Chocolate & Salted Cashew Caramel Spelt Brownie Cake
This recipe originally appeared on my first blog, The Culinary Jumble. The recipe has been updated to include spelt flour.
Although this salted caramel spelt brownie cake has a somewhat grand title, in reality, it is super-simple to make.
I pride myself on making recipes from scratch. However, sometimes, standing there for 30 minutes making your own caramel seems a silly waste of time. Why not cut yourself some slack and open a tin of ready made caramel (dulce de leche), instead? Let’s face it, this spelt brownie cake is not going to win a healthy recipe prize anyway, so why not go all out?
The hardest part (and we really are stretching it to call it hard) is the brownie base. It’s my go-to recipe and absolutely fool-proof. I’ve made it so many times I could do it in my sleep. I adjust the time in the oven depending on how gooey I want the centre and use either dark or milk chocolate in the batter. Although almost molten was the aim for my caramel fudge brownies, I wanted this spelt brownie cake to be a little firmer. While we are talking about brownies, check out how I make my dark chocolate brownies:
The rest of the spelt brownie cake was just stirring salted cashews into the dulce de leche and melting some milk chocolate. The stunning end result defies the simplicity of the actual recipe.
Decadent and rich, this chocolate salted cashew caramel brownie cake is certainly not going to help with your diet. But, it’s not supposed to. It’s a treat and we all need them. A little bit of what you fancy always does you good. Don’t you think?
Chocolate & Salted Cashew Caramel Spelt Brownie Cake
Ingredients
Brownie:
- 100g dark chocolate
- 100g butter
- 50ml brewed coffee (or milk, if you prefer)
- 60g brown sugar
- 60g white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
- 40g spelt flour (see note 2)
- 15g cocoa
Filling:
- 400g (1 tin) caramel (dulce de leche)
- 50g salted cashews
Topping:
- 200g milk chocolate
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 175°C (350ºF) and grease a large spring-form (mine is 26cm).
- Slowly heat the chocolate and butter in a pan until just melted, then add the coffee (or milk, if using). Set to one side while you prepare the next step.
- In a large bowl, whisk the sugars with the eggs, then add in the cooled chocolate mixture.
- Combine the vanilla sugar, flour and cocoa and stir into the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for around 20 minutes. The brownie is ready when the top is spongey but firm to the touch. Set to one side to cool for a while.
- Stir the cashews into the dulce de leche and spread evenly over the top of the brownie.
- Melt the milk chocolate in a Bain Marie (double boiler) and then pour over the caramel, spreading it with a knife to achieve an even coverage. Place the cake in the fridge for at least four hours (preferably overnight) to set (please see note 3).
- When ready to eat, cut the cake into slices. Because the topping is just milk chocolate, it will set really hard. Therefore, it's possible it might crack (mine did). To try to prevent this from happening, use a sharp knife that has been run under the hot tap.
Notes
- I use grams in my recipes as weighing ingredients is the most accurate method. However, if cups are your thing, you can convert my measurements at Cook it Simply.
- I've made this recipe with gluten free, spelt and regular all-purpose (plain) flour with similar results. You can use any flour you like with very little effect on the cake
- Because the caramel is tinned, the filling won't harden or set and remains pretty much the same as out of the tin.
