Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake

This Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake is moist and sinfully decadent! So if you love chocolate and caramel, you’ll LOVE this easy recipe for how to make Chocolate Caramel Cake!

Tomorrow is my birthday and I’m currently feeling ALL of the feelings. Also currently in the car, driving to the beach, eating a giant slice of cake and chasing it with an iced coffee. If today is any indication of what 29 is going to be like, I think this year is going to be pretty darn great!

Now as you know I’m a diehard chocolate lover, so it’s no surprise my birthday cake this year is a salted caramel chocolate cake! It’s three layers of heaven! And surprisingly easy to bake.

I bake myself a birthday cake every year and this year I wanted something sinfully decadent. At first I thought it would be death by chocolate cake (one of my favorites), but then I started dreaming of something drenched in gooey salted caramel…

Finally, I decided to full on treat myself and create a cake that features BOTH chocolate and caramel! Because why not, right?!

So, without further ado, meet my 29th birthday dessert: Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake. Isn’t she just a knockout?!

Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success:

• This recipe calls for vegetable oil, but you can use an equal amount of canola oil or melted coconut oil in its place. I do not recommend substituting oil with butter.
• For best results, make sure your eggs, egg yolks, sour cream, and milk have all come to room temperature before you begin baking.
• When you measure your flour, be sure you’re not packing it into the measuring cup. Packed flour will yield a dense and dry cake.
• The cake layers should all be baked on the middle rack of your oven. If there’s not enough room in your oven to bake them all in an even row at once, simply bake them in two batches.
• For the frosting, you’ll want to make sure your butter is VERY soft before creaming it.
• The chocolate cakes should be completely cool before adding the frosting and salted caramel.
• The assembly is a two part process: you’ll place one cake level on a large plate, top it with a thin layer of frosting, then add the caramel, then add another cake level and repeat. Once you’ve added the final cake level you’ll want to leave the top bare and place the cake in the fridge to set for one hour. Once it’s set, you can finish frosting.

Alright guys, time for me to wipe the crumbs of my party dress and start celebrating! There’s a mimosa and long nap on the beach in my very near future.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake Recipe:

Ingredients
For the chocolate cake:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (not packed!)
• 1 and 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 and 1/2 cups full-fat sour cream
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil (you may also sub in melted coconut oil)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 cups hot water

For the salted caramel chocolate frosting:

• 2 cups unsalted butter (4 sticks, 16 ounces), VERY soft
• 4 and 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream (more if needed)
• 2 tablespoons salted caramel sauce

Garnish:

• 1 and 1/4 cups salted caramel sauce
• Flaky sea salt

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