Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

Finally, a cake. It was time for a cake. This summer I went through my copy of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours and flagged all of the recipes that I wanted to try. This cake was at the top of the list and, as yesterday was a bank holiday in France, my husband kindly took over baby-watching duties, freeing up the day to do whatever I so pleased.

After working for several months on my granny square blanket (see here, here and here...it's almost done, I promise) and at times feeling like no real progress was being made after hours of crocheting, it was great to be able to make something from start to finish in a single afternoon.

I've had a few near-disasters in the kitchen when caramelizing sugar, so I was pleasantly surprised when the topping turned out exactly as it was supposed to -- and I had no burns to boot. It becomes extremely sticky once set and pulling off the parchment paper (my improvisation since I don't own the springform pan that the recipe calls for) was a bit tricky, but all in all this cake was a cinch to make and even easier to eat.

As a bonus, per Dorie's suggestion in her book, I was able to turn the leftover topping into a jar of caramel sauce. Now I just have to decide what to put it on...

Comments

[Blair]

These photos are AMAZING! Are you going to make Joe one when you come home??? :0)

[Rhonda US]

OMG, that looks great.