Thursday 16 February 2012

Chocolate Butterscotch Cake

I've been waiting for an opportunity to make Grace's Butterscotch Goombah since last July. The idea of a caramel buttercream studded with chunks of toffee was just too good to let go of. And obviously that name is brilliant. Goombah. Goombah, goombah, goombah.

The perfect opportunity arose last weekend. It was my sister-in-law's sister's 40th birthday and she was having a tea party. I decided to use the goombah to sandwich a chocolate cake, and cover the whole lot with a chocolate cream cheese frosting. If there is one thing I have learned in several years of relationship with the Langland girls, it is that they do love chocolate.

For the cake itself, I used the Be-Ro recipe again, although I substituted buttermilk for the evaporated milk, and a slosh of Camp coffee for the vanilla, to give it a bit more of an adult flavour. It could easily have tipped over into cloyingly sweet and I didn't want that to happen.


I only made a half quantity of the goombah, and that really was plenty for a cake with a rich icing. If I'd just been dusting the top with a bit of icing sugar, or a thin glaze, then the full quantity would have been fine. I'm not entirely sure what the "toffee bits" the recipe called for are, but I used some dairy caramels, cut into chunks.


For the icing, I creamed 150g butter and 300g cream cheese together with a couple of tablespoons of icing sugar, then beat in 200g melted and cooled dark chocolate, then spread it on the cake (which I had brushed with a cocoa-flavoured simple syrup) quickly before it set too hard. I pressed more chopped caramels into the top of the cake as a garnish.

It was a great success! Possibly a little too rich, but with a deep, dark chocolate flavour and that slightly burnt sugar taste of butterscotch. I will make this again!

18 comments:

TJ said...

So, was it good??

Brain said...

Mmmm, looks fabulous! Must've been delicious too!

James Brewer said...

What a great name goombah! Looks delicious - I bet it didn't last long.

Barbara said...

Yum! It looks wonderful. I do love cakes and wish I made them more frequently. Guess it's because the kids are gone....

Suelle said...
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Suelle said...

goombah sounds very interesting. Did the caramel pieces stay hard or soften in the buttercream?

Suelle said...
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Choclette said...

Well really, how can I resist this wonderous cake especially with a name like Goombah?

Mary Bergfeld said...

Do you think it's rich enough:-). This sounds delicious and I love the adult changes you made to the recipe. I'd love a piece of this. I hope you have a good day. Blessings...Mary

Alicia Foodycat said...

I think blogger must be having problems - a lot of the comments are doubling up!

TJ - yes, it was!

brain - thank you!

James - I was surprised how quickly it went; it wasn't even the only cake there!

Mary - it was a bit over the top! But good.

Barbara - it does need an excuse, doesn't it?

Suelle - they softened, but kept a bit of chew. I warned everyone about their fillings!

Choclette - goombah is the way forward!

Caroline said...

My word that looks amazing. Love the name, love the look and that final shot of the cut cake illustrates perfectly why I need chocolate cake right now.

Hotly Spiced said...

What a great cake for a 40th birthday. It looks so rich and moist and decadent. I bet it was very well received.

Heather S-G said...

Oh, that does look rich and incredibly "grown-up". I bet a slender slice along with a cold glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee was just perfection.

Alicia Foodycat said...

C - it was a good set of flavours! Unfortunately we said "no" when offered some of the leftovers to bring home!

Hotly Spiced - it did go down well.

Heather - well, we were drinking sparkling wine with it, but coffee or milk would have been good too!

~~louise~~ said...

Sinful! Just what I need tonight. I sure wish there was a piece left for me. I love the bits of nuances you added too.

Thank you so much for sharing...

mscrankypants said...

Goombah goombah goombah, is anything ever too rich? It looks like the kind of cake to have a little sliver every day until it's gone. Then again, I imagine it went quickly!

grace said...

yeah...that goombah's some rich stuff! i'm so sorry you're unfamiliar with toffee bits, and i have no idea what they might be called in the uk or if they're even made there. i'm halfway tempted to send you some, just so you can experience their grandness. regardless, your dairy caramels sound just as scrumptious. :)

Deb in Hawaii said...

Gorgeous cake and I love the "Goombah" name. ;-)

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