Eggless Vanilla Cake with Caramel Buttercream

I am happy to share my 100th post.This is a basic Eggless Vanilla cake covered with Caramel Buttercream and I made this specially for my Dad who is celebrating his Birthday today.Lets see the recipe.
   

Ingredients:

For the Eggless vanilla cake
All purpose flour	1 ½ cups
Corn flour	2 tblsp
Baking powder	2 tsp
Baking soda	1 tsp
Sweetened condensed milk	1 tin
Powdered sugar	2-3 tblsp
Butter	100 Gms
Vanilla essence	2 tsp
Yogurt	2 tblsp
Milk	½ -3/4 cup
For the caramel buttercream
Butter	1/2 cup
Icing sugar	2 cups
Vanilla essence	1 tsp
Whipping cream(see note below)	2 tblsp
Salted caramel sauce	1-2  tblsp

Method:

Cake preparation:

• Preheat oven to 180 ºC.
• sift the flour,baking powder and baking soda.
• Take the condensed milk and butter and beat well using an electric beater or a hand whisk.
• Add the yogurt and beat well followed by milk and vanilla essence.
• Now add the sifted flour and mix with a whisk till there are no lumps and the mixture is smooth. Add little more milk if the batter is very thick.
• Pour it in a greased and floured cake pan and bake at 180 º C for about 35-40 mins till a tooth pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.( I have baked in two seperate pans.you can also bake in a single large pan and slice the cake horizontally into two and proceed)
• Cool the cake completely.

Salted caramel sauce:

Granulated sugar	½ cup
Butter	3 tblsp
Whipping cream	¼ cup
Salt	½ tsp

• Take a sauce pan and add the sugar.The sugar will slowly dissolve.It will turn grainy at first,stir it with a whisk till all the sugar is dissolved.
• Once the sugar is completely dissolved and the liquid starts to turn to light golden colour,once it turns golden immediately add the butter and whisk well.
• Remove the pan from the fire and add the cream and whisk well.Be careful while adding butter and cream as it might splash.
• Whisk well till the cream is well combined.Finally add 1/2 tsp salt and mix well.Salted caramel sauce is ready.

Butter cream preparation:

• Take the butter in a bowl and beat well with a electric beater.Now add the vanilla essence and icing sugar and beat well. Slowly add the whipping cream and beat till the mixture is fluffy.Now add the salted caramel sauce and mix well.

Praline preparation:

• Take 3 tablespoon granulated sugar in a wide pan and let the sugar melt and once it turns to light golden colour liquid, add around 12 cashews and 1/2 tsp butter.Cook carefully till the cashews turn light golden and immediately transfer this mixture to a parchment paper.After 10 mins,it will harden.Crush them roughly and praline is ready to use.You can also use almonds instead of cashew.

Assembling the cake:

• Line a plate with parchment paper.Place one cake and apply a thin layer of buttercream,top it with some praline and caramel sauce.
• Now place the other cake on top of it and apply buttercream on the top and sides of the cake.
• Gently press the praline over the sides and top of the cake.Remove the parchment paper after applying the buttercream.Drizzle with caramel sauce and serve.

Note:

• The buttercream quantity given here is approximate only.Increase the quantity if you want a thick layer of cream.I have applied only a thin layer in this recipe.
• I also added less icing sugar/butter and more cream than mentioned in the buttercream recipe here,so the buttercream was not stiff enough for piping.But the above measurements will give buttercream with perfect consistency.
• If you don't want to use whipping cream in the buttercream recipe,add very little milk according to the consistency needed and proceed.