Chocolate Caramel Ombre Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line bases of 2 x 20cm sandwich tins with baking parchment. For the Vanilla & chocolate sponges, mix all the ingredients, apart from the cocoa, together with an electric whisk. Scrape half the mix into a second bowl and whizz in the cocoa. Scrape into the tins and bake for 20-25 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean.
• Repeat step 1 for the Caramel & caramel-choc sponges, again leaving cocoa out of the first mixing, then splitting the mix in half and whizzing the cocoa into one batch. Cook as above.
• While sponges are cooling, melt the dark and milk chocolate together in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Remove from the heat, stir in the cream and cool or chill until spreadable.
• When the sponges are cool, spread a third of the caramel over the Vanilla sponge and top with the Caramel sponge. Spread over another third of the caramel and top with the Caramel-choc sponge, then the final third of caramel and top with the Chocolate sponge (don't panic if you mix up the layers, the cake will still look great when you cut in). Spread the chocolate icing over the whole cake to serve. It will keep in a cool place in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, melt chocolate in water. Stir in food coloring if desired. Remove from the heat; cool completely. In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Add cooled chocolate mixture; beat on medium speed for 1 minute. , Pour into a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack., For frosting, combine the brown sugar, milk, butter and salt in a large heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until a candy thermometer reads 234° (soft-ball stage). Remove from the heat; cool to lukewarm. Transfer to a small bowl; beat in confectioners' sugar, cream and vanilla until mixture achieves spreading consistency. Frost cake. Garnish with pecans.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line the base and sides of 2 x deep 20cm cake tins with baking parchment. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and 1⁄4 tsp salt with an electric hand whisk until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after you add each one. If it looks like it might split, add spoonfuls of the flour. Add the remaining flour, then stir in the vanilla and milk and gently fold through the raspberries, trying not to break them up too much. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 50-55 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in their tins for 20 mins before flipping onto wire racks, so the base now becomes the top, to cool completely.
• To make the icing, put 1 tbsp of the caramel, the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until smooth - try not to overbeat or the icing may become runny. Split the cakes through the centre using a large serrated knife. use a little of the cream cheese icing to stick one cake layer to a board or cake stand. layer the remaining cake layers on top, filling with the caramel and some raspberries between each layer, finishing with a flat top of caramel.
• Using roughly a third of the icing, cover the cake with a thin layer using a palette knife - don't worry too much about getting it smooth at this stage, this first coat is to fill any gaps between the sponges and catch any crumbs. Once covered, chill for 30 mins.
• Split the remaining icing between two bowls, with roughly two-thirds in one bowl and the remaining third in the other. use a little food colouring to dye the smaller batch pink, and the other a biscuity-caramel colour. Remove the cake from the fridge. Dollop the caramel coloured icing on top of the cake and, using your palette knife, spread the icing over the top, then tease it down the sides, stopping roughly halfway down. use the pink icing to cover the bottom half of the cake.
• You should now have a stripe of pink at the bottom and caramel icing on the top half of the cake. Clean your palette knife and gently swipe the icing upwards, through the pink into the caramel, blending the colours together. Continue to do this around the cake, wiping your palette knife between each swipe. Once you've gone all the way around, run your palette knife all the way around the edges to smooth the surface, or leave it more rustic if you prefer. Best eaten within 1 day of making, will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, just bring to room temperature before eating.