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salted caramel cake

Salted Caramel Chocolate Drip Cake

This recipe features three layers of chocolate cake layered with decadent salted caramel and finished off with a salted caramel buttercream frosting. It is then topped of with a chocolate ganache drip. This is hands down the best chocolate cake recipe! Every layer is fudgy, rich, and moist, and is perfectly balanced by the sweet and salty caramel. This chocolate drip cake is guaranteed to be a show stopper!
5 from 5 votes
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 35 minutes
chill 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

Chocolate Cake

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 8 oz dark chocolate

Homemade Caramel Sauce

  • ¾ cup salted butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt
  • ½ cup cashews

Homemade Caramel Buttercream

  • 2 ½ cups salted butter (softened)
  • 10 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 cup caramel sauce
  • 10 tablespoon heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla

Chocolate Ganache Drip

  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 8 oz dark chocolate
  • ¼ cup cashews

Instructions
 

Chocolate Cake

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, add your flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until combined. Then add your oil, vanilla, buttermilk, and eggs. Mix until combined. Slowly add your boiling water, while mixing on medium speed. 
  • Melt your chocolate. To do this, chop up your chocolate bars and place in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. If still not melted, microwave again in 15 second intervals, stirring in between each one. Add your melted chocolate to your batter. Mix until combined. 
  • Line three 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Evenly divide batter into these three pans, smooth out with spatula. 
  • Bake cakes at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Take out and let them cool completely. 

Homemade Caramel Sauce

  •  In a heavy bottom saucepan, melt your sugar on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Your sugar should first clump up, then melt, and then turn an amber color. Keep a close eye on this or it can burn fast. Once there are no more clumps and the sugar is completely melted and a golden amber color, remove from heat. 
  • Immediately add your butter (diced up). Your mixture will rapidly boil. Vigorously stir until the butter and sugar are combined. This will take a few minutes for the two to combine (about 3 minutes) so keep stirring. 
  •  Once combined, add back to the heat (medium heat) and heat until bubbling again. Then slowly add your heavy cream while whisking. Whisk until combined. Once combined, stop stirring and let mixture boil again (it will rise to the top of the pan). Once this happens, take it off of the heat. Stir in your salt and let cool at room temp for 30 minutes. Then place in the fridge to continue cooling for at least another 30 minutes. The caramel will thicken. 

Homemade Caramel Buttercream

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat your butter until soft and airy. Then add your powdered sugar and beat on medium speed. The mixture should first clump up, then smooth out. Then add 1 cup of your cooled caramel, heavy cream, and vanilla. Mix until completely combined and soft.  

Chocolate Ganache Drip

  • Chop up your chocolate bars and place in a heat safe bowl.
  •  In a small saucepan, add your heavy cream and simmer on medium heat. Once the cream starts lightly bubbling, remove from heat and pour over chocolate.
  • Do not stir right away. Let the mixture sit for about 3 minutes. Then stir until chocolate is completely melted. Set aside
  • With your cashews, roughly chop about half of them, leaving the other half alone. Set aside. 

Assemble

  • On a cake stand or plate, place your first layer of chocolate cake (make sure to remove your parchment paper from your cake layers). Then place a heaping scoop of buttercream on top. Spread out your buttercream creating a well in the center. 
  •  In the center of your well, pour on about ½ of your remaining caramel. Do not overfill your well or it will pour out the sides and you will have a mess. It is ok if you have to use less than half of the caramel.
  • Then sprinkle on about half of your chopped nuts. 
  • Repeat for the second layer, using up the remaining caramel and chopped nuts (you may have leftover caramel which is okay). 
  • Top off your cake with your third layer of chocolate cake. 
  • Using up about ⅓ of your remaining buttercream, frost on a crumb coat (a thin layer of frosting). Then place the cake in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Once your crumb coat is chilled and set, use the majority of your remaining frosting to frost your cake (you may want to leave some buttercream to the side for decoration). Use a spatula to smooth out your frosting. 
  • Pour your chocolate ganache on top of your cake and use a spatula to smooth it out, letting the chocolate ganache drip over the edges creating a pretty drip look. Let the chocolate completely cool by placing the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 
  • Using any remaining buttercream, pipe on a decorative edge and sprinkle on your remaining nuts for decoration!
  • Serve and enjoy!
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