Salted Caramel Cake
A 3-layer vanilla cake with caramel buttercream, caramel sauce, vanilla frosting, white chocolate drip, and homemade caramel popcorn. All from scratch! (Tutorial included)
Ingredients
For the Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup heavy cream (or whipping cream - at least 35%)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
For the Buttercream
- 400 g unsalted butter (Room temperature)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp hot water
- 1 ½ Tbsp Caramel sauce
For the Chocolate Drip
- 60 g candy melt or white chocolate
- 20 g heavy cream or whipping cream
- Food colouring of your choice (use gel or oil based)
For the Popcorn
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- ¼ Cup Popcorn
- Sugar to cover the popcorn
For the Vanilla Cake
- 5 Eggs
- 2 Cups Granulated Sugar
- 1 Cup Vegetable oil
- 3 ¾ Cups Cake Flour
- 1 ½ Cups Milk
- 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Vanilla Cake
- In a bowl, add eggs, vanilla, and salt. Beat on high until foamy. Add sugar and beat for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is lighter in color.
- Add vegetable oil and mix on low speed until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk. Mix just until each addition is incorporated before adding the next. Start with the flour and finish with the milk.
- Allow the batter to rest for 5-10 minutes. You will notice air bubbles forming on the surface.
- Meanwhile, grease your 8-inch pan and pour the batter in. Tap the pan gently to release air bubbles and wrap the pan with baking strips or damp towels. Bake in a preheated oven at 165C (329F) for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and allow to cool at room temperature.
Caramel Sauce
- Start by preparing the caramel sauce to allow it to cool at room temperature before filling the cake. For the caramel, add sugar in a saucepan and put in on low to medium heat until it fully dissolves. Don’t stir the sugar before it dissolves.
- Do not turn off the heat, add half of the cream and stir until incorporated then add the other half of the cream. Stir well until everything is well incorporated and smooth.
- Remove from heat, add vanilla and salt, and stir to combine.
- Transfer the sauce to a heatproof bowl and allow it to cool at room temperature.
Buttercream
- For the buttercream, place room temperature butter in a bowl and beat, with a mixer, on high until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and hot water. Mix everything together until combined. You should have a glaze consistency.
- Add the powdered sugar mixture to the butter, and mix on high for a few minutes.
- If you want to fill AND decorate the cake with caramel buttercream, feel free to add the caramel sauce directly to the buttercream you just made. If you only want the caramel buttercream to be a filling and decorate the cake with white buttercream (like in my video), scoop out a bit of buttercream and add it to a different bowl then add around 2 Tbsp of caramel sauce to it. Make sure the caramel sauce is at room temperature, if it’s too hot it will melt the buttercream.
Chocolate Drip
- For the chocolate drip, simply combine the chocolate and cream and pop it in the microwave for about a minute at 20 seconds intervals (20 seconds in the microwave, remove and stir, then 20 seconds again, remove and stir, and so on until everything is melted and combined).
Caramel Popcorn
- To make the caramel popcorn, add butter to a pan and allow it to melt. Add popcorn, sprinkle sugar, mix everything together, and cover the pan. Keep the heat on medium to high and remove the pan as soon as the popcorns stop popping.
Video
Notes
- The calories per serving are based on 15 slices. This cake is pretty tall, so this depends on how thick/thin each slice is. 15 slices is a medium sized slice which is considered a good amount.
- Nutrition info is estimated and may vary based on ingredients and portions. For the most accurate details, consider using a nutrition tool or checking our full Nutrition Information Disclaimer.
- The time mentioned is an approximation and does not include assembling/decorating the cake.
Nutrition
Calories: 766kcal
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