Salted Caramel Chocolate Macaroon Cake

I always wanted to try making a cookie cake.  Well, always, as in once I saw one on Pinterest.  Here is my first attempt at a cookie cake.  No reason.  No Celebration.  No Holiday.  No Birthday.  I just really wanted to make a cookie cake.  I also wanted to try a new recipe for Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting.  My new favorite flavor is Salted Caramel.  I am in the process of eating everything labeled Salted Caramel that I can get my hands on.  Bakeries Beware.  I'm on the hunt. 

Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups Sugar
• 1/2 cup Shortening
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 4 oz Unsweetened Chocolate, melted and cooled
• 2 cups of Flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 3/4 cup Water
• 3/4 cup Buttermilk
• Cream together sugar and shortening.  Add eggs, vanilla, and chocolate.  If the chocolate is still warm it seizes up and turns into chocolate chunks and is difficult to mix in.  Mix the dry ingredients together.  Mix water and buttermilk together.  Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients, starting and ending with wet until it is all incorporated.  Bake 350 degrees for about 30 min.
• Note:  Omit salt, baking soda, and baking powder if using 2 cups of Self Rising Flour instead.

Salted Caramel Frosting

• ¼ cup Sugar
• 2 Tbs water
• ¼ cup Heavy Cream
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• ½ cup Butter
• ½ tsp Sea Salt
• 1 package Dream Whip or some heavy cream to desired consistency
• 3 cups Powdered Sugar
• Stir together sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil.  Cook for about 10 minutes without stirring until it become a nice amber color.  Remove from heat and slowly add cream and vanilla.  Let caramel cool for about 20 min.  In a separate bowl beat together butter and salt.  Add Dream Whip or heavy cream and beat until combined.  Beat in powdered sugar, then slowly add caramel and beat until light and fluffy.  Refrigerate.
  
  Note to self: Make a double batch next time so I have extra frosting to shamelessly eat, alone, at night, with a spoon.

Chocolate Macaroons

I am still new at making French Macaroons so I have not perfected these tricky little cookies yet.  

• 3/4 cup Almond Flour or Almond Meal.
• 1 cup Powdered Sugar or Confectioners sugar
• 2 Tbs Cocoa Powder
• Put this in a food processor and blend for 15+ seconds.  Sift into a separate container.  It needs to be a really fine powder. 
• 2 egg whites at room temperature.  Beat until they form soft peaks.
• 1/4 cup superfine sugar.
• Add 1 Tbs at a time to egg whites and beat until stiff peaks form and the mixture is glossy.
• Beat in 1/2 tsp vanilla or other flavoring or colors.
• Fold in 1/3 of almond-sugar powder into egg whites.  Repeat 1/3, repeat 1/3 until all the almond-sugar is folded into the egg white mixture.  The dough is thick and pasty at this point.  
• Stuff it into a piping bag and pipe out 25 - 30+ small circles onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  
• Let the cookies sit for 30 min at room temperature to set.  While waiting, heat oven to 325 degrees.  Bake on two baking sheet trays for 10 - 15 min.  Let cool for 10 min.

Note to self:  I made the cookies too big.  I think the cake would look cuter if I piped out smaller circles.  I am all about cute.  I also doubled the batch the macaroons just in case I ran out, but I made more than enough and just one batch would have worked.

I took this bad boy to my parent's house for dinner.  It is sort of our thing.  Every Sunday I visit my parents and Mom makes dinner and I bring dessert.  I try to make my dessert a surprise.  Mostly because I do not know until the last minute what I want to make.