german chocolate caramel cake

4 egg yolks

2 level tbsp flour

3 tsp best-quality cocoa

1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate

100g Optima flour

85ml corn oil

50ml water

1/4 tsp butter oil

2 dessertspoons chocolate emulco

4 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

75g caster sugar 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and line the base and sides of a 9″ round tin.
2. Lightly whisk together the oil, water, butter oil and egg yolks.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa and soda bicarbonate into a large bowl. Stir in the optima flour, without sifting it. Using a wooden spoon, make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the egg mixture into the well, stirring well until it is mixed. Beat until a smooth batter is formed and then mix in the chocolate emulco.
4. In a clean dry bowl, whisk together the egg whites and cream of tartar until it forms soft peaks. Add in a tablespoon of the sugar at a time and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.
5. Carefully fold in the chocolate batter into the egg whites until it is just mixed. Do not overwork the mixture.
6. Pour the batter into the tin and bang the tin once on the countertop to remove any large air bubbles.
7.  Bake at 350F for 45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
8. Cool for 2 minutes in tin then overturn on a wire rack and remove lining paper. Cool sponge completely.

Caramel Mousse

115g castor sugar

2 tbsp water

35g butter

1 1/2 tsp gelatine

90ml water

1 1/2 cups whipping cream, chilled

1.  Place sugar and about 2tbsp of water into a small saucepan and dissolve sugar over low to medium heat, swirling the pan occassionally. Once sugar is dissolved, turn heat to medium and let the syrup boil until it turns a dark amber. Swirl the pan once the sugar starts to color so that it darkens evenly.
2. Once the caramel is a dark amber, quickly stir in the butter until smooth (Be careful as it will sputter).
3. Turn off the heat and slowly pour in 3/4 cup of whipping cream into the hot caramel in a steady stream, stirring all the while with a wooden spoon. If it seizes, no worries, return the pan to the stove and over low heat, stir until the lumps dissolve.
4. Dissolve gelatin in the 90ml of water (gently heat the mixture if necessary to fully dissolve the gelatine) and stir into the caramel mixture. Leave to cool completely.
5. In a chilled bowl, beat the remaining 3/4 cup of cream until thick and fold into the cooled caramel mixture. At this point, the mousse will be very soupy so I suggest you bung the bowl in the freezer and give it a stir every few minutes until it becomes thick and creamy.

Assembly:

1. Slice the sponge into three even layers
2. Sandwich each layer with caramel mousse, and then cover the top and sides with the mousse as well
3. Place the frosted cake in the fridge to set 

Chocolate Butter

100g chocolate

100g slightly salted butter (I used Lurpak)

1. Over a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter, stirring until mixture is smooth.
2. Cool completely, stirring occassionally until mixture is spreadable. You may have to do some of the cooling in the fridge.
3. After the caramel mousse has set in the fridge (it’ll take a couple of hours), spread the top of the cake with the chocolate butter and if desired, the sides as well. I used my palette knife to swirl the chocolate butter with the mousse, giving it a marbled effect.