Salted Caramel Cake

How to make a delicious salted caramel cake with a soft and tender sponge cake filled with a layer of salted caramel sauce and mascarpone frosting and Swiss meringue buttercream. A perfect caramel cake for special occasions or as a special gift for your loved ones.

Why you'll love this recipe

For all salted caramel lovers, you won't be able to resist this delicious salted caramel cake recipe with its tender and moist cake and its delicious salted buttery caramel taste.

Made with a soft and moist buttermilk sponge cake, filled with a layer of whipped mascarpone frosting with a layer of homemade salted caramel sauce and wrapped with Swiss meringue buttercream and a caramel drizzle.

Very greedy and tasty, this salted caramel cake is really perfect for a birthday or for a special occasion, to serve on a plate with a bit of whipped cream and some pecans for crunch.

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Composition of this cake

Here are the composition and possible substitutions to make this delicious caramel cake at home, scroll down to see the quantities in the recipe card.

Vanilla buttermilk cake

A vanilla cake made with buttermilk that gives it a dense, moist and soft texture. You can replace it by a molly cake, chiffon cake, a genoise sponge or even replace it with a chocolate cake like chocolate molly cake or chocolate buttermilk cake.

Whipped mascarpone frosting

• Mascarpone cheese: Use full-fat, cold mascarpone cheese to make a creamy and fluffy frosting.
• Sugar: Use only powdered sugar, such as icing sugar or confectioner's sugar.
• Heavy cream: use full-fat heavy cream or heavy whipping cream with at least 30% fat and mostly cold.
• Vanilla: A pure vanilla extract essential for flavoring the frosting.

Tools: Use two 6 inches / 15 cm cake pans for baking and also an electric mixer and your stand mixer.

Salted caramel sauce

Follow my easy homemade salted butter caramel recipe, or use store-bought salted caramel sauce.

Swiss buttercream Frosting

As an option, you can use my Swiss meringue buttercream recipe just to cover the outside of the cake layers and have a smooth finish. You can also add a bit of caramel sauce to the buttercream to give it a caramel frosting with a delicious caramel flavor.

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⚠️ You will find the quantities and complete instructions in the recipe card at the end of the page.

How to make Salted caramel Cake

1 - 6-inches Vanilla cake

1. Preheat oven to 329°F/ 165°C and line the bottom of two 6 inches /15 cm cake pans with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl, cake flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
3. Place softened unsalted butter and granulated sugar in the mixing bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on high speed for 5 minutes until fluffy and pale.
4. Reduce speed to medium and add vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition, then run the mixer on medium-high speed for another 5 minutes until mixture is more voluminous.
5. Mix in the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternately in several batches, using a soft spatula, until you have a smooth cake batter.
6. Divide the cake batter and distribute it into the 2 prepared cake pans.
7. Bake for about 40-50 minutes (without opening the oven door) until puffed and golden.
8. Allow the vanilla cakes to cool in their pans before carefully removing them from the pans and letting them cool completely on a cake rack.

2 - Mascarpone whipped cream

1. Place all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the pastry whisk, cold mascarpone cheese, cold heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.
2. Beat on medium-low speed for about 3 minutes until you have a firm, fluffy frosting.

Tip: Be careful not to mix at high speed or the frosting will be grainy. To avoid this I recommend using an electric mixer to keep an eye on the texture.

3 - Salted Caramel sauce

1. Place granulated sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until it becomes liquid and turns amber.
2. While still on the heat, gently add the heavy cream and stir to incorporate it, then cook again to thicken the caramel.
3. Finish with the salted butter cubes and sea salt and transfer to a glass jar.

4 - Swiss buttercream frosting

1. Place the eggs and granulated sugar in the mixing bowl and make a double boiler on a saucepan containing a small amount of water heated over medium heat.
2. Check with a cooking thermometer which should read at least 55°C (you should no longer feel the sugar grains).
3. Place the bowl on the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and mix at high speed for 10-15 minutes until you have a firm meringue.
4. Reduce mixer speed and stir in softened unsalted butter, then mix again with the paddle attachment until you have a smooth Swiss meringue buttercream.
5. Keep at room temperature until the cake is assembled.

Tip: Add a bit of caramel sauce to your frosting to make a salted caramel buttercream version with a good taste of caramel.

Assemble the cake

1. Cut the buttermilk vanilla cakes into equal thicknesses with a cake leveler.
2. Place a cake board on your cake turntable and place the first cake layer on it.
3. Spread a layer of mascarpone frosting on your cake and add a small amount of homemade caramel sauce in the middle.
4. Cover with another layer of cake and repeat this step for all the cake layers.
5. Apply a thin layer of Swiss meringue buttercream over the whole cake.
6. Smooth the frosting with an icing smoother.
7. Drizzle leftover caramel sauce at the right temperature over the top of the cake and drizzle it over the sides.

Storage instructions

Fridge: Store your cake in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days covered in an airtight container box or under plastic wrap and take it out about 30 minutes before serving.

How to freeze? You can store the leftover cake in the freezer, cut into slices and placed in storage bags for up to 3 months.

Let them thaw gently in the refrigerator overnight.

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