millionaire shortbread cake
By: claire adas
Published: Thursday, December 22, 2011 - 8:25am

Ingredients




2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (1 cup)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 t. vanilla
3 eggs separated
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup toasted, ground oats
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. flour
1 cup milk with 1 t. lemon added, left to sit until curdled. Or buttermilk.
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1 T water
1 t. vanilla
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon (zest very fine – microplane, baby!)
2 T. butter
1/3 cup milk
dash of salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. The darker the better
1/2 cup milk
1 t. vanilla
1 t. dark rum

Preparation

1 For the cake: Cream the butter and sugars and vanilla. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. 2 Add all of the dry ingredients and beat till well-combined. 3 Add the milk. You might need to add a splash more to make the batter the right consistency. Which is basically quite thick, but stir-able and pour-able. 4 Beat the egg whites till stiff. Stir a spoonful into the batter, and then fold in the rest. 5 Pour into 2 nine-inch pans that have been greased, floured and lined on the bottom with parchment or foil. 6 Bake in a preheated 325 oven for 20 minutes to half an hour, till lightly golden, and till the top springs back when you poke it lightly. 7 Let it cool completely before playing with the caramel and chocolate. I put a layer of caramel between the two cakes, a layer of caramel on top, and the ganache on top of that. 8 For the caramel: Combine the sugar, vanilla, water, lemon zest and lemon juice in a thick-bottomed sauce pan. 9 Put on a burner over medium-low heat, and stir until the sugar dissolves, and keep stirring till it starts to boil. 10 Let it boil for a minute (still stirring!) and then take it off the heat and add the butter and milk and salt. 11 Put it back on the heat, and stir for 10 or 15 minutes, until it starts to coat the spoon. 12 If you have a candy thermometer, bring it to the “soft ball” stage. I had one, but it was old and unreliable, so, instead, I delighted in the fact that IF YOU DROP A TINY PIECE INTO A GLASS OF COLD WATER IT REALLY WILL FORM A SOFT BALL IF IT IS THE RIGHT TEMPERATURE!! 13 When this happens, take the pot off the heat, and let it cool for a while, stirring vigorously every once in a while. 14 When it’s cool enough that you can put your hand on the bottom of the pan, pour some on top of your cake, and with a flat knife, coax it gently over the edges. Try to make the top nice and smooth and about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick, and try to have pretty drips going down the side. 15 And I put a layer of caramel between the two cakes, too! 16 For the ganache: Warm the milk till it’s steamy and just starts to bubble on the edges. 17 Combine the chocolate chips, vanilla and dark rum. 18 Pour the warm milk over the chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate is completely smooth and melted. 19 Pour it over your completely-cooled caramel coated cake (the caramel should be completely cool and set – I put it in the fridge for 10 minutes, because I was impatient). 20 With a flat knife, coax the ganache over the edge so it drips down the sides in lovely patterns. Try to make the top smooth. 21 Let it cool for a while till everything is set. 22 Eat!

About

A cake inspired by millionaire's shortbread. With a slightly oaty brown sugar cake, topped with lemon caramel and bittersweet chocolate ganache.

Comments:
Bill

Oops! No directions ;)
claire adas

The website won't let me add directions! I didn't think the recipe loaded at all, because I kept getting error messages. Turned out part of it was there. Now I can't fix it!
The directions are here...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2011/12/03/millionaire-shortbread-cake/
claire adas

Oh dear, and now it's there four times! What a botheration!
Patrick Mullen

Sorry for the technical difficulties, I'll see if I can figure out the problem and get the preparation posted!