Three Tier Salted Caramel Chocolate Crunch Cake

Thank You Made Just Right! We were one of the Bake-Off Special Prize Winners. Check it out, and here's the recipe:

This cake is a little complicated, but so tasty. This delicious three-tiered vegan cake can cure your salty and sweet cravings at the same time! The caramel sauce is very sugary, and I think that the pretzels are the perfect little extra touch. I love peanut butter so this features a chocolate peanut butter frosting. Enjoy. : ) A note with the ingredients: Apple cider vinegar is the last ingredient for the actual cake batter. The next two ingredients are used to lightly coat the pans. The next five (sugar through coconut milk) are for the caramel mixture. The remaining ingredients, excluding the pretzels, are for the frosting. I chilled my cakes overnight in the fridge, but that's mainly because I made them late at night. You should let them cool about 30-60 min, but they work well when cooled overnight too. There was some extra caramel sauce which you can use on the individual pieces of cake, or you can halve the caramel recipe if you aren't too big on sugar. I used three different sized round pans(9, 6, and 4 inches), but you could always change that if you don't want to do three tiers.


Ingredients

• 4 cups Flour (I used whole wheat, but feel free to use all-purpose)

• 4 teaspoons baking powder

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 1/2 cup Melted Earth Balance Buttery stick

• 1/2 cup maple syrup

• 2 1/2 cups sugar

• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 1/4 cups water

• 1 cup Earth Balance soy milk

• 1 teaspoon flaxseeds

• 2 teaspoons Apple cider vinegar

• 1 dash Cooking spray

• 3 pinches Flour for dusting the pans

• 2 cups sugar

• 1/3 cup water

• 5 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 6 tablespoons Earth Balance buttery stick

• 2/3 cup coconut milk

• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 3 tablespoons coconut milk

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance soy milk

• 1 1/2 cups fresh ground chocolate peanut butter

• 1/4 cup Earth Balance buttery stick

• 1 1/2 tablespoons Earth Balance shortening

• 2 cups powdered sugar

• 2 dozen pretzels

Directions

1. To prepare the cake, 1. In a large mixing bowl add the dry ingredients (4 cups flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 ½ cup cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon cardamom, and1 teaspoon salt) and stir to combine.
2. In a second mixing bowl add the wet ingredients (½ cup olive oil, ½ cup melted Earth, Balance Buttery Stick, ½ cup maple syrup, 2 ½ cups sugar, 4 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 ¼ cups water, 1 cup Earth Balance Soy Milk, 1 teaspoon ground flax seeds, 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar) together and mix well with a spatula until they are combined.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together.
4. Spray cooking pans with cooking spray and flour pans (we used three sizes: one 9 inch, one 6 inch pan and one 4 inch.
5. Add batter to pans so each pan is about half to two thirds full.
6. Bake at 350 degrees. The 4 inch cake will take 24 minutes. The 6 inch cake will take 30 minutes. The 9 inch cake will take 35. You can always check your cakes before these times, and they will be done when you can stick a fork or knife through and there is no uncooked batter.
7. Let the cakes cool completely before assembling.
8. Now for the caramel sauce: Heat a heavy sauce pan on medium heat.
9. Add 2 cups of sugar, 1/3 cup water and 5 teaspoons of vanilla extract to pan and stir continuously with a whisk.
10. Once the sugar has melted and has begun to boil, stir vigorously for about 2 minutes.
11. Add 6 tablespoons Earth Balance Buttery Stick and continue to stir vigorously until melted.
12. Allow mixture to return to a boil stirring occasionally, then stir vigorously for two minutes while the mixture is boiling.
13. Add 1/3 cup coconut milk to mixture while stirring.
14. Continue stirring until mixture returns to a boil and add the second 1/3 cup.
15. Stir for 5 minutes while mixture boils and then remove from heat.
16. Transfer mixture into a glass or metal pan and refrigerate for 20 minutes. **Wash all cooking utensils immediately**
17. After you've washed your pan and utensils that you cooked the caramel in, it is time to start the frosting. Cream the 1/4 cup Earth Balance buttery stick and 1 1/2 tbs shortening together with a hand mixer or standing mixer on medium speed.
18. Add 1 1/2 cup chocolate peanut butter and thoroughly mix with shortening and butter. Add 3 teaspoons vanilla and mix for about 20 seconds.
19. Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined, about 3-5 minutes.
20. Add the 1/2 cup Earth Balance soy milk and 3 tablespoons coconut milk and mix until combined, about 3 minutes,
21. Crush pretzels and set aside.
22. Now comes the time to assemble the cake! Make sure that the cakes are cool enough to work with. Place the 9-inch cake on a plate, top down. Add a scoop of caramel in the middle of the cake. Place the 6-inch cake on top of the caramel. Add a scoop of caramel to the middle of the new layer. Place the 4-inch cake on top of the caramel.
23. Frost the outside of the cake once to seal in the crumbs. Refrigerate for 5 minutes and frost again.
24. Add the crushed pretzels to the cake.
25. Drizzle caramel on top and sides of the cake – there will be extra caramel which you can serve to your guests just in case they don’t have enough caramel on their piece, before serving microwave the caramel just until melted).
26. Place two pretzels on top of cake for decoration. Serve and enjoy!