We’ll get to that in just a minute.
Top Tips for Cakes
- Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help everything blend nicely and give your cupcakes a nice texture.
- Scrape down your bowl often. Butter and sugar can hide out at the bottom of your bowl. Make sure everything gets blended!
- Do NOT over mix. Once you add the wet and dry ingredients, keep the speed on stir and only mix to combine.
- Wilton baking strips will give you a flat top and prevent the edges from caramelizing.
- Use an electronic scale to divide your cake batter into the pans. Do not overfill them!!
Related Reading: 12 Cake Tips & Tricks for Beginners
September Project – Buttercream Flowers
This cake was originally designed to meet the September 2019 challenge with the Sweet Arts Guild. The theme was buttercream flowers, so I just used leftover buttercream to pipe some for this cake. But I used pinks, purples, and yellow. Not exactly the fall vibe this salted caramel cake screamed for.
This time I used mustard yellow, burnt orange, and brick red as my color palette. It looks so much better! You can check out my tutorial for piping buttercream flowers to learn how to pipe your own.
New Toys! (AKA Ingredients)
Cake enhancer is the most amazing game changer for cakes. I bought this from King Arthur Baking, but you can find it on Amazon too. It improves the texture of the cake and keeps it fresh for longer without adding the chemical taste I find in boxed cake mixes. Y’all, this was the absolute best textured cake I have ever made.
I also decided to try out dried buttermilk. Instead of keeping the fresh stuff on hand, just added the dried buttermilk to the dry ingredients and use water as the liquid. Buttermilk creates a more tender cake and can add a nice flavor. With the dried stuff you don’t have to worry about expiration dates!!
Crafting a Beautiful Cake
The basket weave is a wonderful piping technique that looks complicated, but it’s not too difficult once you get the hang of it. You can watch my video tutorial if you’ve never tried this design before. On this cake, you don’t have to worry about the edge because we’ll be adding a wreath of flowers.
In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to make this stunning fall cake from start to finish. Check out how silky that batter is and how easy the basketweave design comes together. Seriously, piping is not my best skill and I think I pulled it off quite well.
Enjoy!
You’ve got yourself a stunner of a cake that also happens to taste amazing! I love the whimsical pairing of the basketweave with the autumnal colors of the buttercream flowers. This salted caramel cake is sure to become a favorite this season.
Salted Caramel Cake
Ingredients
Caramel Cake
- 8 oz all- purpose flour
- 3 oz cake flour
- 1.25 oz dried buttermilk
- 2 1/2 tsps baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 7 oz unsalted butter softened
- 10 oz white sugar
- 2 oz dark brown sugar
- 2 Tbsps cake enhancer optional
- 2 oz caramel sauce
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 eggs
- 8 fl oz water
- 3 Tbsps canola oil
Caramel Chocolate Ganache
- 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chopped
- 2 oz caramel sauce
- 4 oz heavy cream
- 2 Tbsps salted butter
Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting
- 8 oz unsalted butter softened
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 16 oz powdered sugar sifted
- 2.5 oz caramel sauce
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 1- 2 Tbsps cream, milk, or water
Instructions
Caramel Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and line three 6 inch cake pans with parchment rounds.
- Sift the flours, dried buttermilk, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Whisk to combine, then set aside.
- Add the butter, sugars, and cake enhancer (if using) to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream on a medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Make sure to scrape the bowl down once or twice during the process.
- Add the caramel and vanilla to the bowl and beat on medium until well combined, about 1 minute. Scrape the bowl down.
- With the mixer on the lowest speed, add an egg and mix for about 15 seconds before bumping the speed up to the next lowest setting. Mix until combined, about 15 seconds more. Repeat the process with the remaining eggs, scraping the bowl down occasionally.
- As the eggs finish incorporating, combine the water and oil, then set aside.
- Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients. Begin with a third of the dry and mix on the lowest speed until just combined. Drizzle in half of the liquids and beat on low until nearly combined. Scrape the bowl down and repeat this process with another addition of dry, then wet ingredients. Scrape the bowl down and finish with the final bit of dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between the three pans, but be careful not to overfill them. I did 14 oz in each and had a small amount of batter leftover. Bake for 50- 55 minutes or until the top springs back and the edges are pulling away from the pan.
- Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Caramel Chocolate Ganache
- Place the chocolate and caramel in a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Do not let the water touch the bowl. Stir until it warms through.
- Meanwhile, warm the cream in the microwave until hot, but not boiling.
- Pour the hot cream over the chocolate mixture once it's removed from the heat. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Stir the ganache until smooth, then add the butter and stir until combined. If there are still lumps, microwave in short 5 second bursts. Stir thoroughly between blasts.
- Place cling wrap on the surface of the ganache and let it cool down to room temperature. It will thicken in a few hours. If not using the same day, cover and place in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before using.
Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting
- Beat the butter until pale and fluffy, about 8- 10 minutes. Scrape the bowl down.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. Bump the speed up to medium and beat for a minute, or until smooth. Scrape the bowl down.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. Bump the speed up to medium and beat for a minute, or until smooth. Scrape the bowl down.
- Add the caramel and beat until smooth. Taste and add salt a bit at a time. Add liquid if the frosting is too thick. Beat well.
Assembly
- Place a leveled cake layer on a cake board and pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge. Fill with ganache and smooth flat. Repeat with the second layer of cake. Place the third layer upside down on the top.
- Spread a thin layer of frosting over the cake. Smooth and fill in sparse areas with more frosting as needed. Then chill cake until firm, 15- 30 minutes.
- Pipe a basketweave pattern on the top of the cake. Chill until firm, 15- 30 minutes.
- Warm the remaining ganache slightly so that it is a good dripping consistency, about 90- 95°F. Use a piping bag, spoon, or squeeze bottle to add a drip around the edge of the cake. Chill until set, about 15- 30 minutes.
- While the chocolate sets, pipe your buttercream flowers, using any colors you want. Color a small amount of frosting green for leaves. Freeze the flowers for 15 minutes.
- Carefully arrange the buttercream flowers along the edge of the cake. Pipe small dots of frosting onto the back of the flowers or the top of the cake to adhere them. Fill in any gaps between flowers with buttercream leaves.
Notes
- I used cajeta for my caramel, but any jar of caramel should work. Just taste and adjust flavors as necessary.
- Watch the video tutorial for this recipe on the Bakes & Blunders YouTube channel.
My Favorite Products for this Recipe
Colleen
Hi there! I’m Colleen, a novice baker with a passion for learning and improving my bakes… and blunders. On Bakes and Blunders, you can find all sorts of tasty recipes that range in difficulty, but most importantly, I’ll try to explain the reason behind important steps. If you know why a recipe works, you can tweak and adapt it to suit your unique tastes, and you’ll be able to reliably produce some very delicious treats. If you love baking and want to expand and grow your skills, or if you are a casual baker and just need some pointers, my blog is right up your alley! Join me on my baking journey and we’ll learn how to make more impressive recipes together.
4 Comments
DENISE NICHOLSON
Hi Can I use normal buttermilk instead of the powdered buttermilk in the Caramel cake? X
Thanks
Colleen
Yep! Instead of buttermilk powder and water, just use 8 fl oz of buttermilk (same amount as the water) instead.
Erika
This is one of my most gorgeous cakes I’ve ever seen and the flavors sound amazing.
Colleen
Aw! Thanks! The bitterness of the chocolate keeps the cake from being too sweet and the frosting isn’t too salty. Just the perfect balance!