TWD: Caramel Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

This week’s TWD was chosen by Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy: caramel peanut-topped brownie cake. There is a gorgeous photo to accompany this recipe and it has definitely caught my eye every time I flip through Dorie’s book. That said, I’ve never felt compelled to make it. I think that’s mainly because it involves making caramel, which to be quite honest, scared me. There are certain cooking/baking challenges I look forward to, but making caramel is not one of them.

Things just didn’t go well for me with this one. I decided to scale down the recipe and just make one smaller cake in my 4-inch springform pan. I wasn’t sure, however, how high to fill the pan with the batter. I thought I left plenty of room for the cake to rise but I definitely didn’t. By about 20-25 in, my cake had completely cooked over the top of the pan and started spilling over. Luckily, I took Dorie’s advice and baked the cake on a baking sheet so chocolate cake did not wind up all over my oven. I managed to salvage the cake when it finished baking and set out to make the caramel. And then I failed. It took longer than Dorie said it would for my caramel to turn amber. I wanted to make sure it was dark enough that it wouldn’t be bland but somewhere along the way I crossed the line from amber to burnt. The sauce looked fine but it definitely smelled and tasted a bit burnt.

Thanks Tammy for this pick and forcing me to step outside my comfort zone. Perhaps I’ll have better results next time! If you’re interested in the recipe for this cake, check out Tammy’s blog and as always, head over to TWD to see all of the wonderful treats that were made this week!!