Mexican Chocolate Caramel Cake

My youngest daughter has deferred college for a bit while she travels the world and right now she is along the southern Pacific coast of Mexico in Puerto Escondido. It is so beautiful and warm there that I am seriously considering selling everything I own to buy a house and live out the rest of my days in pure paradise!

All this got me thinking about chocolate cake! I wanted to make a cake that captured the essence of Mexico and I wanted it to taste like Mexican hot chocolate which I love so much. Scarlet had brought me some Mexican coffee the last time she had come back from one of her trips to Mexico and I still had it in the freezer unopened. I was going to use a simple base chocolate cake that called for coffee and used mayonnaise. I decided to doctor up the coffee to get the flavor I wanted so I added cinnamon and Mexican vanilla and then brewed it up...I used a french press. It smelled amazing...just what I needed to get the flavor that I wanted!

Then I thought what else can I add to evoke that Mexican flavor experience and thoughts of dulce de leche ice cream crossed my mind. So I decided to make a caramel sauce that I could pour over the cake like a tres leches cake.

Here is the recipe I came up with:

11/2 C flour ( I used Gold Medal unbleached flour)
1 C sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 C dutch processed cocoa
2 ounces 60% cocoa bittersweet baking chocolate bar chopped fine
1 C hot coffee brewed with 1 T cinnamon, 2 t Mexican vanilla or any premium vanilla, and  4 T sugar in a french press
2/3 C mayonnaise
1 large egg
2 t  Mexican vanilla or any premium vanilla like Madagascar
sifted powdered sugar and cinnamon for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8 in. square baking dish.Whisk flour,sugar,baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl pour hot coffee over the chocolate and whisk till smooth then add the mayo, egg, and vanilla and whisk again. Add chocolate mixture to the flour mixture and whisk till just combined and smooth. Pour into the baking dish and bake in middle of the oven for 30 to 35 min. or a wooden pick comes out almost clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

Caramel Sauce:
4 T unsalted butter
1 C light brown sugar packed
pinch of salt
1 C heavy cream
1 T Triple Sec orange liqueur

Melt butter in a small pot on the stove over med. high heat. Whisk in the brown sugar and salt till smooth and cook until darkened for about 3 to 4 min. Add part of the cream whisk smooth then add the rest along with the Tripple Sec and reduce the heat to low and simmer about 3 min. till bubbly on top.

Dust the top of the cake with cinnamon sugar and poke holes all around the top of the cake while still warm. Pour the half of the caramel sauce over the cake taking care to get some in each hole.

Pour remaining caramel sauce over slices of cake when you serve them. This cake can be served warm or room temperature. Just warm up the sauce to serve.