Chocolate and Caramel Cake - This decadent dessert in the form of a cake is a must-try for any lover of chocolate and caramel. Treat your family and friends to a slice as is, using my Caramel Sauce.
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There’s nothing quite like a moist cake and thanks to the use of buttermilk and vegetable oil, that’s exactly what you can expect from this recipe.
Moist and rich chocolate cake layers are joined by a smooth salt caramel buttercream, then topped off with another generous coating of buttercream. I mean, it’s just begging to be served up to the family or those lucky house guests!
❤️ Why You'll Love This Recipe
- The rich chocolate cake layers are beautifully balanced with the salt caramel buttercream, satisfying your chocolate cravings without an overpowering level of sweetness.
- While simple enough to make, it's such an elegant looking cake - you'll be proud to show it off for any special occasion!
- This chocolate caramel cake can be in advance and stored in the freezer, saving you time later on.
🧂 Ingredients
Here is what you will need for making our Chocolate and Caramel Cake:
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Cocoa powder
- Baking powder AND Baking soda
- Buttermilk
- Vegetable oil
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Butter flavoring
- Boiling water
- Unsalted butter
- Powdered sugar
- Caramel Sauce
- Salt
🔪Instructions
This is meant to be a brief overview of the moist chocolate cake recipe. For step-by-step instructions and a full printable recipe card with ingredients, please scroll down to the teal box below or Jump to Recipe.
For the Chocolate Layer Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- Grease and flour (2) 8 or 9 inch cake pan or (4) 8x1 layer cake pans.
- In a large bowl, add the dry ingredients: cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together well.
- Next, add eggs, buttermilk, oil, and flavorings.
- Mix on medium speed until incorporated. (The mixture will be thick)
- Add the cup of boiling water to the cake batter and mix on low until smooth.
- Separate evenly into the prepared cake pans.
- Bake 20-25 minutes until a tester inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15.
- Transfer the cakes from the pans onto a wire rack to fully cool.
- Freeze 4-6 hours or overnight. (This will help with frosting and stacking).
For the Caramel Buttercream
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter until fully broken up and smooth.
- Add in half the powdered sugar and half the caramel sauce mix well.
- Then, add in the remaining powdered sugar, caramel and salt.
- Mix on high for 5-7 mins until light and fluffy.
Assembling the Chocolate and Caramel Cake
- Add half the buttercream to a piping bag or ziplock bag. Snip off the tip.
- On your cake stand or serving plate, add a dollop of frosting in the center and place the first layer on top of it. (This will help keep it from sliding around).
- Build a dam of buttercream around the inside edge of the first layer. (This will keep the caramel from dripping out the sides.
- Next, you can add a thin layer of frosting if you want, or skip this step.
- Add the caramel sauce to each layer and spread it out evenly.
- Complete for all layers.
- Ice the outside and top of the cake with remaining buttercream.
- Glide your offset spatula or spoon across the top in a zig zag pattern.
- Add a caramel drizzle, if desired, over the top of the cake.
Equipment
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- Measuring Spoons and Dry Measuring Cups
- Liquid Measuring Cup
- Stand Mixer or Electric Hand Mixer
- Mixing Bowls
- Cake Pans - This layer cake pan set makes layer cakes a breeze; no more trying to evenly cut a cake in half!
- Offset Spatula
- Piping Bags
⏲️ Storage
This chocolate caramel cake can easily be stored at room temperature in a cake tin for up to 3 days or you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator which will extend the shelf life of your cake by an additional 1-2 days.
If you’ve opted to refrigerate your cake (whether making it ahead of time or storing leftovers), allow it to first reach room temperature before serving.
⭐ Tips
Here are some tips for making our Chocolate Caramel Cake Recipe:
✔️ We highly recommend that you freeze the cake for a few hours to help with the crumbs. Chocolate cake is notorious for making crumbs. If you skip this step, the buttercream layers will not go on smooth and beautiful.
✔️ Leftover chocolate cake slices can be wrapped individually in plastic wrap to be stored in the freezer. This allows you to remove the exact amount of cake you desire at any given time instead of defrosting an entire cake!
✔️ For clean-cut slices of cake, make sure your knife is warm. This can be achieved by dipping your knife into hot water and wiping it clean between slicing.
💭 Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some questions (and answers) that people often ask about this delicious cake and caramel frosting!
Buttercream is typically made with a sugar base and butter while frosting is made with a cream base added to butter.
Buttercream and frosting are decorating terms often used interchangeably since there are so many variations online these days.
If you find after the baking time is done that your cake is not completely cooked in the middle, simply cover the tin with aluminum foil and allow the cake to bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.
The foil will prevent the cake from burning on the top while baking on the inside.
Absolutely! This chocolate caramel cake freezes well for up to 2 months.
Whether you are freezing the entire cake or leftover slices, consider flash-freezing it first for about 2 hours to harden the caramel buttercream so that it doesn’t stick to any storage container surface. After that, you can store your cake in an airtight container in the freezer or wrap it in plastic wrap and then transfer it to an airtight container.
While I opted to use ready-made caramel sauce like this Ghirardelli Caramel Flavored Sauce for my caramel buttercream frosting, you can definitely add an extra step in the process by using your own homemade caramel sauce for the buttercream recipe.
If you are adding freshly made caramel sauce, make sure that it has completely cooled before adding it to the rest of the buttercream ingredients otherwise it will affect the consistency of the buttercream.
📖 Variations
We recommend that you try our chocolate caramel cake recipe for the first time just as it is written for the best results, because that is how the recipe has been tested.
However, the next time you make it, you might consider one of these different ways of making this great recipe.
- Add some chocolate chips into the cake batter. This will increase the overall chocolate flavor and also provide texture.
- To make this a salted caramel chocolate cake, add a sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top of the caramel sauce on one of the layers and on the top of the cake. A little goes a long way!
- For a thicker caramel buttercream, simply increase the quantity of powdered sugar until you achieve the desired consistency.
- Swap out the caramel sauce between the layers with chocolate ganache.
- If you prefer, substitute the caramel buttercream for our Cream Cheese Frosting.
- Sprinkle some chocolate sprinkles, chopped nuts or bits of chopped up chocolate caramel bar like this Heath Bar to the top of your cake while the buttercream is still wet for some extra flare!
🍴 Serving Suggestions
This chocolate and caramel cake is undoubtedly a decadent treat that can surely satisfy your sweet tooth cravings by enjoying a slice entirely on its own.
Of course, if you’d like to serve this cake as dessert, then consider serving a slice with a scoop (or two) of this Homemade Chocolate Covered Pretzel and Caramel Ice Cream, No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream With Brownie Bites or a dollop of whipped cream!
Adding something like ice cream to this chocolate and caramel cake is a great way to increase servings if you anticipate feeding a crowd!
😋 Similar Recipes
- Easy Chocolate Bundt Cake - The sour cream in this cake makes it super moist and rich, perfect with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.
- Chocolate Zucchini Cake - If you've never baked desserts with zucchini then you're in for a treat! A family recipe passed along by my very own Gram.
- S'mores Cupcakes - enjoy a delicious twist on a classic summer treat, sporting Graham cracker crusts and marshmallow frosting!
- Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies - These cake-inspired brownies will elevate your usual home-baked brownies to an entirely new level!
- Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe - With buttermilk and zucchini, this chocolate cake is unlike any other!
More Dessert Recipes
- Magic Bars Recipe with Shortbread Crust
- Salted Caramel Banana Bread
- Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Not ready to make this impressive and decadent cake yet? Don’t forget to pin this recipe for later! When you do make it, please be sure to tag me on Instagram @jugglingactmama or #jugglingactmama – I’d love to see your pictures! And finally, if you get a chance, please comment and leave me a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below!
Chocolate and Caramel Cake
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Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon butter flavoring
- 1 cup boiling water
For the Caramel Buttercream:
- 16 ounces 2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup caramel sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
To Make the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- Grease and flour (2) 8 or 9 inch cake pan or (4) 8x1 pans
- Add the dry ingredient to a large bowl and whisk together well.2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups granulated sugar, ¾ cup cocoa powder, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt
- Add eggs, buttermilk, oil, and flavorings.1 cup buttermilk, ½ cup vegetable oil, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon butter flavoring
- Mix on medium speed until incorporated.
- Mixture will be thick, add the cup of boiling water and mix on low until smooth.1 cup boiling water
- Separate evenly into cake pans and bake 20-25 mins
- Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 before removing from pan to fully cool.
- Freeze 4-6 hours or overnight.
To Make the Buttercream:
- Cream the butter until fully broken up and smooth.16 ounces 2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature
- Add in half the powdered sugar and half the caramel sauce mix well.5 cups powdered sugar, ¼ cup caramel sauce
- Add in the remaining remaining ingredinets.½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Mix on high for 5-7 mins until light and fluffy.
Assemble the Cake:
- Add half the buttercream to a piping bag or ziplock bag. Snip off the tip.
- Build a dam of buttercream around the inside edge of the first layer.
- Add a thin layer of buttercream (or not-totally up to you).
- Add caramel to each layer and spread it out.
- Complete for all layers.
- Ice the outside of the cake with remaining buttercream.
- Glide your offset spatula or spoon across the top in a zig zag pattern.
- Serve and enjoy.
Equipment
- Cake Pans*
- Offset Spatula
- Piping Bags
Dana Rodriguez says
This cake looks amazing. Two of my favorite flavors! Thanks for the recipe 🙂