Salted Caramel Milk Chocolate Cake

Saturday we made the mistake of watching Dessert First.  She made this cake, and I had to take a dessert Sunday and Joel voted for this.  It is quite involved but really delicious.  It is quite rich so a little goes a long way.  And, of course, I cannot get cake to come out of cake pans nicely, so we ended up crumbling the cake and mixing a little icing in and then covering the top with icing in a 9 x 13 pan.  So anyways, on to the recipe!

Icing
18 oz milk choc, chips of finely chopped
10 oz semi-sweet or bittersweet choc, chips or finely chopped
1.5 c sugr
2 1/4 c heavy cream
1/2 t fine sea salt
1.5 sticks butter, softened and cubed
sea salt flakes

Put your chocolate in a bowl.  Combine sugar and 1/2 c water over medium heat.  Stir until sugar dissolves and bring to a boil.  Stop stirring and let boil 8-10 minutes until a dark amber color (making caramel).  Turn heat down.  Wearing hot pad, add cream very, very slowly, stirring with a spatula constantly.  Do not be impatient and add too fast!  Once smooth, add fine sea salt.  Remove from heat and pour over chocolate.  Whisk until all melted and then refrigerate for an hour.  Once chilled, beat with hand mixer until spreadable.  Add butter pieces and mix until all combined.  Refrigerate for another hour.

Cake
2 sticks butter, softened
2 c flour
3/4 c cocoa powder
1.5 t baking soda
1/2 t sea salt
1 1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
4 eggs, room temperature for 30 minutes
1/3 c semi-sweet choc, melted and cooled
2 t vanilla
1 1/2 c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter two 9-inch pans.  May want to flour too so the cakes come out of the pans easily.  Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together on wax paper or in separate bowl.  On medium speed, cream butter and sugar for 4-5 minutes in mixer bowl.  Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing until completely incorporated between each egg.  Mix in chocolate and vanilla, combining well.  Turn mixer to low and slowly add dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk, in 3 batches, starting and ending with flour.  Mix thoroughly and make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula.  Split between pans and smooth tops.  Bake about 25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes and then loosen edges with a knife.  Turn onto rack and let cool completely.

Ice bottom layer and sprinkle with sea salt flakes.  Stack next layer and ice top and sides.  Sprinkle with more sea salt flakes.