Caramel latte loaf cake

Caramel is the new vanilla. The food world has fallen in love with the flavour and though it will never be better, caramel is rather like chocolate's sexy cousin. It's headily sweet and totally decadent. Add a pinch of salt to the mix and you have an earth-shattering combination that is basically the crack cocaine of the culinary world. The reason for this? Consuming fat, sugar and salt all together is a serious sensory overdrive for our brains - it releases dopamine and adrenaline and totally gets our neurons fired up. Exactly the way drugs do.

 And before you feel guilty about shovelling another spoonful of caramel straight out the jar, don't, because genetically we're supposed to be attracted to foods with this tantalising trifector. It's a matter of survival people. We need salt because we can't produce our own. We need fat for energy and our sugar cravings are linked to being able to tell which foods are edible. So, make this caramel latte loaf cake and then enjoy every morsel guilt-free, because you can't fight genetics. 

Caramel latte loaf cake

Makes 2

230g Stork Bake margarine, softened

230g sugar

4 eggs

250g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

½ cup tinned caramel

2 tsp corn flour

30ml espresso

Caramel cream cheese frosting

240g cream cheese

4 tbsp Stork Bake margarine, softened

½ cup tinned caramel

1 tsp vanilla

3 ½ cups icing sugar

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line 2 standard loaf tins.

Cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly, one at a time until completely incorporated. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt then stir into the margarine mixture. Divide the batter in two and mix the caramel, cornflour and espresso into one batch. Spoon alternate types of batter into the loaf tins to create a blotchy affect. Then, using a skewer, gently swirl it around in the batter to marble the cake. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

To make the icing, cream the cream cheese and margarine together until light and fluffy. Then add the caramel, vanilla, icing sugar and salt. Use to ice the cooled cake.

Can't get enough of caramel? Try this Sticky caramel pudding, or classic creme caramel or how about some caramelised chocolate?

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Red Velvet Loaf Cake with Blueberries

I love blueberries and I adore red velvet cake so it wasn't a stretch of the imagination

to combine the two into this stunner of a cake. The plump juiciness of the berries with their velveteen inkiness is so beautiful against the rich scarlet hue of the sponge. 
And then there's the cream cheese frosting... swoon! 

Photographs by Angie Lazaro

Red Velvet Loaf Cake with Blueberries
Serves 6-8

120g butter, softened

300g castor sugar

2 eggs

15g cocoa powder

2 tbsp red food colouring

1t vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

300g cake flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3 tsp white wine vinegar

400g icing sugar

100g butter, softened

250g cream cheese

2 cups blueberries

1/2 cup water

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 cup castor sugar

Preheat oven to 170C. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
Beat on high while adding the eggs one at a time. In a seperate bowl, mix the cocoa powder, colouring and vanilla to make a thick paste. 
Add to the butter mixture and mix very well. Beat slowly while adding half the buttermilk and half the flour. Mix well before adding the remaining buttermilk and flour. 
Beat on high until smooth. Add salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar and mix well. 
Spoon into a lined 30 x 25cm rectangular baking tray and bake for 30 minutes until springy to the touch. Allow to cool on a wire rack. For the icing, cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth. 
Place in a piping bag. Cut the cake to form three 10 x 25cm rectangles and pipe the icing in-between each layer. Simmer the blueberries, water, zest, lemon juice and castor sugar until reduced and glossy. Allow to cool. Top the cake with the blueberry compote.

Below is a step-by-step video: