Ingredients
1/3 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
375g unsalted butter, chopped, at room temperature
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup golden syrup
6 eggs
3 cups self-raising flour
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
1/3 cup Hershey’s caramel syrup
3 x 55g Chokito chocolate bars, diagonally sliced
Extra caramel syrup, to serve
GANACHE
300ml carton pure cream
2 x 200g blocks dark cooking chocolate, broken into pieces
Method
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Grease three x 20cm round cake pans. Line bases and sides with baking paper.
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Stir cocoa into 1/3 cup hot water in a small bowl until smooth. Cool for 10 minutes.
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Meanwhile, beat butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large bowl of an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined. Stir in half the sifted flour. Stir in buttermilk, then stir in remaining sifted flour until combined.
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Spoon 2 2/3 cups of the cake mixture into one of the prepared pans. Smooth over top.
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Stir cooled cocoa into remaining cake mixture until well combined. Divide evenly between remaining prepared pans.
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Cook the three cakes in a moderately slow oven (160C), swapping pans halfway, for about 45 minutes or until cakes are cooked when tested with a skewer. Remove. Stand in pans for 10 minutes. Turn onto wire racks to cool.
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To make ganache, combine cream and chocolate in large heatproof bowl. Sit bowl over saucepan of simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from pan. Cool for 10 minutes. Refrigerate, stirring every 15 minutes, until thick and spreadable.
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Using a large serrated knife, trim tops of cake to sit flat. Place one chocolate cake on a serving plate. Spread evenly with 1/3 cup ganache. Spoon over 2 tablespoons caramel, leaving a 3cm border around edge (so caramel doesn’t ooze out the side).
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Top with plain cake. Spread with 1/3 cup ganache and 2 tablespoons syrup. Place remaining chocolate cake, base-side up, on top.
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Spread remaining ganache over top and around side of cake.
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Just before serving, decorate top with chocolate bars and drizzle with extra caramel.