Raise your hand if you’re already feeling stressed this holiday season. Now that all of our hands are up, let’s put them down and make this no-stress cake instead. Seriously– this salted caramel cake has all of the delicious salted caramel flavor you love, but it takes no effort. The holidays are busy, and holiday desserts shouldn’t add to that stress. This one is a show-stopper, and if you can make a cake mix, you can make this dessert.
Start this showstopper by whipping up a boxed mix according to package directions. Yes, really. In my opinion, for this cake, the darker chocolate the mix, the better, but you go with your favorite chocolate cake mix from a box. Of course, I recruited my kitchen helper (or actually, he decided he was going to make it himself, which works just as easily for me) to prep my cake mix for me. Pour this into two well-greased 6-inch pans (any leftover mix you have can be made into mini cupcakes instead!) Bake the cakes according to package directions, then allow both to cool.
Using a cake leveler, trim off any uneven tops, then cut each cake in half, creating 4 layers. You can eat the scraps or use them to make cake balls– your choice. (Around here, we just eat them!)
Next, crack open a jar or can of caramel. I decided to use this caramel flavored sweetened condensed milk instead, since it seemed a little creamier than traditional caramel, and tasted amazing. Spread this to the edges of the cake, then lightly sprinkle with sea salt.
Right before serving, drizzle the remaining caramel over the cake– the caramel will soak in a bit to this naked cake, so for presentation purposes, you don’t want to do this final drizzle until time to share with your family and friends. Finish with a quick sprinkle of sea salt, and you’ve got a showstopper that’s sure to please.
The caramel drapes down the sides in beautiful golden ribbons, making this a cake that works great for Christmas, but also for New Years’ Eve, Valentine’s Day, and year-round…
- One boxed cake mix, prepared according to package directions in (2) 6 inch round pans
- Caramel or Caramel Flavored Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Sea Salt
- Bake cakes according to package directions and let cool.
- Use cake leveler to level the top of each cake, then slice it in half to create 4 layers.
- Alternate layers of cake, caramel, and sea salt.
- Finish cake with a drizzle of caramel and sprinkle of sea salt right before slicing to serve.
- The caramel will soak into the cake for rich caramel flavor in each bite. Because of this, hold off on the final top drizzle until you're ready to serve the cake for best appearance.
This cake is so easy a child could make it (after all, my 4 year old made this one!)
What’s your go-to holiday dessert? Let me know in the comments below!
I won’t be surprised if I see your sous chef on Master Chef Junior!!
He loves that show, and spends most of his screen time watching plenty of cooking shows on Netflix and Youtube. Keep an eye out– you may see an upcoming webseries!