Sweet and Salty..who knew??? Starbucks did...

Even though the name of my blog is "sweet and savory", tonight I went down the sweet and salty road of life.

For those who haven't tried it, Starbucks have a seasonal drink "Salted Caramel Mocha" and it is delicious!  The first time I tried it was based on the cashier's recommendation.  I am so glad I took her recommendation because it is now one of my favorite seasonal drink from Starbucks!!!  My first impression when I drank it was "hrmmm... not as sweet as the caramel macchiato.. what is this?!?! I can taste the mocha flavor! yummm. oh there is the caramel sweetness... OMG the hint of salt to balance the caramel sweetness.  THIS IS DELICIOUS!"  Cheers to Starbucks!

So with this wonderful fall flavor in mind, I made a cupcake with the same concept- mocha chocolate cake with caramel frosting with a sprinkle of sea salt.  

Side story:  My friend loves to laugh at me for saying that "if my engineering gig doesn't work out, I'll be a food scientist!"  Reason is- I am really interested in learning how to bake and cook based on food science... how ingredients relate to one another.. why certain foods pair with each other so well, why certain ingredients have to be cooked first (based on how they break down as they cook)... the perfect ratio of ingredients for the perfect cake.. etc.  To ensure I am learning about the balance, I measure everything out when it comes to baking a cake- and I measure in grams.  But I know that not everyone is like me, so I've converted my recipe into volumetric measurements.

Mocha Chocolate Cake

Salted Caramel Mocha Cake

1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 cup boiling water

3 large eggs

2 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 package of Starbucks Via

2 sticks unsalted butter (softened)

Frosting

1 1/2 stick of unsalted butter (softened)

2 cups of powder sugar

3 tablespoons of milk/ cream

1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 cup of caramel sauce (or as desired)

medium coarse sea salt (do not use regular table salt)

Preheat oven to 350F (recipe is for (2)- 9in pans or 24 regular cupcake size pan)

For the cake:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the coca and hot water until smooth- cool to room temperature.
2. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, 1/4 of chocolate mixture, and vanilla.
3. In the mixing bowl, combine the rest of the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 secs to blend.  Add butter and the remaining cocoa mixture and mix on low speed until everything is moistened.  Increase to medium speed to aerate the batter.
4. Add the egg mixture in 3 batches, blending for 20 secs after each batch.  Scrape down the bowl after each addition.
5. Beat for 30 secs more to aerate.

Scrape the batter into the chosen pan and bake for 30 mins (in the 9in pan) or 15 mins in the cupcake pans.  

For the frosting,

1. Beat the powder sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla together until white, light and fluffy.  If too runny, add more sugar, conversely, if to stiff- add more milk (each 1 teaspoon at a time)

Delicious!!!

To assemble,

Take the cooled cake and frost it any way you like.  Drizzle the caramel sauce on top as desired and sprinkle lightly with sea salt.

This tasted so good and so tummy warming!  The cake was nice and moist, not gummy or fudge-y.  It literally melted in my mouth.  It has the texture of a white cake, but the deep flavors of the chocolate cake.  It has a wonderful soft and small crumb!  The caramel adds the perfect amount of sweetness to the cake.  There is the delightful crunch from the sea salt and balances the caramel perfectly.

Mr. W said "it is a chocolaty caramel heaven..."  of course, he might be a little biased so why don't you try it and tell me what you think?