Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Yield: 12 to 16 servings
 
Recipe from Shuna Fish Lydon
ingredients:
Caramel Syrup
  • 2 cups sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)
Cake
  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1¼ cups granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ⅓ cup caramel syrup (above)
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • splash of vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup milk, at room temperature
  • !Warm Fudge Filling (for my version)
  • Macadamia Brittle (for my version)
Caramelized Butter Frosting *
  • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted (I used 2¾ cups)
  • 4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 2 vanilla beans scraped or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup (above)
  • Kosher or sea salt to taste
directions:
Make the Caramel Syrup
  1. Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.
  2. In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.
  3. When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.
  4. Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}
Make the Cake
  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt and continue to mix until light and fluffy.
  4. Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.
  5. Sift flour and baking powder.
  6. Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}
  7. Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.
  8. Place cake pan on cookie sheet or ½ sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.
  9. Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.
  10. GLUTEN FREE OPTION - 2 cups of gluten free flour blend (w/xanthan gum) or 2 cups of gf flour blend + 1½ teaspoons xanthan or guar gf + ½ to 1 teaspoon baking powder.
Make the Caramelized Butter Frosting *
  1. Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.
  2. Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.
  3. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Stir in vanilla seeds or extract and then add salt to taste.
  4. Assemble Basic version of the Cake (just the cake and frosting)
  5. Split the cake in two or three horizontally so you have two or three distinct layer. I use unwaxed dental floss after cutting around it, to split it evenly.
  6. Spread the caramelized butter frosting over each layer as you stack it, then frost the top and outside of whole cake with a crumb coat and refrigerate it until crumb coat is set. Frost the crumb coated cake with the remaining frosting and serve.
Assemble MY version of this Cake
  1. Torte the cake into 4 thin layers. Spread the first three layers with some of the warm fudge filling, a drizzle of caramel sauce from the golden vanilla bean caramel recipe below (the sauce option), and crushed macadamia brittle, stacking them as you go along. Frost the sides and top of the cake with the caramelized butter frosting, and pour the thickened caramel sauce on top (if it drips down the sides, even better;prettier). Pipe rosettes of the remaining caramelized butter frosting around the top, and garnish each rosette with a whole candied macadamia nut (cook equal parts sugar and water until medium brown, then dip whole macadamia nuts into it with fork or slotted spoon until coated. Gently set each caramel coated nut on a parchment lied sheet pan to set),
notes:
* Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light
Recipe by parsley sage sweet at https://parsleysagesweet.com/2008/12/02/daring-bakers-did-someone-say-caramel/