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This is the chocolate caramel cake that I made for my nephew. It was inspired by a post on the livejournal cake decorating community. The girl had found a pillsbury recipe for a campfire cake and changed some things to make it her own. I loved what she did for the caramel center and went with that for mine too.
The cake is extra dark chocolate with a caramel center and chocolate frosting. I have never heard of making caramel this way and was intrigued! The recipe said to take a can of sweetened condensed milk, remove the label and submerge it in a pot of water making sure that the can is covered completely. It says do not open the can or make any holes in it. Then it said to boil the can for 4 hours! (I only did mine for 3). It says to make sure the top of the can is always under water or the can could explode (which actually sounds scary but since Katie was over and we were hanging out in the kitchen area it was easy to keep an eye on). After the long boiling period I removed the pan from the heat and once the can was cool enough to handle I put it in the refrigerator overnight.
It sounds sort of odd, but it really did work, and so many people at the party remarked that the caramel center was so good. So that is always a good sign.
Once the caramel was spread in the center and the second layer added, I crumbed and frosted the sides of the cake. Then once again I used orange sprinkles to decorate the sides only. After that was done I crumbed and frosted the top of the cake with chocolate frosting.
The day before the cake baking + frosting my friend Katie was over and I put her to work crushing hard candies for the flames. Once they were crushed we spread them out onto a foil lined and sprayed pan to bake at 350F for about 8 minutes until melted. I let it cool overnight and the following day broke it into large shards to push into the cake for the flames. I saved a good size shard and used candy eyes and frosting to make a face. With the face I thought it looked like Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle which made it even more fun.
The sticks were made using those rolled butter cookies, but the original recipe calls for pretzel rods. I thought the cookies would be a little more tasty on a cake.
Both cakes seemed to go over really well today. The chocolate cake was totally consumed. The rainbow cake had about 1/4 left and looked absolutely amazing when cut! I didn’t get a photo but Heather did and I will link to her Flickr when she has the photos up there.
Starting next Sunday I will be away for a week. I am taking my laptop but will not be able to be online much at all. I am still planning to do the shop update while I am away, but nothing will be mailed until I return on May 5th (5 days after the update) I will be adding 75 of the breakfast keychains and 75 of the donut keychains at that time. Also of course anything else I have ready for the update as well. This week is going to be sort of hectic because I have to get my 3 pieces finished for the Crammed Organisms show too. They need to be shipped out before I leave and are all pretty involved.
dulce de leche! my favorite. sometimes I’ll make some just to have on hand for sugar hankerins. The cake looks amazing! well done.
Comment by meg 04.20.08 @ 7:58 pmThese cakes are so amazing! Thanks for sharing the how-tos. I totally want to make a rainbow cake!
Comment by darlingbeatrice 04.20.08 @ 7:58 pmThis is amazing!!!
Also, I received my package last week and love every single item! (I’m the one who ordered the tugboat and rocket.) So they’ve found a very happy home! =)
Comment by Heidi 04.20.08 @ 8:00 pmThis is amazing! I mean, yes, it’s cute and all, but right now I’m trying to keep the copious amounts of drool coming out of my mouth off my keyboard.
A CAN OF CARAMEL!? Spread between chocolate cake!?
I have seen Heaven. And it’s right here.
;)
Seriously, though, that looks dang tasty. (and cute. of course)
Comment by Average Jane Crafter 04.20.08 @ 8:05 pmthis cake looks so great! is it supposed to be calcifer from howl’s?
Comment by jane 04.20.08 @ 8:05 pmas soon as i saw the pictures (prior to reading the entry) my brain screamed “calcifer!” you did a great job. i hope your niece and nephew loved their cakes.
Comment by ki from lj 04.20.08 @ 8:40 pmVery taste stuff, and easy to make. There is, however, a danger of opening the can too early.
Trust me, it is not pretty.
Dulce de Leche everywhere. Everywhere.
Comment by Nicole 04.20.08 @ 9:11 pmOkay this is the cutest thing. Nice job.
I would feel sad to eat the fire, because it has such a personality.
Comment by emily august 04.20.08 @ 10:00 pmMy mom used to do the Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk boiled-can caramel when I was a kid… omg, it was the best thing evar & we would beg her for it alllll the time..
gawd, I miss it!
Comment by Cat 04.20.08 @ 10:16 pmboth cakes look wonderful, but I must say, the Calsifer cake is by far the best.
Comment by ikisti 04.20.08 @ 10:56 pmThe cakes you’ve been making have been amazing. You’re my hero!
Comment by Twinkie Chan 04.21.08 @ 3:59 amYou can use that way of caramel to make a really good banoffee pie too. I love the cakes :-)
Comment by Vic 04.21.08 @ 5:55 ammy husband just walked by and said: So I take it it’s a s’mores cake?
Hmmmm…..that sounds almost as tasty as homemade caramel.
This is delicious Heidi! I’m actually (on the road) in the land of “caramel” or as it is originally called “dulce de leche”, in Argentina. Several other countries have their version of it (Mexico- cajeta, Peru and Chile- manjar). It’s sold at the supermarket in bags, containers, jars, etc. It’s used in cakes, pastries, pancakes, candy, ice-cream and also as everyday spreading on toast. It’s so good it’s addictive. I used to bolied cans to make it back home in the US, but now you can find them in some shops that carry hispanic food. Glad you came across “dulce de leche”. That cake looks (and I’m sure it tastes) great!
Comment by Lizette 04.21.08 @ 10:58 amWow, a Calcifer cake! How cool is that!
That boiled condensed milk stuff looks kind of yummy. I wonder if they sell it anywhere here in Finland..? Three hours of boiling, oh dear. But it must be worth it, though!
the kids in your life must LOVE you! i wish i could be that cool. my little sister says I’m cool, but she hasn’t seen your awesome creations ;p
Comment by Eva 04.21.08 @ 2:36 pmto save some of that time from crunching up all the candies, starburst also totally works. you can just spray a plate with cooking spray and pop 4 in the microwave (i guess oven would work too) i used to do this on paper plates without cooking spring and it’d stick to the plate and i’d cut it into 4 pieces and then lick the “starburst pizza” off the plate. i was a weird kid. :) so sad that starburst in the states has gelatin in it. maybe i should spring for some uk starburst so i can recreate this fond childhood memory.
Comment by leigh 04.21.08 @ 2:47 pmThis is so cute! It reminds me of Calcifer from Howls Moving Castle.
Comment by Ansley 04.21.08 @ 3:21 pmCampfire Cake
Heidi Kenney recently whipped up this fun campfire-inspired cake, complete with caramel filling and flames
Trackback by Crafts Articles 04.21.08 @ 9:43 pmAND…if you make pie crust, you can roll it out, cut in bite sized circles, bake, and sandwich two together with the dulce la leche in the middle. THEN, roll in powdered sugar. Delicate, but yummy. Must use room temp caramel as dough is VERY tender. This is traditional peruvian Christmas cookie and my traditional Christmas gift to friends. Delicioso!
Comment by min 04.23.08 @ 2:01 amAND, if you make pie crust, you can roll it out, cut in bite sized circles, bake, and sandwich two together with the dulce la leche in the middle. THEN, roll in powdered sugar. Delicate, but yummy. Must use room temp caramel as dough is VERY tender. This is traditional peruvian Christmas cookie and my traditional Christmas gift to friends. Delicioso!
Comment by min 04.23.08 @ 2:02 am