Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream

Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream

Recipe source: bbcgoodfood

I was in the mood of making some very fancy looking cake with whatever ingredients I had at hand. Fresh fruits gateaux have long been on my list but lack of fresh kiwis, strawberries, cranberries etc have been a deterrent. 

What I do have is lots of chocolate compound. So it had to be a chocolate based cake.  I have used this chiffon cake with salted caramel recipe from bbcgoodfood. I had seen this chocolate crown decoration on youtube once and decided to give it a go.

The cake turned out to be a beauty. I couldn’t stop clicking pictures. The main discussion was whether the chocolate decoration was a crown or a jungle!!And I really had no heart to cut and eat it. But then that is what cakes are for. To be eaten and enjoyed!!

Ingredients

For the chiffon cake

125 ml oil

7 large eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla essence

375 gm castor sugar

300 gm flour

1 tsp soda bicarb/baking soda

50 gm cocoa powder

200 ml water

For the salted caramel

250 gm brown sugar

150 ml double cream

½ tsp salt

For frosting

200 ml whipping cream

For the chocolate crown

250 gm cooking chocolate

Line and grease two 9” cake tins.

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, oil, sugar, essence and 200 ml water. Add the cocoa powder and blend well.

Sift together the flour and baking soda. Fold into the liquid batter.

Whisk the egg whites till soft peaks form. Gently fold into the batter. 

Be careful not to beat the air pockets out.

Divide the batter into two tins and bake for 1 hour. 

if required you can put a foil on top of the cake after about 40 minutes to prevent the top from burning.

Once the cakes are baked take them out and cool them.

Make the salted caramel. Mix together the cream, salt and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Switch off flame after few minutes and cool the caramel. Whip the whipping cream and caramel to stiff peaks.

Slice the cakes into two halves. Spread the whip cream on the cake layers and stack them up. 

Spread the frosting all over the cake and smoothen. 

Keep in the fridge till you prepare the chocolate crown.

Chop the cooking chocolate and melt in a double boiler. Whisk it well till it has a glossy shine. 

Pour into a disposable piping bag. 

Take a piece of parchment paper and measure it around the circumference of the cake. Be sure to have an exact measurement. There should be no overlap. 

The length of the paper should be exactly as the circumference of the cake. You can adjust the height of the paper as per your wish. Here I have kept it quite tall! 

Spread the paper on a flat surface. Snip off the end of the piping bag and start drizzling the melted chocolate on the paper in a random manner. Make 2-3 layers of these squiggles.

 Leave it for a few minutes. The chocolate will start to harden. Gently lift the paper and wrap it around the cake.

 The chocolate side should be towards the cake. Gently press the paper to the cake so that the chocolate sticks to the cream. Leave the paper till the chocolate hardens completely. Now carefully peel away the paper leaving the chocolate crown behind.