Salted Caramel Vanilla Layer Cake

I am back! Sorry it's taken so long for me to post since getting back from Mexico, it has just been manic these last few days! Aside from the crippling jet lag I have suffered (most annoying thing ever!), I have also moved into a new flat which has taken up a lot of time as it has needed quite a bit of TLC. It's all looking good now though, especially as I have moved up all my cake making/decorating tools - just need to find a special place for them now... I FINALLY have time to dedicate to baking and posting and I honestly cannot wait! 

I'm not going to lie, this is a quick, simple but sweet (very sweet actually, yummy!) cake but it was still delicious and looked so pretty :). My nan's birthday took place while I was away and was gutted I wasn't able to make her a cake because she is my biggest supporter when it comes to baking and she just loves anything I bake. So I made making her a cake my first priority once I got back into the kitchen. As I said, this cake is simple but sometimes simplicity is best! Not to mention this cake can be knocked up in next to no time. What a bonus! My nan was pretty unhappy that she didn't get given any of my Twix cupcakes (woopsies) and she loved the idea of salted caramel buttercream so I decided to make a plain Victoria sponge with a lot of extra vanilla to the mixture and fill it with the buttercream so she could taste how beeeautiful it is! I also gave the cake a crumb coat of the caramel buttercream before I covered it in the sweet, fluffy whipped cream icing. I decided to not use the buttercream for all over coverage or decorating with flowers as it is a very rich, sweet buttercream; perfect for topping a cupcake but perhaps too much for a full cake, but I'll let you be the judge of that! The vanilla cream complimented both the flavour and texture of the cake and buttercream perfectly and it covers a cake beautifully and evenly giving a smooth, polished finish. 

After I had baked the Victoria sponge (find my favourite here) and let both cakes cool completely I split each in half length ways leaving me with four considerably smaller cake layers. I decided to split the cakes rather than have the classic two layers as I wanted the flavour of salted caramel to be the dominant flavour so the extra two layers allowed for more buttercream. I also think that cakes filled and stacked in this way look very attractive when a slice is cut out. After the cakes were filled, stacked and crumb-coated (a thin layer of buttercream covering the cake to stop crumbs getting into the final layer covering the cake), I refrigerated the cake for a few hours. While the cakes are cooling, it is a good idea to prepare the whipped cream icing.

Ingredients:

150ml double cream

5-6 tbsp caster sugar

heaped tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Whip the double cream for a few minutes until it begins to thicken.

2. Add the vanilla and sugar 1 tbsp at a time while whisking until you achieve your desired sweetness.

3. Keep whipping until the cream is fluffy and thick enough to spread on the cake and it would hold it's shape.

Once the cake is covered and has a smooth finish, decorate it as you wish. For this particular cake I decided to use a stencil, cocoa powder and gold pearls as it gives a beautiful, simple look and my nan loved it! I hope you enjoyed this post and I promise you can expect posts consistently again from now on, I can commit to two posts a week while I am back in uni: Sundays and Thursdays! 

Teri x

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