Salted Caramel Cake

And I'm back! After the most amazing 3 months away in America - two of which I spent as the baking instructor at Camp Monroe in New York - I am slowly readjusting back to 'real life' and the significant temperature drop back home in Norwich.
What better way to get back into things than start baking again! We had the final wedding of the year at work this weekend, coinciding with a birthday to celebrate - the perfect excuse for a cake.

'Drip cakes' seem to be all the rage at the moment so I decided it was time to try one out and salted caramel is always a favourite flavour. Although I had some struggles with getting the buttercream to stay in place on top of the cake, I got there in the end and have to admit it tasted pretty good; a necessary addition to a 15 hour shift.

This cake is great for birthdays and celebrations as it looks the part but isn't too complex to achieve the final goal.

Ingredients; 

• 10oz Self raising flour
• 10oz Stork butter 
• 5oz Soft dark brown sugar
• 5oz Golden caster sugar 
• 5 Medium eggs
• 1tsp Baking powder
• 1 tin Carnation Caramel
• Caramel chocolate of your choice - I opted for Rolos
• Flakes of sea salt
• 250g Unsalted butter
• 750g Icing sugar 

Method; 

1. Begin by preheating your oven to 180degreesC and lining three 7inch cake tins.
2. Now cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (I use a free standing mixer) and then add in the eggs. The mixture at this stage will look like it has curdled but this isn't a problem. 
3. Next, add in the flour and the baking powder and beat until well combined. The mixture should become lighter in colour and have a fluffy consistency. 
4. Divide this batter between the three cake tins and bake for around 20-25 minutes (checking every 5 after 15 minutes) until golden brown - poke a skewer in and if it comes out clean, they are cooked!
5. Whilst waiting for the cakes to cool completely, you can make the butter cream. Beat the butter until soft and then begin adding the icing sugar in a little at a time. Once this is done, you need to add in about 1/4 of the tin of caramel to the icing and beat again. 
6. Now once your cakes are completely cooled, you can start to assemble - level the cakes if you need to. 
7. On each layer, spread butter cream and then a little caramel over the top of the before adding the next layer of cake. 
8. Once the third layer is added, spread the remaining buttercream over the top and sides of the cake and smooth. (Save a little to pipe decoration onto the top of the cake later)
9. Now with the remaining caramel, microwave for 10 seconds and leave to cool slightly before stirring in a sprinkle of sea salt. Then, spoon about half into a piping bag and pipe around the edge of the cake to start the drip effect - you may need to aid this by piping down the side of the cake. Spoon the rest of the caramel into the centre of the cake and spread evenly. 
10. Refrigerate the cake for about 10 minutes to let the caramel set. 
11. Take the cake out of the fridge and now it's time to decorate! I used a rose piping nozzle and piped rosettes around the top of the cake before decorating with Rolos and fudge sprinkles but this part can be up to your creativity. 
12. Place back in the fridge to ensure the buttercream rosettes don't fall off (like mine may have done...) and then enjoy! 

It's safe to say this cake was well received and Emily was kind enough to give us some to bring home - I'm eating it as I type!