Chocolate Cake Caramel Macchiato Cheesecake With Salted Caramel Buttercream (re-post)

Sue and I were guest posters over at Hungry Little Girl a little while ago and we shared this crazy dessert with her readers. Apparently there has been a little glitch somewhere and now the link to this recipe on her site is no longer working. 

We thought we would share the recipe and photos on our site just to make sure everyone can still have access to the recipe! 

Almost puts you into a sugar coma just reading the title, right?

Oh, and by the way, I don’t want to tell you that this is the most amazing frosting you will ever eat in the entire universe and that it may just ruin you for ever wanting to make another frosting recipe ever again…but…well…it may. Just warning you.

I know what you are thinking… “Boy, that seems like a lot of effort for just a dessert.”

First of all - this isn't “just a dessert”. It’s a chocolate and caramel explosion.

Secondly - okay, we admit this is a little more labor intensive than a simple cake BUT it is waaaaaaay more delicious therefore it is totally worth it.

.

Chocolate Cake Caramel Macchiato Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Buttercream

Caramel Macchiato Cheesecake

 

Ingredients

2 X 8 oz bricks cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup Greek yogurt

1/4 cup extra strong espresso

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly spray an 8 inch spring form pan with cooking spray. Set aside. 

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in brown sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in Greek yogurt and espresso. 

Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 325 for 40 - 50 minutes, until cheesecake is done. (Should be set fairly firm. It may take up to 70 minutes. Keep an eye on it.) Let cool on counter until room temperature. 

Freeze until frozen. 

Once frozen, remove from the spring form pan and cover with plastic wrap. Keep frozen until ready to assemble cake.

Chocolate Cake
 

Ingredients

1/2 cup baking cocoa 

2 cups flour 

2 tsp baking soda 

pinch of salt 

2 cups sugar 

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs 

2 tsps vanilla 

1/2 cup oil 

1 cup boiling water (do not use hot tap water, use boiling water) 

 

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 3 8 inch round pans with cooking spray. Set aside. 

Mix together first 5 ingredients. Make a hollow in center of bowl and add remaining 5 ingredients into center. 

Mix all together until blended. 

Pour evenly into prepared baking pans. 

Bake 35 mins or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven to cool 5 minutes on wire rack. After 5 minutes, run a knife around the edge of the cake and invert cake onto wire rack to cool completely. (You will only need 2 of the cakes - you can use the third for another purpose.)

Salted Caramel Buttercream
 

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp sea salt

1/3 cup caramel sauce (store bought or see recipe below for easy caramel sauce)

3 1/2 - 4 cups icing sugar

Directions

Beat butter until smooth and light. Beat in vanilla, salt, and caramel sauce. Add icing sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating in between, until smooth and spread able consistency. 
 

Easy Caramel Sauce
 

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 Tbsp vanilla

Directions

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir all ingredients together. 

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat, simmer for 7 minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour into a bowl and let cool to room temperature. Store any leftovers in fridge. You can microwave briefly to make it pourable again. I find leaving at room temp is best for making the butter cream frosting. You do NOT want it warm or it will melt your butter cream.

Assembling the cake:

Place bottom layer of chocolate cake on serving platter. Frost with a thin layer of salted butter cream.

 

Place frozen cheesecake on top of cake layer. Frost with a thin layer of salted butter cream.

 

 

 

Top with second layer of chocolate cake. Take this opportunity to trim up the side of the 3 layers so they are all even. 

 

 

Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of salted butter cream. Place cake and frosting into fridge and let chill until set, at least an hour or so. 

 

Generously frost cake with remaining salted butter cream.

Drizzle a little extra Caramel Sauce around the top of the cake and, if desired, sprinkle with a little sea salt. I also topped with a few cappuccino truffles. 

See…a bit of effort is required but you can make this over a few days or well in advance of when you will need it and simply freeze the separate parts until ready to combine. 



 

It just looks so pretty when it is sliced.

Hopefully those of you who were unable to find us over at Hungry Little Girl with now be able to whip up this bad boy and impress your guests!

We apologize again for any inconvenience the lost link may have caused anyone!!

Be sure to stop by Feeding Big for tons of great links!