Chocolate caramel cake

Tam West

This is our family’s (actually, to be honest it’s my wife Jane’s) birthday cake recipe. It’s extremely flexible and that is why she likes it — it can be made into a chocolate cake by adding the cocoa to the entire mixture. The recipe can also be increased by 1 ½ or doubled for bigger cake tins and it still works out perfectly. It is always light and moist and made easy with the food processor.

For the cake

125 g	Butter
1 cup	Sugar
1	Egg
1 cup	Milk
1 Tbsp	Golden syrup
1 tsp	Baking soda
1 ½ cups	Flour
1 tsp	Baking powder
1/8 tsp	Vanilla essence
1 pinch	Salt
1 Tbsp	Cocoa powder

For the chocolate icing

25 g	Butter
1 Tbsp	Cocoa powder
2 cups	Icing sugar
1 dash	Hot water

Directions

To make the cake

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm ring cake tin.
2. In the food processor cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg.
3. In a pot, warm the milk, golden syrup and baking soda until the syrup is melted and the milk is frothy.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture, add the flour, baking powder, vanilla and salt.
5. Mix in the food processor until the mixture is combined. It should be a smooth, runny consistency.
6. Pour ⅔ of the mixture into the greased ring tin. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining mixture and mix until the cocoa is well combined. Pour over the vanilla mixture.
7. Place the cake into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until cooked. Leave in the cake tin for 15 minutes before turning out on a wire rack.
8. Ice with chocolate icing when the cake is cold.

To make the icing

Combine all ingredients in the food processor. Blend then add water, a little at a time, to get the desired icing consistency. Spread over the top of the cake.