Chocolate Cake with Caramelized Coconut Milk Frosting and Salted Caramel

Chocolate Cake with Caramelized Coconut Milk Frosting and Salted Caramel is pretty much a dream come true. Rich, moist chocolate cake is layered with a super simple frosting made from caramelized coconut milk and a sprinkle of honey granola too. All of this is drizzled with salted caramel sauce, making you one helluva baker. Heck yes. 

Can I make this title a tad longer? Could we call it Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Caramelized Coconut Milk Frosting, Granola, and a Salted Caramel Drizzle? Ding, ring. Nice, right?

I guess I’m on a mini little (redundant) layered-cake roll, right? All good things. 

Let’s just jump right in, shall we? This cake! It’s SO so good. Seriously. 

Usually chocolate cake (especially gluten free chocolate cake) is dry and dull and totally tasteless. Ugh, totally not worth it. But not this one! Holy smokes it’s so chocolatey! And totally not too rich either. The flavor is rich, but it’s not all dense and rich to where you can only have a few bites then put your fork down. 

I used the chocolate cake recipe from the Blackbird Bakery cookbook. This is the same cookbook that I used to make my Honey Cashew Banana Cake base from. It’s a home run in my book! All of the recipes are gluten free, which is awesome. And I found all of the flours in an international grocery store for cheap cheap cheap! Totally awesome.

Now, for the frosting, you can’t get easier than this! I basically reduced a can of coconut milk with a touch of coconut sugar…and after it was super thick I added a touch of vanilla to it. Yup, that’s it. And after it’s cooled, it’s the perfect frosting. 

To add more flavor and an interesting crunch (though after a day or so, the crunch leaves, but the flavor remains), I added some granola! You can use any granola as long as its not riddled with dried fruit. Go for the plain stuff this time! I used Nature Valley’s protein granola because it has just a nice honey sweetness (and because it was in my cupboard!). I also sprinkled in some unsweetened coconut too. I’d recommend adding the granola to the very top just as you’re about to serve it, so it’s still crunchy! Yum. 

Oh, and then I pulled a fast one on ya and drizzled the whole dang thing with Salted Caramel sauce. Yeah. You can leave this off…but we can’t be friends anymore. (Buy it at Trader Joe’s. It’s cheap and easy and SO SO good). 

Ok! Now go make these and pretend like you didn’t notice that I didn’t make you anything loaded with berries for the Fourth. Whoops?

Chocolate Cake with Caramelized Coconut Milk Frosting and Salted Caramel

2014-07-01 21:05:26

Richly flavorful yet subtly sweet, gluten free chocolate cake is stacked with caramelized coconut milk frosting, a sprinkle of honey oat granola and then drizzled with salted caramel. (makes 5 small ramekin cakes)

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Ingredients

1. 1/2 a recipe of Blackbird Bakery gluten free chocolate cake (or your favorite chocolate cake recipe)*
2. 1 can coconut milk
3. 2 Tbs. coconut sugar
4. 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
5. pinch of sea salt
6. honey oat granola**
7. unsweetened coconut
8. salted caramel sauce (I used Trader Joe's)

Instructions

1. Bake you cakes according to the instructions in standard ramekins (mine are just under 1 cup size). Let cakes cool before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.
2. Make your frosting: On the stovetop in a pan, combine the coconut milk and coconut sugar, stirring often (so it doesn't burn on the bottom), bring the mixture to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Continue to stir and simmer (appx 10 minutes) until very thick.
3. Pull the pan off the heat and quickly stir in the vanilla and sea salt. Place the bottom of the pot into a bowl of ice water, cooling the frosting quickly. Let cool completely, stirring occasionally.
4. Slice your ramekin cakes in half. Apply a thin layer of frosting. Sprinkle on some granola and then some coconut. Apply the top layer, more frosting, and then more granola and coconut. Drizzle with salted caramel sauce.
5. Enjoy!

Notes

1. *the recipe I used was for a large, square, layered cake, so I made only 1/2 the batter
2. **use your favorite granola, as long as it does not have dried fruit in it or large nuts
3. Cakes will keep in the fridge for 4 days in a well-sealed container. Wait to top with granola and drizzle with caramel until you're ready to serve them.

By Melissa @ Treats With a Twist

Treats With a Twist https://www.treatswithatwist.com/

I know that Friday is the Fourth, but I have a special little (long) rambling post about some personal crap if you want to come back and read it. Please do! I’ll even include festive treats if you humor me.