Marble Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream

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Recipe

Makes: 1 8-inch cake Time: 2 hours plus time to cool

Ingredients

Marble cake

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour

• 1.125 cups flour

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 1.5 tsp baking powder

• 1.125 tsp baking soda

• 1.125 tsp salt

• 2 1/4 sticks butter

• 3 eggs

• 1 cup sour cream

• 3/4 cup milk

• 3 tsp vanilla

• 1/2 cup cocoa

• 1/2 cup hot water

Caramel Buttercream

• 1 c butter at room temperature

• 2/3 c salted caramel sauce* at room temperature, plus more for decorating

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 c powdered sugar

• Pinch Kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, lightly mist 3 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray, and line with parchment paper.

2. Place the cake flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.

3. Add the softened butter, and mix on medium-low speed until the mixture resembles damp sand (about 1 minute).

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula after each addition.

5. Stir in the sour cream until smooth.

6. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, and stir in the milk and vanilla.

7. Beat the batter on medium speed for about a minute to a minute and a half, to aerate the cake batter and build the cake's structure.

8. Stir the cocoa and hot water together in a smaller bowl, then fold about half the cake batter into the cocoa mixture until blended.

9. Divide the batters equally between the 3 prepared pans, using the tip of a sharp knife to swirl the chocolate and vanilla cake batters together.

10. Bake the cake layers for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the thickest part of a cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.

11. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

12. To make the caramel buttercream beat room temperature butter for 2 minutes on high. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix to combine. Beat on high another 2-3 minutes.

13. Cut the tops off each cooled cake to flatten. Spread a layer of buttercream on top of the cake, add the next cake layer and continue until you have all 3 layers.

14. Do a crumb coat on the cake (coat entire cake with a thin amount of buttercream) and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Continue icing until you have a smooth outer surface.

15. Put the extra salted caramel sauce in a squirt bottle and pipe caramel drips on the rim of the cake.

Cake recipe from Baking a Moment's Marble Cake recipe.