Strawberry Caramel Cake: Happy birthday to you.

Yesterday was my sister's birthday ^^, and she said that she wanted me to bake some cakes for her.

 So, I asked her, what kind of cake that you wanted, well, I already knew the answer, haha, she love caramel and buttercream so much. But I think only caramel and buttercream will be too rich and too sweet. so I suggested caramel and berry ^^. 
I use the vanilla caramel cream instead of the basic caramel, it's very delicious and not too rich, the vanilla seeds will disperse and if you eating the caramel cream alone (Ok, I eat it, haha), you will get some crunchy feeling from them too, and it's very good.
The cake is basic butter cake but I add strawberry jam into the batter, to make all the taste go together. The caramel cream will be on top of the cake, you can use more or less depend on how much you like it, haha. 
I choose the creme au beurre for this recipe, because I want light and soft buttercream, the cream will be very soft in room temperature but it will be great to eat with the berries. The berries are not only for decoration, the freshly sweet and a bit tangy of them will make the caramel buttercream less sweet and more interesting.
Finally, I got lovely and delicious cakes for my sister ^^, and I have to say "Happy Birthday  Sis! Thank you for being my lovely sister."

Strawberry Caramel Cake

Makes 4 (5x10cm loaf)

Cake

50g .................................. Butter
70g .................................. Sugar
1 ....................................... Egg
.......................................... A pinch of salt
60ml ................................ Whipping cream
100g ................................ Cake flour
1tsp .................................. Baking powder
½tsp ................................ Vanilla bean paste
50 ....................................... Strawberry jam
............................................. Vanilla caramel cream

Vanilla Caramel cream
200g ................................ Granulated sugar
1 ....................................... Vanilla bean, split
80ml ................................ water
.......................................... pinch of salt
100ml .............................. Hot water
20g ................................... unsalted butter, soft
100ml .............................. Whipping cream



Crème au beurre caramel
90g ................................ Granulated sugar
25g ................................ Water
1 ..................................... Egg
125g ............................... Unsalted butter
......................................... A dash of salt
40g ................................ Vanilla caramel cream

Decoration
........................................ Fresh berries

Make the vanilla caramel cream

Put the granulated sugar, water and vanilla into a saucepan. Put the cream and salt in a second small saucepan, stir to combine (or put in the microwave proved measuring cup). Place the first pan on medium heat and cook undisturbed until the sugar begins to melt and caramelize-you’ll see a few wisps of smoke coming out of the sugar. Reduce the heat to low and stir occasionally so that the sugar melts and caramelizes evenly. Meanwhile, put the cream pan over low heat (if using microwave put the cup in the microwave and heat for 1 minutes). Add hot water into the caramel pan, add it to the caramel at arm’s length, averting your face—the caramel will boil up and may splatter out of the pan. 
As soon as the cream has some bubbles around the edge , pour the hot whipping cream and butter into the caramel pan, stir until combine. Lower the heat, let it boil for 5 minutes.  Pour the diluted caramel into a medium bowl and cool it to room temperature. Take the vanilla bean out of the caramel cream before using.

Preheat the oven to 170 °C

Sift the flour and baking powder together.

 Beat the butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy, add the vanilla bean paste and beat to combine.

Put the egg in to the batter and beat until combine. 

Mix 1/2 of whipping cream into jam, stir to combine.
Divide the flour mixture into 3, put 1/3 of the flour mixture into the batter, stir with a spatula, when combine, add the whipping cream, follow with 1/3 of the flour, stir again then add the whipping and strawberry jam mixture. Finish with the rest of the flour, mix to combine.

Scoop the batter into the paper loaf molds. Drizzle the vanilla caramel cream on top of the batter and using bamboo stick to create a marble effect.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cake is spring when touch lightly.

Let the cake cool completely before frosting it.

Make the Buttercream:

In a sauce pan, put the sugar and water and bring to boil over medium low heat.
When the syrup reaches 100°C, start whisking the egg.

The syrup is ready when it reaches 117°C; pour it over the egg  and continue whisking until cold.

Add salt and beat to combine, then add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Increase the mixer speed to high for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the butter is fully incorporated.

Add the vanilla caramel cream into the buttercream, beat to combine.

 Frost the cake with the buttercream and decorate with fresh berries.

Strawberry Caramel Cake: Happy birthday to you.