Toasted walnuts caramel cake

Today is my mom's birthday and i had to make a cake to celebrate her even i'm thousands miles away. She is a sucker for rum soaked cakes and made them for our anniversaries for as long as i can remember but today i'm not in the mood for boozy cakes, i just want decadent slice of cake!!


And what is more decadent than a chocolate or a caramel cake? only if you put these two together you can beat each one individually but not today! It has to be one or another and believe me it was hard to choose between a chocolate cake and a caramel one but it's obvious who's the winner!
This cake starts with a classic sponge cake and a mascarpone dulce de leche filling then is totally covered in homemade gooey caramel and finished with toasted walnuts,it's nothing fancy just sinfully delicious dessert!
I devoured a slice in the blink of an eye and matched beautifully with a glass of rosé wine😜

Prep Time: 25-30 Minutes 
Cooking Time: 50 Minutes
Yield:6-8 portions

INGREDIENTS

Sponge cake:

• 140g all-purpose flour(T65)
• 120g caster sugar
• 4 M/L eggs
• 30ml sunflower oil
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Filling:

• 250g mascarpone cheese,room temperature
• 100g dulce de leche
• 2tsp nescafe classic instant coffee

Caramel:

• 150g caster sugar 
• 100ml heavy cream
• 20g unsalted butter

Toasted walnuts:

• 100g raw walnut 

DIRECTIONS

For the toasted walnuts:

• Preaheat oven to 180ºC /350ºF(convection/fan forced mode)
• Line a baking try with parchment paper.
• Spread walnuts in a single layer on prepared try and bake until browned and fragrant about 10-12 minutes.
• Remove walnuts from the oven and set aside to cool.
• Once cooled,place them inside a kitchen towel and rub with your hands to remove the skins.
• Chop the walnuts as finely as possible or grind them in a food processor.

To make the cake:

• Preaheat oven to 180ºC /350ºF
• Butter and line with parchment paper a 20cm diameter springform pan.
• Place eggs and salt in a large,clean bowl and with your mixer at high speed start to whisk adding sugar gradually.Whisk until mixture becomes thick, fluffy, and doubles in volume.
• Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add sunflower oil.Whisk until just combined.
• Sift the flour on top of the egg mixture,a little at a time, and fold it gently using a silicone spatula.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan,spread it evenly with an offset spatula and bake at at 180ºC/350ºF for 25-30 minutes until the toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Let the cake rest in the pan for 10 minutes then remove the cake from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Once the cake has cooled start to make the filling.

Filling:

• Add mascarpone cheese,dulce de leche and nescafe coffee to a medium bowl.
• Using an electric mixer whisk for 1 minute to combine and remove any lumps.Refrigerate until is ready to use.

Caramel:

• Place sugar into small saucepan over a medium-low heat.
• Heat the sugar until the sugar begins to brown around the edges of the saucepan.With a wooden spoon gently push the melted sugar to the center to help the process along.
• Once sugar is completely melted and has a deep amber color,remove the saucepan from the heat and add heavy cream and and whisk vigorously.The mixture splutters,bubbles and the caramel will harden,return to a low heat and cook for another 2 minutes stirring continuously until the caramel has completely melted and is smooth.
• Remove from the heat and mix in the butter.
• Cool the caramel until is thick enough to cling to the cake when spread about 30 minutes

Assemble the cake:

• Place the cake on a wooden board.
• Using a serrated knife cut the cake in 2 halves widthwise.
• Place one half of the cake on a serving plate cut side up. 
• Spoon filling onto the center of the cake and with an offset spatula spread the mixture evenly,pushing it towards the edges
• Place the other half on top,cut side down and press gently to make sure it sticks
• Cover the top and sides of the cake with caramel.Sprinkle ground walnuts on top and press onto the sides of the cake to cover.
• Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve.Keep leftovers into refrigerator for up to 3 days.

That's all, folks!
Enjoy!

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If you make this recipe,please let me know how it turned out!

Post your version on  instagram,tag @lady.j.bakes or leave me a comment below!