Gaytime Cake
Cook Time 3 hours
Servings 10-12
Ingredients
For the homemade salted caramel
150 grams caster sugar
65 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
100 millilitres thickened cream
1 teaspoon flakey sea salt (smoked variety preferred)
For the salted caramel cake
115 grams unsalted butter, softened 250 grams caster sugar
50 grams brown sugar
3 eggs
110 grams buttermilk
65 grams grapeseed oil
150 grams homemade salted caramel 245 grams cake flour
3 grams fine sea salt
5 grams baking powder
For the caramel soak
55 grams milk
20 grams salted caramel
For the frosting
200 grams unsalted butter, softened 55 grams cream cheese
45 grams glucose
250 grams icing sugar
15 grams cocoa powder
30 grams salted caramel
5 grams imitation vanilla essence
For the malted chocolate crumb
100 grams caster sugar
25 grams brown sugar
90 grams cake flour
2 grams baking powder
60 grams grapeseed oil
35 grams cocoa powder
1 tablespoon malted milk powder
For the honeycomb
50 grams honey
60 millilitres glucose
200 grams caster sugar
50 millilitres water
1 tablespoon bicarb soda, sifted
Special equipment
15cm springform cake tin
30cm length of acetate strip approx 15cm height
Golden Gaytime ice creams are iconically Australian, so whenever I bring this cake along to a party it always goes down a treat. This bad boy consists of a super moist and fluffy caramel caramel cake, layered with a chocolate, caramel and vanilla frostings and topped with homemade honeycomb and a malted chocolate crumb. This recipe was originally inspired by Milk Bar Store’s famous Birthday Cake.
Method
To make the salted caramel, in a saucepan over medium heat, add the caster sugar and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. The sugar will clump together - continue to stir until it melts down into a smooth brown liquid. Be careful not to burn the mixture - it should be an amber colour rather than a dark dark brown colour.
Once you have a smooth amber mixture, stir in the butter whilst still on the heat and stir vigorously until completely combined.
Remove from the heat and slowly pour in the cream. Be careful as the cream may splatter as you are adding a cold liquid to an extremely hot mixture.
Allow to slightly cool down, sprinkle in the salt, use in the milkshake immediately or cover tightly and refrigerate.
To make the cake, preheat the oven to 180°C
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy (around 5 minutes), add the eggs and mix for a further 3 minutes or until smooth. With the mixer running on low speed carefully pour in the buttermilk, oil and caramel, whip on medium speed for a further 3 minutes. Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix until just combined.
Grease and line a 30cm*20cm baking tin, pour the cake batter into the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cake is spongy and bounces back when touched.
To make the honeycomb, in a small saucepan over low heat combine the honey, glucose, sugar and water, mix with a wooden spoon, bring to a boil and continue to cook for a further 1-2 minutes until it reaches a caramel colour. Working quickly, remove from the heat and stir in the bicarb soda, being careful as the mixture will foam up, transfer onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Set aside to cool for an hour or up to overnight. Once cooled, break into small pieces.
To make the malted chocolate crumb, preheat the oven to 160°C.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the sugars, flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa and malted milk powder until well combined.
Add the oil and mix at low speed until combined. The mixture should be very dry and crumbly.
Transfer to a lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. Allow the crumbs to cool completely before assembling.
To make the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth (around 1-2 minutes). Add the icing sugar and glucose and mix on high speed until a stark white fluffy frosting is achieved (around 4-5 minutes). Divide the mixture evenly between three bowls.
In the first bowl mix in the cocoa powder, to create a chocolate frosting.
In the second bowl mix in the salted caramel, to create a caramel frosting.
And finally in the third bowl mix in the vanilla essence, to create a vanilla frosting.
Set aside to assemble.
To make the caramel soak, mix together the milk and salted caramel until combined. Set aside to assemble.
To assemble, flip the cake out of the tray onto a chopping board and peel off the baking paper. Using a 15cm cake tin cut out two rounds, these are the top two layers, the remaining cake will form together to create the bottom.
Clean the cake tin and place it in the centre of your serving platter (trust me you don’t want to be moving this cake once it’s assembled), using the strip of acetate line the inside of the tin.
Push the cake scraps into the bottom of the tin with the back of a spoon to create the bottom layer, using a pastry brush, give the bottom layer a generous layer of the caramel soak. Top with the chocolate frosting, and then a sprinkling of the malted chocolate crumbs and honeycomb. Top with the middle layer of cake, repeat the process with soak, caramel frosting and crumbs. Finally, top with the top layer, brush on the soak again and top with the vanilla frosting, ensuring this layer is perfectly smooth as it will be the main layer on show, top with the remaining crumb and honeycomb pieces. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours and remove from the tin and fridge an hour prior to serving.