Dark Chocolate Cake with Caramel Frosting

A birthday is simply not a birthday without birthday cake- everyone knows that! So, for my beautiful mother's birthday this weekend, I decided to make her a cake. She likes chocolate (who doesn't!) and I happened to have some Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder, so I used the chocolate cake recipe on the back of the cocoa powder container with a little twist. My husband said it was the best chocolate cake he has ever had in his life, and I think that is something worth bragging about :)

I wanted something other than the usual buttercream frosting, and something fall-like but not pumpkin, so I went with caramel. It was incredibly rich and tasty, plus it was easy to spread and shape on the cake. To add a little crunch, I crumbled some caramel covered shortbread cookies and spread them between the two layers. This is certainly not a light dessert, but it is delicious and comforting. 

Here's how to do it:

What you need:

Again, I mostly followed the cake recipe for Hershey's "Especially Dark" Chocolate Cake, on the back of the cocoa carton.

Cake:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

*my additions*
1 to 2 tbs cinnamon
1-2 tsp chili powder

Frosting:

I found this recipe on Pinterest and actually did not tweak it at all- it is amazing as is! Here is the link Caramel Frosting I am not going to repost the ingredients or directions, since they are on this website.

Filling:

1 package store brand caramel covered shortbread cookies (ginger snaps would be great, as would Oreos, animal crackers, or anything you like!)

What to do:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 9-inch round baking pans (I used two 8 inch and made a little loaf as well). 

Mix sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and chili powder in a large bowl. 

Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla- beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Stir in boiling water. Pour batter into pans. 

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean.

Cool completely on wire racks. 

In a large ziplock bag, crush cookies into tiny crumbles. 

Once the cakes are completely cooled, spread a thin layer of frosting on the top of one and spread the cookie crumbles all over. If the center of the cakes raised significantly higher than the edges, you may want to even off one of the cakes by cutting the top so that when you place the second cake on top, it touches all the way around. 

Place the second cake on top of the first and frost the cake as usual. This frosting is very rich and the cake should be very moist, so you do not need a ton of frosting. I love frosting this cake because the consistency of the frosting was so easy to work with. I made my pattern by pressing the edge of my bent icing knife in lines along the outside of the cake and in no particular pattern on the top of the cake. 

Then I topped it off by writing a birthday message. I was going to decorate more, but I thought simple was best for this one. 

Everyone loved the cake, but almost no one could finish it because it was so rich! One thing I might try next time is using the caramel icing for the filling and regular buttercream for the rest. I'd definitely do it this way again, though! Enjoy!