Caramel Chocolate Streusel Cake

It was my mom's birthday yesterday and we had a glorious brunch at my brother's house for my mom on Monday. I was in charge of toast, fruit salad and dessert!

Since we were having brunch I didn't want to do a regular cake. I also had some salted caramels from Costco on hand that I wanted to find a way to incorporate into our dessert. The caramels on their own were a little too salty to just eat on their own, but I knew I'd be able to find a way to bake them into deliciousness.

I melted down the caramels with a little butter and milk into a chocolatey, caramelly sauce that was the perfect topping for this light, fluffy cake.

Chocolate Caramel Streusel Cake
Recipe almost exactly from LandOLakes.com

Ingredients
Streusel
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cake
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Butter, softened
2 Eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup light sour cream
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping
14 Salted caramels (I used the ones from Costco, but regular Kraft caramels would work just fine)
2 tsp butter
2 tbsp milk

Instructions
Heat oven to 350F. Combine all streusel ingredients in small bowl; set aside.
Combine sugar and butter in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add eggs; continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Add all remaining cake ingredients. Continue beating until well mixed.

Spoon half of batter into greased and floured 9-inch springform pan. Sprinkle half of streusel mixture over batter in pan. Spoon remaining batter over streusel; top with remaining streusel. Bake 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife along sides of pan to loosen edge. Remove side of pan. Cool at least 30 minutes.
Just before serving, combine caramels, milk and butter in saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until caramels are completely melted (5 to 8 minutes). Cool slightly; drizzle warm caramel over cake.

I am going to try to link this recipe up to Serenity Now, Delightful Order, A Bowl Full of Lemons and Doodles and Stitches linky parties!