Mini Chocolate Cakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a jelly-roll pan (10x15x1-inch, plus or minus). Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add the lightly beaten eggs, the canola oil and the milk and combine. Whisk in the boiling water. Your batter should now be fairly liquid.

Pour batter evenly into the prepared pan, place it into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven. Let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Place the corn syrup, water, and granulated sugar in a small saucepan and combine. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Do not stir the mixture while it’s boiling. Continue to boil until it thickens and turns into a brown caramel colour. Remove from the heat carefully whisk in the cream, vanilla, salt, and lemon juice. If the caramel clumps, just place it back on the heat and stir until it becomes smooth. Set aside to cool completely.

Once the caramel sauce is completely cool, combine the sticks of softened butter, powdered sugar, and 3/4 of the caramel together in a mixer and beat until a smooth.

Once the cake has cooled completely, use a round cookie or biscuit cutter to stamp out rounds of the cake (see notes). Spread each layer with frosting and build cakes up to as many layers as you’d like. I think 3-4 layers looks the best. Add a thin layer of frosting to the whole cake and chill the cake in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Take cakes out of the freezer and add a thicker layer of frosting to each one. Smooth the frosting around the cake with a spatula. Drizzle the leftover caramel on top. Finish with some large flaked sea salt.

Notes:
1. Recipe adapted from Flourishing Foodie.
2. If you’d like to only make a few mini cakes, just half the frosting recipe and stamp out only half the cake. The rest of the cake layers can be saved in the freezer for a later date.
3. These cakes can be stored in the freezer for up to a month. Just completely thaw, and bring to room temperature before eating.