Since I am on a roll with cakes and parties… I thought I had better post my absolute favourite failsafe cake recipe, a Caramel Mud Cake! I even prefer this one over the White Chocolate Mud cake recipe. I have used this one for the majority of all my cakes over the years. I have had this recipe for so long I can not remember where I found it. Like the white chocolate one, this one works well for cup cakes too.
It makes a large amount of mixture, so I have always done it the traditional way as it will completely fill the Thermomix bowl! But the last 2 times I mixed it in the Thermomix with success. I have included the traditional directions and my Thermomix conversion. The caramel frosting that goes with this recipe I have not used when making a cake, since I am usually decorating it for a birthday cake, but the frosting is great for cup cakes. I usually half the frosting recipe as it makes a huge amount. Any left overs I keep in the fridge and is yummy spread on failsafe biscuits.
1 cup (200g) butter, softened
3 cups (650g) sugar
6 eggs
2- 2/3 cups (400g) plain flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (210g) sour cream
1 Tablesp (10g) vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Tradition directions: Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together. Alternating, add flour and sour cream to butter mixture. Add vanilla.
Thermomix directions: Cream butter and sugar until fluffy on speed 5 for 20 seconds, scrape down sides with spatula and repeat. Add eggs one at a time through the lid while on speed 4. Scrape down sides and add remaining ingredients. Mix on speed 5 for 10 sec or until just combined.
Pour into three 9-inch prepared pans. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes. Cake is cooked when tested with a cake tester/skewer that comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on racks for 10 minutes, then remove from pan for complete cooling.
Caramel Frosting: (I usually halve or quarter the amounts if not icing a whole cake)
½ cup (100g) butter
2 cups (395g) light brown sugar
½ cup (135g) evaporated milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups (465g approx) icing sugar
Traditional directions: Melt butter; add brown sugar and milk. Cook 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over confectioners’ sugar and beat until smooth. Let cool slightly, then frost layers.
Thermomix directions: If making your own icing sugar from sugar, do that 1st before melting the butter and set aside. Melt butter in TM bowl for 2 minutes at 60°C on speed 4. Add brown sugar and milk, cook for another 2 minutes at 60°C on speed 3-4. Add vanilla and icing sugar. Mix on speed 5 for 20 sec. Let cool slightly, then frost layers.
Tips: Mud cakes can shrink when cooling, which freaked me out the first few time I made them, so don’t be alarmed if it happens… apparently it’s normal.
Here are some of the birthday cakes I have made using this recipe over the years. Since we are not on the strict elimination diet at the moment and can tolerate some moderate Salicylates and amines, I used Hopper colours from Allergy Train that are coloured from fruit and veg, not numbers!
Butterfly Cake. My youngest 1st birthday. Butter icing on the cake. I used a silicon cake pan to make the dragon fly and the butterfly which I poured a runny icing mixture over like a glaze. Butterfly confetti decorations.
Princess 3rd birthday cake. Two tier cake with Pear and Choko Jam spread between the layers. Butter icing and added pink Hopper colour on the sides. My first attempt at piping icing, a bit sad, but it worked, lol! Crown and gems as decorations from craft shop.
Sandcastle Cake. I used a silicon sandcastle cake pan for this one. Crushed biscuits used as the sand. White chocolate for the doors. Mermaid, shells and star fish all decorations.
Hulk Cake. Two tier cake with Pear and Choko Jam spread between the layers. Marshmallow fondant icing with green Hopper colour from Allergy Train. Figurine of Hulk in the middle with the fondant folded back to look like he is bursting out of it.
Barbie Cake. Three tier cake with Pear and Choko Jam spread between the layers. Marshmallow fondant icing with pink Hopper colour. Piped icing on the skirt. Butterfly confetti. Barbie fairy doll.
Just thought I’d share. Needed a cupcake recipe for Miss 2.5yrs but with a new bub in the house,time is limited for doing separate adult and child baking, So I used only 400g of sugar, 100 of brown and 300 white. They turned out perfectly and made a truck load of cupcakes, actually just did oversized mini muffin cakes. Both Daddy and little lady happy. Oh and in TMX, equivalent 300g of flour and we used GF plain instead of measuring cup quantities
Is this with brown sugar or white?
Hi Mel, I use white sugar in this recipe. Though Terri has successfully used a combination of both that sounds great. 🙂
Hi, i’m just wondering about quantities, how many people can this recipe feed roughly?
Hi Lillian, I have made 3 dozen cup cakes and 3 x 9 inch cakes from this recipe. I just did a quick google search and according to a few sites about cake cutting they say a 9 inch cake serves approx 20 people. Though that would be very small servings like a wedding cake cut, I am usually more generous than that with my servings of a birthday cake. Adjust your cutting size to suit the number of guests.
thankyou 🙂
Hi just wondering how long before serving do you make white mud cake or caramel mudcake…how many days? Thank you 🙂
Hi Natalie, If I have a busy week coming up, I can sometimes make the cake the week before and place it in the freezer. It is easier to ice while frozen so you don’t end up with crumbs in your icing. I would then take it out of the freezer and ice it the day before. Once it has icing on I keep it in the fridge.
Huge apologies for my late reply, I have just discovered a heap of comments in my spam folder 🙁