I hate chocolate so the Chocolate week of Bake off wasn’t exactly delicious sounding. As I am taking part in Bake with Bake off by the Silver Mushroom, I had to put forward a chocolate recipe so you can imagine my trouble when I don’t like the stuff and that my scales had broken.
As I wanted to enjoy I couldn’t do anything too overly chocolately but I still wanted it to match the theme. Sunday I finally found a recipe that I could eat, BF would like and would fit the bill for Chocolate week. Basically somewhere it was called a Caramelites but all I know is that it was a mix of chocolate, caramel, oatmeal and cake mix!
I had to make a few adjustments to the recipe, including learning how to make my own caramel as I couldn’t get hold of the sweets required but the result was incredible! It is basically a layer of chocolate and caramel sadnwiched between a cake and flapjack like mix that makes it a simple yet rich bake that I’ve already had requests for it.
To make this you will need the following:
1 cup (200g) of granulated sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) of water
300ml of double cream
2 tbsp of single cream
1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
2 cup (200g) old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup (170g) packed light-brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
10 Tbsp (140g) unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (92g) milk chocolate chips or 1/2 cup of grated chocolate
To start this recipe, pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees. For this recipe you will need to make caramel – if you have never made it before don’t worry as it is actually really straight forward. You mix the granulated sugar and water in a saucepan – once completely mixed then heat over a moderate flame. It will bubble and that is a good thing but whatever you do don’t stir it – instead occasionally gently swish the pan to make sure that all the sugar is equally heated. When the molten sugar turns amber in colour take the sugar off the heat and stir in the double cream and single cream. This will make a wonderful thick caramel sauce that when hot will still be a bit bitter or sharp but as it cools it will lose this potent flavour for a creamier caramel.
Allow the caramel to cool a little and then add half of it to the oats, brown sugar, salt and baking soda in a mixing bowl. In a separate microwavable bowl put the butter in the microwave until it is all melted. Mix in the vanilla extract in the butter before adding it to the oatmeal mixture. When properly mixed, put half of the mixture into a 9 inch cake tin (if you have a metal one you will need to line it first but I use silicon for all my baking) and spread it evenly. Put the cake tin in the oven for 10 minutes to bake. This is where I grated chocolate but if you have chocolate chips you can have 10 minutes to drink tea, dance, sing or another form of 10 minute entertainment.
Once out of oven, coat the first layer of oatcakey goodness with the chocolate chips/grated chocolate evenly on top before repeating with the other half of the caramel. Finally add the oaty mixture on top of the caramel and place back the cake tin back in the oven for 16-20 minutes until it is golden on top. Once out of the oven, place the cake tin on a wire rack and let it cool – this will take a while but if you serve it too soon it will be molten and burn your tongue due to its dense nature.
I really loved this recipe – it was so much fun to make but it was so delicious. A warning though, if you are a supertaster only have a small slice as this is a very rich dense bake. The level of caramel and chocolate mixes and makes this surprisingly chocolatey for the small amount of chocolate but the caramel and oatmeal makes it not overwhelming.
If you are not a fan of chocolate, mainly because of its bitter aftertaste (again mainly aimed at supertasters), this will allow you to enjoy it without the bitterness at the end. I highly recommend this though for everyone to try and make.
Will try this? Have you baked something similar? What is your favourite chocolate bake? I would love to hear your thoughts so leave a comment below!
1 Comment
Emilie · October 6, 2015 at 1:38 pm
This bake sounds delicious! Almost enough to make me fall off the wagon and start eating unhealthy foods again!
xx