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Chocolate Cake with Earl Grey Buttercream
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Chocolate Cake with Earl Grey Buttercream and Salted Caramel

Ina Garten's famous chocolate cake with a creamy Earl Grey tea-infused buttercream, topped with a hefty dose of David Lebovitz' salted butter caramel sauce. A cake made for celebrating.
Prep Time40 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 40 minutes
Cooling Time11 hours
Total Time13 hours 20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Cake with Earl Grey Buttercream
Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients

The Chocolate Cake

  • 1 3/4 c flour
  • 2 c sugar
  • 3/4 c cocoa powder*
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 c buttermilk
  • 1/2 c vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 c hot coffee

Earl Grey Buttercream**

  • 1 1/2 c whole milk
  • 1/3 c heavy cream
  • 1/4 c loose leaf Earl Grey tea
  • 1 1/2 c sugar
  • 1/3 c flour
  • 1 1/2 c butter, softened (3 sticks)***
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

  • 1 c sugar
  • 1/2 c water
  • 6 T salted butter, cubed, at room temperature
  • 1/2 c heavy cream
  • sea salt or kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

The Chocolate Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350°F
  • Line the bottoms of two 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper, then butter and flour them.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachments, sift together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined.
  • In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla and mix until combined.
  • Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing on low speed.
  • Add the coffee and stir to combine, stopping to scrape the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
  • Once all is well-combined, divide batter evenly into your prepared cake pans.
  • Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out mostly clean, with just a few moist crumbs.
  • Cool for 30 minutes in the pan, then remove from pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Note: this cake is very moist & tender - be careful when removing from pans. For best results, place a plate on top of the pan, then flip over so the cake comes out onto the plate. Then carefully transfer cake to wire rack.
    Once cool, go ahead and frost, or wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 1-2 days or freeze for up to a month. Allow to come to room temperature before frosting.

Earl Grey Buttercream

  • In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the milk, heavy cream, and tea. Heat gently, stirring, just until simmering. It will be steaming, you'll see little bubbles around the outside edge, and it will feel nice & hot when you dip your pinky in it.
  • Remove from heat and allow to cool completely, then refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Strain out tea using a wire mesh strainer.
  • In another heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine sugar & flour and whisk together. Add the milk-tea mixture and whisk until well combined. Cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally (make sure to get into the corners of the pan with the whisk), for about 10-15 minutes, or until it thickens and starts to boil. At this point it will kind of look like thick caramel.
  • Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until completely cool, about 7-9 minutes.
  • Reduce speed to low and add butter, a little at a time, mixing until well combined. Don't worry if there are butter chunks visible at this point.
  • Increase to medium high speed and beat until mixture is light and fluffy and butter chunks are completely incorporated - about a minute or two more.
  • Add vanilla and mix until combined.
    Note: At this point, if the frosting is too soft, pop it in the fridge to chill for a bit (10-15 minutes should do the trick), then beat again until fluffy.
  • Once you have a fluffy, spreadable frosting, and your cakes are completely cool, you can get to frosting your cake!
  • Place one layer on a plate/serving tray. Scoop about 1/3 of the frosting onto the top of the cake layer, and spread evenly.
  • Top with the other layer, and spread another 1/3 of the frosting onto the top. Use the remaining frosting to frost the sides of the cake.
    Note: You may want to do a "crumb coat" on this cake to help keep from getting crumbs in the frosting. When frosting the outside of the cake, spread a thin layer of frosting evenly over the cake. Then place the cake in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes or so, until the frosting has solidified. Then spread the rest of the frosting evenly onto the outside of the cake.
  • Place the cake in the fridge to chill while you make the caramel sauce.

Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

  • Put the sugar in a heavy bottomed wide saucepan, then pour the water over it. Don't stir.
  • Heat over medium heat, swirling the pan gently until the sugar is completely moistened.
  • Once sugar is moistened, leave it on the heat and allow it to cook, only swirling the pan occasionally. Watch for spots of sugar that aren't melting and swirl the pan gently to help it cook evenly.
  • Continue cooking over medium heat until the mixture starts to darken (a.k.a., caramelize). Again, only swirl the pan if it looks like the sugar mixture isn't darkening evenly.
    Note: This didn't happen for me, but if your mixture crystallizes, keep cooking, and stir only if you notice really dark spots. The mixture should smooth out on its own.
  • Once your caramel is a deep, dark amber color (juuust shy of burning) and starts to smoke a little, take it off the heat and add the cubes of butter. The caramel will foam up at this point.
  • Whisk until butter is completely melted, then slowly add the cream(it will foam up again). Stir until smooth.
  • Once sauce is cool enough to taste, add salt to taste.
  • Allow your caramel sauce to cool completely (about 30-60 minutes). To speed cooling, pour it into another bowl or container, and stir occasionally.
  • Spoon some of the cooled caramel onto the top of the cake, spreading to the edges and allowing it to drip down the sides. If it's too thick to spread or drip, pop it in the microwave for just a few seconds to thin it out. Once you have it how you like it, pop the cake back in the fridge until you're ready to serve it.
  • Store any extra caramel in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Bonus: this caramel is AMAZING on ice cream.

Notes

*I like dutch cocoa powder, because I love the rich dark chocolate flavor it gives. This recipe works well with regular cocoa powder as well though. Just be sure to use the best quality cocoa powder you can afford.
**This frosting recipe makes enough for a good layer of frosting on the cake, but not enough for piping or other decoration. If you want enough for piping, or if you want to cut your cake rounds in half for 4 layers, you'll need a double batch.
***The butter for the frosting should be nice and soft, but not too melty - around 70°F or so.