Salted Caramel Mini Layer Cakes

This post is a part of a Holiday Baking with Bigelow Tea #AmericasTea campaign hosted by the social shopper media company #CollectiveBias. All opinions are mine alone.

These salted caramel mini layer cakes are moist, flavorful and super cute. Fun holiday dessert!

Some people collect snow globes. Some people collect stamps. Some people collect tea, or is it just me?

I buy tea from everywhere I go. Narita airport is where I stock up on my green tea collection. Incheon airport is the place I get my barley tea. Hawaii offered some amazing tea selection as well. Coffee cherry tea, anyone? Yeah, I’m a huge tea lover. Every evening, hubs and I end the day with a cup of tea. It’s almost like a ritual, you know.

When I came across the opportunity to work with Bigelow Tea, I certainly didn’t want to miss it.

Now, let’s talk about these cute mini cakes, shall we?

I’m so very proud of them. This is the softest, most flavorful and cutest cake I’ve ever made.

The tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture of the cake is the result of two-stage mixing method, developed by General Mills and Pillsbury back in the 40s. This method is actually easier than traditional creaming technique, and pretty much foolproof.

• We first mix the wet ingredients together. And in a separate bowl, we combine the dry ingredients, stir in the butter in small pieces and beat until the mixture is slightly coarse and sandy.
• Butter is added in small pieces so that the dry ingredients don’t fly out of the bowl. Try adding the butter in one big piece and you’ll get a big mess to clean up.
• Now, that the butter is incorporated, we’ll add the wet ingredients in two stages to make the batter. That’s about it. Pretty easy, huh?

Once the cake is baked and cooled, we cut out small rounds and brush on the salted caramel tea syrup for added flavor and make the cakes nice and moist. I have posted detailed step-by-step photo recipe for caramel buttercream in this post.

Oh, and don’t throw away  that leftover cake scrapes! Make some cake pops by mixing it with leftover buttercream frosting in the mixing bowl with paddle attachment, or using a handheld electric mixer. They were incredibly delicious, and nothing goes wasted. Win-win!

I hope you enjoyed my recipe today. Please give this recipe a try, I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

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Salted Caramel Mini Layer Cakes

These salted caramel mini layer cakes are moist, flavorful and super cute. Fun holiday dessert!

Yield: 17 mini cakes

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• ½ cup (120ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 ¼ cup (275gr) sifted cake flour
• 1 ½ cup (300gr) sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup (170gr) unsalted butter, softened and cubed

For salted caramel tea syrup:

• 1 Bigelow Salted Caramel tea bag
• ¼ cup (50gr) sugar
• ¼ cup (60ml) boiling hot water

For caramel buttercream:

• ½ cup (115gr) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups (250gr) powdered sugar
• ½ cup dulce de leche
• Sprinkles for decoration, if desired

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line 17x11in (43x28cm) deep baking sheet with a parchment paper and spray cooking spray all over the parchment paper and on the sides.
2. In a large jug, combine the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Beat lightly and set aside. You should get about 1 ¼ cup of mixture.
3. In a large mixing bowl with a paddle attachment, or using a handheld electric mixer, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add butter cubes just a few at a time while the mixer is running on slow speed. The flour mixture should get coarse texture with some pea size butter in there.
4. Pour about 2/3 of the egg mixture into the flour and beat until just combined. Then slowly pour the remaining egg mixture while the mixer is running. Beat till just combined. The batter might curdle slightly, and that’s normal. Pour the batter into the prepared baking sheet and tap a few times to get rid of bubbles. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and inserted toothpick comes out clean.
5. Transfer onto a cooling rack to cool for 5 minutes. Then invert onto a wire rack, peel off the parchment paper and then invert it again so that the top of the cake is up. Cool completely.
6. While the cake is cooling, prepare salted caramel tea syrup. Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water and steep the tea for about 5 minutes. Let it cool.
7. To make the caramel buttercream frosting, beat the butter in large mixing bowl with paddle attachment, or using a handheld electric mixer, until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and beat until well combined. Stir in dulce de leche and continue to beat until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Transfer the frosting into a piping bag with a round tip.
8. Once the cake is cooled completely, cut out 2-inch circles using a round cookie, or biscuit cutter. You will get about 35 circles. Place the cut out cake circles on wire rack and brush on the salted caramel tea syrup 3-4 times. Don’t overdo it, or the cakes will be too soggy. Pipe about heaping tablespoon of frosting on half of the cake circles. Using an offset spatula lightly spread the frosting and top with remaining plain cake circles. Frost the second layer the same way. Dust some sprinkles if desired.

Mix the leftover cake scrapes and buttercream frosting in the mixing bowl with paddle attachment, or using a handheld electric mixer, and make some cake pops.

All images and text ©Shinee D. for Sweet & Savory by Shinee

All photographs and content on Sweet & Savory by Shinee is copyright protected, unless otherwise noted. Please do not use any of my photos without my authorization. If you would like to share my recipe, you may re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the full directions. Thank you for your cooperation!