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Caramel Cake
Many Southern cooks use an often-tricky caramel-fudge recipe to frost their cakes; this one opts for caramel syrup throughout, for flavor and moisture, and a dependable brown-butter frosting.
Ingredients
Caramel Syrup
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 3/4 cup additional water
Batter
- 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup caramel syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/8 to 1/4 cup caramel syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- To make the caramel syrup: In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the sugar with 1/3 cup water. Cook over medium heat without stirring until the sugar melts, the water boils away, and the syrup and begins to turn color.
- When the sugar is a medium amber color, remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour in 3/4 cup water. The mixture will bubble and spurt, so be careful. Once all of the water is in the pan, return the pan to low heat and stir until the sugar melts and you have a smooth liquid. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.
- To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9" cake pans, and line them with parchment.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and beat at low speed until the mixture looks sandy.
- Combine the 1/2 cup caramel syrup, vanilla, and sour cream; add all at once to the flour mixture, and mix until fully incorporated. Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Scrape the bowl, beat for one minute more, and divide the batter between the prepared pans.
- Bake the cakes for 25 to 27 minutes, until a light touch in the center springs back, and the cake just begins to pull from the sides of the pan. Remove them from the oven and cool them in their pans on a rack.
- To make the frosting: Place the butter in a 2-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Melt over medium-low heat. Cook until the butter foams and begins to spurt; eventually the solids will begin to caramelize and the butter will begin to smell nutty. Once this happens, remove it from the heat and pour it into a mixing bowl. Let the butter cool to room temperature.
- Add the caramel syrup, vanilla, and salt. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix; the mixture will get stiff and lumpy (that's OK).
- Add the heavy cream a tablespoon at a time while the mixer is running; the frosting will magically smooth out. When the frosting is a little stiffer than you want for a spreading consistency, scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl, and add one more tablespoon of cream. The icing should become smooth and quite spreadable.
- To assemble: Flip the cooled cake layers out of their pans; trim the tops to be level, if necessary. Place one layer, top down, on a serving plate. Line the plate with strips of parchment or waxed paper to keep it clean while you frost the cake.
- Spread 2/3 cup of frosting over the first layer. Place the second layer, top side down, over the filling. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting.
- To garnish: Take thickened caramel syrup (see baker's tips, above left), cooled to room temperature, and drizzle it over the top of the cake before cutting.
- Yield: 1 cake, 16 servings.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size 1 slice, 239g
- Servings Per Batch 16
Amount Per Serving:
- Calories 585
- Calories from Fat 207
- Total Fat 23g
- Saturated Fat 14g
- Trans Fat 1g
- Cholesterol 109mg
- Sodium 263mg
- Total Carbohydrate 93g
- Dietary Fiber 1g
- Sugars 75g
- Protein 5g
* The nutrition information provided for this recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information.
Tips from our bakers
- To make a decorative caramel drizzle, double the amounts for the caramel syrup. Reserve half; to make that half of the syrup thicker, cook until it has a thick, syrupy consistency before cooling it to room temperature. Artfully drizzle thickened caramel over the top of the finished cake, allowing it to cascade down the sides.
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Reviews
This is a delicious cake, rich and flavorful with a wonderful texture. It will feed a crowd. I decorated mine with candied pecans and I think that worked well. I followed the directions to thicken the syrup to drizzle down the sides of the cake and that did not go well and looked messy.... the cake does not need this embellishment so I would say skip it. I added some of King Arthur's cake enhancer (3Tbls) which I think improves the texture of all baked goods. Great recipe for special occasions.
Omg...just finished icing the cake and it looks fantastic! The frosting is scrumptious...I added 2tablespoons of sour cream to cut the sweetness based off another reviewers comment and it is delicious. I also added toasted walnuts to the cake to add another dimension of flavor. Cannot wait for our dinner guests to arrive. May need to eat dessert first!
Excellent. I had never made caramel syrup (this recipe was a learning recipe) so I wish the recipe gave estimate times for those steps. Step one took me about 30-40 min and step 2 was an additional 15-20 minutes for me. I also did the caramel drizzle and cooked that an additional 30 minutes after step 2 but I did not make it thick enough (which I found out when I tried to drizzle it over the cake). Since the reviews said the frosting was sweet, I used salted butter for the frosting. I also thought there was not enough frosting so I would make 1.5 to 2 times the frosting recipe next time. I made this cake to take to my daughter and family 2 hours away but had to cancel the trip (sickness at her house) so my neighbor got the cake. Next time I go see my daughter's family I will take her this cake.
I made this cake for my second wedding's dinner party. It was just with immediate family and we had 13 people total. I wanted something that was elegant, tasty and simple. I actually used two of the golden vanilla cake mixes (KAF) but substituted 1/4 cup caramel syrup for the milk called for in the cake mix. I made the cake into 3 10" layers and doubled the frosting. The frosting was utterly fantastic. The taste is perfect! It was a little fluffier than I expected and was not able to pipe the frosting. I had never made a whipped cream frosting before. I had wanted to use edible flowers as decoration but was not able to find any, so I bought some gum paste roses and used those as decorations for the cake instead. I did not make the caramel syrup to pour over the top; the cake is plenty sweet without it. One thing I noticed was that because the frosting is so fluffy it oozed out between the layers. This may have been because I made a 3 layer cake, I am not sure. In any case, next time I would frost one layer, chill the cake, then add the second layer, frost and chill then finally add the top layer and frost the top and sides and chill. The flavor though was wonderful and the color/taste was just what I was looking for. Thanks KAF!
Superb!!!! I found this cake is not only beautiful but also it is very tasty. And it is very easy in making at home with the help of this article. I saw such beautiful Cakes on CakenGifts.in
I wish I had read the reviews before I baked it. Icing definitely needs something to cut the sweetness. And wasn't expecting it to be so dense. I'm not sure this is to everyone's taste, and I don't know I why I like it so much, but I do!
Cake was fairly dense. I added an extra half stick of butter to the icing to help the sweetness. I made a cream caramel sauce to drizzle on the top.
This cake is delicious! It was moist and light and the subtle caramel flavor was wonderful. But the icing is way too sweet. The kind of sweet that makes your teeth hurt. I'll definitely be making it again, but with a different frosting.
I made this cake this last weekend and for the most part loved the results. The cake was a bit more dense than I would like but tasty. I especially loved the frosting, though, as the brown butter flavor really came through and melded really well with the caramel. I would love to put it on a chocolate cake!
I have made this twice. It's a very good cake and it is delicious. The icing is too sweet but I love the flavor of it. I added a dollop of sour cream to the icing to cut some sweetness.