Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce

I sometimes think I have way too much fun playing with food in the kitchen, but then I just keep on playing...  I make and bake a cake for our local Legion for their cake raffle every other week.  And realized the other day, I've been doing this for almost 2 years. 2 years of cakes, every other week, well, almost every other week.  I did miss a couple of weeks along the way.  We've had hurricanes interrupt us, and power outages and I was gone a couple of the weeks, but still... That's almost 50 cakes or cupcakes and some dessert bars. (49 at last count). I know how many because I put them on Instagram, and I counted them.   (I'm on Instagram as Sidsseapalmcooking if you want to follow along with the fun). I've done some themed cakes, some fun cakes and even made a cake to mark Hurricane Michael. Best part of making cakes, I don't have to repeat any.  I just let my imagination go.   I do a repeat on my chocolate cake though, but never finish it off the same way.  Here's how I did it this time. I always frost the bottom of the cake, fewer crumbs that way. While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting and the caramel sauce.    After letting the cakes cool along with the caramel sauce.  Poke a few holes in the cake.  Then pipe a dam around the edge of the cake.   This does two things, first it keeps the caramel where it belongs, in the middle, but second, when you place the second layer on top, the frosting will ooze out a little, and you don't have as great a chance of big gaps, that will need to be filled in with frosting. Add half the caramel sauce to the middle and smooth out towards the sides, being careful not to breach the frosting dam. After smoothing out the caramel, pile rings of frosting right on top of the caramel, carefully.  Smooth it out gently, being careful not to disturb the caramel sauce. Place the second layer on top and press down lightly, and put a thin layer of frosting on the sides and top.  Place in fridge for an hour or into the freezer for 30 minutes.  This is the crumb layer.  Then after it has cooled down, add another layer of frosting, and pipe leaves around the edge of the top.  This will be the dam for the remainder of the caramel. make sure all the leaves are connected,  I actually piped a second layer around.  Place cake back in fridge or freezer to cool for a few minutes if you can.  My cake was still fairly cool, so I just added the remaining caramel sauce, and smoothed it out very gently all the way to the edges of the leaves.  I then piped some more leaves in the center, making a pseudo flower shape and finally piped leaves around the base.  Put it back into the fridge for another hour.  Putting this cake together wasn't all that hard, but letting it cool and rest in between each step did seem to be important.   Yield: 12 ServingsAuthor: Sidsel MunkholmPrint Recipe Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce prep time: 10 minscook time: 35 minstotal time: 45 mins This rich cake is made a touch more decadent with the addition of the caramel sauce, not only on the top, but in between the layers as well. ingredients: 1 cup white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 sticks butter (1 cup) at room temperature 3 eggs at room temperature 1 package instant chocolate pudding mix 2 packets hot chocolate drink mix 2 cups AP flour (if using cake flour, omit the potato or corn starch) 1/3 cup Potato or Corn Starch 2 teaspoons Baking Powder 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda 4 tablespoons Cocoa Powder, milk or dark 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract 2 cups milk Caramel Sauce 1/3 cup heavy cream 1 cup homemade caramels (recipe here) Frosting - 4 cups of your favorite Chocolate Frosting.   I use this one. From King Arthur. instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease three 8 inch pans, or put out 36 cupcake liners. Cream the room temperature butter and sugars together until the sugar has mostly dissolved into the butter. This takes a few minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each egg. Whisk all the dry ingredients together, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the bowl of the mixer, mix well, then add one third of the milk, alternate the dry and wet ingredients, finishing off with the dry. Pour one third of the batter into each of the three ( 8") cake pans, and bake for 30 minutes, checking at the 25 minute mark to see if they're done, using a toothpick inserted in the middle of one of the pans. If it comes out clean, they're done, if not, bake an additional 5 minutes or so. If making cupcakes, bake for 15-20 minutes, checking for doneness after 15 minutes. Cool and frost with your favorite frosting. You can also bake this in two 9" cake pans, but you will need to increase the baking time by about 7-9 minutes.   Caramel Sauce Heat the cream until hot to the touch, add the caramels and let stand to soften.  Whisk together, keeping them warm, over a low heat.  Set aside and let cool until ready to frost cake. You want it to be fluid, but not enough to run off of the cake.  Created using The Recipes Generator