Rich, dark caramel mud cake made using real caramel sauce. This is every caramel lover's dream cake! This cake works equally well when made with gluten-free flour or regular wheat flour. See notes below if making it gluten-free.
Line the base and sides of two 7” round (at least 3” high) cake pans.
Measure the cream into a microwave safe jug, and microwave until warm (around 30 sec, depending on your microwave power). The temperature isn’t too important, but warming the cream will help it splatter less when you add it to the caramel. Set aside.
Place the sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium saucepan and stir until all the sugar is moistened. Place over medium high heat. As it comes to a boil, use a pastry brush dipped in water to wash down any sugar crystals on the side of the pan.
Increase the heat to high and boil until the syrup turns a light amber colour. Keep an eye on it, you don’t want it so dark that it burns, but it needs a decent amount of colour to have a deep caramel flavour. It should be about 160°C (320°F) on a sugar thermometer if you have one.
Remove from the heat and carefully pour in the cream while stirring with a long-handled spoon or spatula. Be careful – it will splutter and there will be a lot of steam!
Clean the thermometer (if using) and clip it back on the pan. Return the caramel to medium heat and bring it back to a boil, stir gently until smooth and it reaches 115°C (240°F). If not using the thermometer, just boil the caramel until it darkens a little more. If at any point you get even a hint of a burning smell, remove it from the heat immediately. Remove from the heat, stir in the salt and vanilla and set aside.
In a large saucepan, heat the milk and butter together, whisking occasionally over medium heat until the butter is melted.
(Note: once you are comfortable making the caramel, you can have the milk/butter/chocolate mixture heating while you make the caramel. If you’re not comfortable making the caramel then it is better to keep your attention focussed on it without distraction.)
Slowly whisk the caramel into the milk mixture, then add the white chocolate and whisk until melted and combined. Leave to cool until you can comfortably hold your hand against the pan, or your finger in the mixture without it feeling hot. To cool it faster, transfer the mixture to a large heatproof bowl. To speed things up even more, place the bowl in a sink full of cold water and add a few handfuls of ice to the water.
While you wait, heat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
Sift together the flour and baking powder (and Xanthan gum, if making gluten-free).
When the liquid ingredients have cooled, add the dry ingredients in 2-3 additions. Mix with the whisk, but use a folding rather than whipping motion to avoid air bubbles. Don't worry if there are still little lumps of flour.
Whisk the eggs together with a fork and add them to the batter, mixing again with the whisk.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bang them gently on the bench to remove any large air bubbles.Bake for 75 - 90 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. When the skewer comes out clean, insert a thin-bladed knife into the middle of the cake. When that comes out clean or with only a few crumbs attached, the cake is done. If you have an instant-read probe thermometer, the centre of the cake should be at least 99°C. Mud cakes can be tricky to gauge for done-ness, so these are the best ways to tell for sure.
Allow the cakes to cool for half an hour, then cover the top with foil, securing around the edge of the pan. Leave the cakes in the pan overnight to cool completely and firm up before removing from the pans and decorating as desired.
Notes
Gluten Free - To make a gluten free caramel mud cake, you will need to use an all purpose gluten free flour blend. You can find my gluten free baking flour blend here, this is what I use for all my cakes.*If you choose to use a purchased gluten free flour blend, check to see if it contains a gum ingredient (usually xanthan gum, guar gum or vegetable gum) - if it contains one of these then omit the Xanthan gum from the cake recipe.Baking the cakes - If you find the cakes are browning too much on the top before they are cooked in the middle, cover the tops with foil for the remaining baking time.When stored in an airtight container, or once sealed with frosting and/or fondant, it will keep well for at least a week at cool room temperature. For longer storage, before decorating you can wrap it well with plastic wrap, pop it in an airtight container and freeze it.