Yield: 6–10 servings

People love our Salted Caramel Tarts so much that I decided to create a cake using the same elements. Chocolate cake, ganache icing, and gooey caramel all come together to create a decadent slice of cake that tastes like a giant chocolate truffle.

Ingredients

Cake

1¼ cups (175 g) all-purpose flour

1¼ cups (250 g) sugar

½ cup + 3 Tbsp (91 g) cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

⅔ cup (160 ml) full-fat or non-dairy milk

⅔ cup (160 ml) coffee or water, at room temperature

⅓ cup (80 ml) vegetable oil

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Ganache Icing

1¼ cups (300 ml) whipping cream

1 3/4 cups (300 g) dark chocolate callets

Filling

½ batch Salted Caramel (see below)

Garnish

Coarse salt

Method

Cake

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare three 6-inch cake pans. Divide the batter evenly between the pans and bake until a knife inserted in the centre of each cake comes out clean, 20–24 minutes.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl and set aside.

Place the milk, coffee or water, oil, egg, yolk, and vanilla in another large bowl and whisk together until smooth. 

Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Finish off by folding the batter with a silicone spatula, making sure to scrape the very bottom of the bowl and checking for any dry ingredients that may have escaped the whisk.

Place the pans on a wire rack. Allow the cakes or cupcakes to cool completely on a cooling rack before decorating.

Ganache Icing

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. (If you’re using a chocolate bar be sure to roughly chop it into small pieces.) Bring the cream to a simmer over medium heat and pour it over the chocolate. (Do not allow the cream to boil). Allow the mixture to stand without stirring for 5 minutes and then whisk until smooth. 

To use ganache as a pipe-able, spreadable filling for cakes or cookies, let it cool at room temperature, gently stirring occasionally, until it has thickened to the consistency of peanut butter. (The “peanut butter” consistency we are looking for is that of conventional peanut butter, not the natural stuff.) This will take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours, depending on the time of year and the temperature of your home. When the ganache reaches that perfect spreadable consistency, act quickly, because it will become difficult to work with as it cools. You have a small window of time to use the ganache when it’s at the perfect spreadable consistency. If you miss the window and it cools down and stiffens too much, place the bowl of ganache over a saucepan of low-simmering water to warm it up, and then cool it down again.

Filling

Prepare the salted caramel and let it cool at room temperature for at least 1 hour.

Assembly

Place one cake layer on your cake turntable, trim the top if necessary, and top with about ¼ cup (60 ml) of ganache. Using an offset spatula, spread the ganache around until you have a nice even layer about ¼-inch thick. Use a piping bag fitted with a round piping tip to pipe a border of ganache around the outer edge of the cake. Fill the centre with a few tablespoons of the caramel followed by a sprinkling of coarse salt. (Resist the urge to add too much caramel, as this will make your cake unstable and difficult to decorate.) Add the next layer of cake and top with ganache, once again spreading it out about ¼-inch thick.

Add the final layer of cake and cover the top and sides of the cake with ganache. If the cake feels unstable at any point, place it (still on the turntable) into the refrigerator to firm up for 10–15 minutes. When doing this, place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of your bowl of ganache and leave it on the counter at room temperature. This will help the ganache maintain its temperature and prevent it from cooling down too much while your cake sets in the refrigerator.

Use a piping bag to pipe a decorative border of ganache around the top edge of the cake, add the remaining caramel to the top of the cake, and garnish with a sprinkle of coarse salt.

Salted Caramel

Gluten-free

Yield: 1¼ cups (300 ml), enough to fill 6 (4¾ × ¾-inch) tarts

Ingredients

⅓ cup (80 ml) water

1 cup (200 g) sugar

¼ cup (90 g) light corn syrup 

½ tsp salt

⅓ cup (80 ml) whipping cream 

3 Tbsp (42 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed 

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Place the water in a saucepan, followed by the sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Place the pan over medium heat and cook without stirring until the caramel begins to turn an amber colour around the edges and registers 340°F on a candy thermometer, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and very carefully add the cream, butter, and vanilla. (The mixture will bubble violently and possibly splatter.) Stir to combine using a silicone spatula. If the caramel is still looking light, you can put it back onto the heat for another few minutes until it’s a nice, deep caramel colour.

The caramel can be used immediately if you’re pouring it into tart shells. Be sure to cool it to room temperature if you’re using it as a filling in a cake.

It can be refrigerated for up to 1 week. I suggest storing it in the saucepan that it was made in. Gently reheat on low heat until warm. Do not allow it to boil.

Recipe by Melissa Owen from Epiphany Bakes, copyright © 2024 by Melissa Owen. Reprinted with permission of TouchWood Editions. Touchwoodeditions.com

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Learn more about Epiphany Bakes: 

From Epiphany Cakes bakery in Nelson, BC, a collection of 60 recipes to cover all your dessert needs, from the ultimate hiking cookies to showstopping three-layer cakes, and including options for gluten-free and vegan confections. 

Tucked into Nelson, BC’s leafy Uphill neighbourhood, Epiphany Cakes has been supplying sweet tooths, restaurants, and cafés across the Kootenays for almost twenty years. Now the bakery’s founder, Melissa Owen, shares 60 of her favourite dessert recipes with home cooks.

Epiphany Bakes offers ample vegan and gluten free options, and lots to satisfy everyone from lemon lovers to chocoholics to those who like a little salt in their sweet, with ingredients that call on Melissa’s Middle Eastern heritage and ones that are Kootenay through and through. Try your hand at 

• Simple Lemon Bars
• Vegan Brownies with Smoked Sea Salt
• Ube Cheesecake Bars
• Backcountry Cookies
• Vanilla Funfetti Cupcakes
• Tahini Caramel Sandwich Cookies
• Strawberry Frangipane Tarts
• Chocolate Halva Cake, and many more.

Complemented by lush photography and stories of the friends, customers, and loyal staff who have made the bakery what is, you’ll find chapters on brownies and bars, cookies, tarts, and cakes (from simple to super-fancy), as well as building block doughs and icings, and a step-by-step guide to some seriously pro-level cake decorating. You might even find yourself having a kitchen epiphany of your own.