Caramel and rye shake is smokin’
At Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery, the Seattle shop famous for deceivingly small chocolate cakes baked to order, it’s easy to be sidetracked by the main event. When you’re waiting in line — yes, you’ll probably have to wait — the scent of chocolate hovers overhead like a heavy cloud. It’s easy to imagine that at any moment, the cloud will burst and Seattle’s rain will turn into hot, thick chocolate.
But curb your imagination: You need to focus not just on the cakes, but also on the milkshakes, which come both straight-up and laced with (usually local) booze. Our favorite, the extra dark caramel and rye shake, is made with the rye caramel they make in house.
Making Hot Cakes’ best boozy shake at home requires dry-burning caramel the old-school way, which gives it an entirely different earthy flavor, with smoky nuances. True caramel is made by first caramelizing the sugar before adding any dairy. Once sugar begins to caramelize — quickly changing from clear to amber — it begins to develop the unmistakable flavor notes that differentiate it from caramels made with water.
In this recipe, you’ll mix it with espresso and rye whiskey to double down on that rich and smoky flavor.