When I first saw this cake, the term that immediately came to my mind was “food porn”. It’s a giant, solidly delicious brownie smothered with salty peanuts and  seductive caramel that just oozes over the edge. The kind of guilty pleasure meant to be devoured, with raw, unadulterated, dessert-loving hunger, but I’d feel a little funny bringing it home to meet my mother.

This here, is the James Dean of cakes.

And it’s that rebel without a cause quality that makes it a perfect and unexpected dessert to bring along to parties. For a while it will sit out on the table, surrounded by safer options: cookies, lemon bars. Guests will stare at it with wonder and amazement, but no one will want to be the one who crosses the room to make the first move, until finally, someone’s sweet tooth gets the best of them. And the rest quickly follow, digging in forks, licking sticky fingers.

This cake reawakens carnal dessert love that has long been repressed by rational, vegetable-eating grownups. As we move into the season of holiday eating, it just might be the perfect time to shake things up, lest we start drowning in a peppermint sea at those holiday parties this year.

Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake
From Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

I don’t know why I waited so long to try this cake out. I made a four inch version as a dry run and the pictures you see above came from that testing session. Expect yours to have much larger and more beautiful slender pieces (as opposed to my cartoonish-looking slice, which was only about an inch in actual side.

Watch the caramel closely – there’s a fine balance between light and too dark with caramel. Keep a spoon and a white plate handy to test for color and remember, caramel is the most dangerous thing in the kitchen – if you touch it, it burns like crazy! Keep a bowl of ice on hand, just in case.

For the cake:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 large eggs
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping:

2 cups sugar
½ cup water
1 ½ tablespoon light corn syrup
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup salted peanuts

Butter the bottom and sides of an 8 inch springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. Put the pan on a baking sheet with edges.

To make the cake: Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together. Melt chocolate and butter together using a double boiler.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs and sugars together until well blended. Whisk in the corn syrup, followed by the vanilla. Whisk in the melted butter and chocolate. Still working with a whisk, gently stir in the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You will have a thick, smooth, shiny batter. Pour the batter into the pan and jiggle the pan a bit to even out the batter.

Bake the cake at 350F for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre comes out almost clean (what sticks should resemble sticky crumbs, not molten cake batter). Transfer the pan to a rack and cool he cake for 15 minutes, then run a knife between the cake and the pan and remove the sides of the pan. During baking the cake probably will have puffed to the top of the pan don’t be concerned if tit sinks a little or it if develops a crater in the center. Cool the cake to room temperature.

When the cake is completely cool, invert it, remove the base of the pan and peel off the paper. Wash and dry the springform pan, and return the cake to it right side up. Refasten the sides around the cake.

To make the topping:

Put the sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, stir just to combine the ingredients and then put the pan over medium-high heat. Heat, without stirring , until the caramel turns deep amber., 5-10 minutes. Lower the heat a bit and, standing back from the saucepan add the cream and butter. When the spatters are less vehement, stir to calm down the caramel and dissolve any lumps. Stir in the peanuts, and pour the caramel and peanuts into a 1-quart Pyrex measuring cup or heat proof bowl.

Spoon the peanuts on top of the cake. Then spoon the caramel on top of those. You’ll have a layer about ¼ inch high. Allow the topping to set to room temperature-about 20 minutes before serving. Try to get all of the peanuts onto the cake, and reserve excess caramel for drizzling when serving.

To serve, run a blunt knife between the caramel and the pan and simply remove the sides of the springform. If this isn’t the case, hit the sides with some hot air from a hairdryer or wrap the sides in a towel moistened with hot water. Drizzle additional caramel over the cake and allow it to run over the sides.