Black Magic Poke Cake with Salted Caramel and Espresso Whipped Cream
Desperate times call for extreme comfort food! My beautiful friend Gina dreamed up this little cake while we evacuated with them from the Glass Fire Incident. Super moist and tender crumbed chocolate cake, poked and filled with decadent salted caramel sauce and topped with espresso whipped cream rosettes. Gina, may all your delicious dreams come true and thanks for taking such great care of us during this destructive disaster.
Black Magic Cake:
1 ¾ cups flour
2 cups sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong coffee (or 1 cup water with 1 Tbsp instant espresso powder or 3 Tbsp instant coffee)
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk with 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice)
½ cup vegetable oil (I use olive oil)
1 tsp vanilla
Spray oil
Cinnamon sugar mixture
Preheat oven to 350* Spray oil 9“ springform pan and place a parchment circle over the top big enough that it comes up the sides to help prevent the batter from seeping out. Spray oil parchment and sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon sugar. Whisk dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Whisk eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla together and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix together with a wooden spoon until just incorporated (batter will be very thin). Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a tester/toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes before poking the cake with the handle end of a wooden spoon.
Salted Caramel Sauce:
This is our favorite caramel sauce, here we’re using it in a poke cake with whipped cream rosettes on top. Martha Stewart uses it for cupcake filling, we’ve also used it for chocolate covered caramels or for dipping an apple and then into m&m’s.
2 ½ cups sugar
⅔ cup water
1 Tbsp maple syrup
¾ cup heavy cream
1 tsp sea salt
Heat sugar, water, and syrup in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally until syrup is clear. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Stop stirring, and cook until syrup comes to a boil. Boil until the mixture is caramelized and the temperature just reaches 360° (I sometimes pull it off the heat a couple of degrees early).
Remove from heat. Carefully pour in the cream (caramel may bubble up) and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in sea salt. Pour into a glass measurer and use immediately. If caramel begins to harden, reheat gently until pourable (this can be done for a few seconds at a time in the microwave). Pour onto the cake filling the holes and a bit on the top. Chill the cake before piping.
Espresso Whipped Cream:
Delicious espresso whipped cream is subtly stabilized with softened butter so it can be piped into rosettes or any design you dream up.
2 cups heavy cream
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp kahlua
4 Tbsp butter, softened
Mix cream, powdered sugar, espresso powder and vanilla in a stand mixer (or hand mixer) with a balloon whisk until soft peaks form. Add in the Kahlua and butter (one tablespoon at a time), whip until medium peaks form when the beater is raised.
Fill a piping bag (or baggie) with a 1M tip to pipe rosettes over the caramel topped cake (or use stabilized recipe included below). Release cake from the springform pan and slice.
Stabilized Espresso Whipped Cream
This version of espresso whipped cream is well stabilized with gelatin and holds its shape beautifully as you pipe rosettes or any design you like.
2 cups heavy cream
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup water
2 tsp or 1 packet gelatin
1 Tbsp kahlua
Mix cream, powdered sugar, espresso powder and vanilla in a stand mixer (or hand mixer) with a balloon whisk until soft peaks form. Pour gelatin over water in a heatproof measurer and allow it to bloom one minute. Microwave for 30 seconds. Add kahlua to gelatin mixture and into cream, whip until medium peaks form when the beater is raised.
