I recently read up on a short story series from my favorite video game franchise, Kingdom Hearts, where there was mention of a dessert called a “galactic caramel poundcake”. I literally have no idea what goes into this dessert, besides it having caramel in some capacity and it being a poundcake. So that’s really where I started with the dessert. I wanted either dark brown sugar or caramel in almost every component in this dessert. For the cake, we have misugaru, dark brown sugar, and brown butter flavoring a poundcake, just to give it a nutty, caramel-like flavor(I initially tried to sub out all of the sugar with salted caramel, but that cake wound up dense as a brick). I garnished it with homemade honeycomb candy, a salted caramel ganache, misugaru crumble to tie into the cake, and a fortified cream. For the cream, I used a combination of xanthan gum and powdered sugar, which gives the cream body and prevents it from weeping. For those of you who don’t know, honeycomb candy is just like a brittle, that’s inflated. I used star molds to shape them, since it’s supposed to be a galactic cake. I also used the crumble to represent space rocks, and some edible glitter to give the cake a loose “galaxy” aesthetic.

For the cake:
1 cup misugaru
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, browned + more for lining
1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cups buttermilk
a pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream together the sugar, butter, salt, vanilla extract, and cider vinegar. Stream in the buttermilk. Sift together your baking soda, flour, and misugaru. Fold that into the wet ingredients. Line a 6-inch cake ring with the brown butter. Pour the batter in and bake at 325 degrees F for 50 minutes. Cool completely and remove from the ring.

For the honeycomb:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
a pinch of salt

Simmer salt, water, sugar, and corn syrup. Brush the insides of silicone star molds with oil. Once the sugar has began to brown, take off heat and add in the butter and baking soda. Stir together and pour into the molds. Allow the sugar to cool down and set at room temperature for an hour.

For the salted caramel ganache:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon fleur de sel
3/4 cups dark chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream

Heat up sugar and fleur de sel until the sugar begins to brown. Pour in the heavy cream and allow the two to simmer together until the sugar has melted in. Stir in the chocolate and once melted, pass through a sieve to finish.

For the misugaru crumble:
1/4 cup misugaru
2 tablespoons ghee
a pinch of salt

Combine together. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20 minutes. Break apart into smaller pieces.

For the fortified chantilly cream:
2/3 cups heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip to stiff peaks.

For assembly:
Edible glitter

Slice off the top of the cake to create a flat surface. Spread the ganache on top and allow that to set first. Sprinkle on some edible glitter powder first. Place on top the crumble, quenelles of cream, and the honeycomb to finish.