Old-Fashioned Caramel Cake
I have no idea how old this recipe is but it's been a favorite of my family for as long as I can remember!
I have no idea how old this recipe is but it's been a favorite of my family for as long as I can remember!
- Carbohydrate 87.2080571298038 g
- Cholesterol 234.635416686224 mg
- Fat 13.6888658408567 g
- Fiber 1.01159724121161 g
- Protein 11.3055727835933 g
- Saturated Fat 6.90458708788443 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (204g)
- Sodium 1213.94716454615 mg
- Sugar 86.1964598885922 g
- Trans Fat 1.51728575062864 g
- Calories 507 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter two 9-inch layer cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper. Butter the waxed paper.
- To make the cake, sift the flour with the baking powder together in a medium mixing bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter until fluffy, then gradually add the sugar, beating until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat in thoroughly. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir well after each addition, but do not overmix. Stir in the vanilla extract. Turn the batter into the prepared pans. Bake until the tops of the layers spring back when lightly touched and a wooden skewer inserted in the centers come out clean, about 35 minutes. When the cake is done, cool 10 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting, place 1/2 cup of the sugar in a heavy or cast iron skillet set over medium-high heat and cook, stirring constantly, until caramelized. In a large saucepan, combine the remaining 2 cups of sugar with the milk and bring to a boil. Add the caramelized sugar to the boiling milk mixture and cook, stirring constantly, to a soft-ball stage when added to cold water or to between 234 to 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove saucepan from the heat, add the butter or margarine and vanilla, and beat at high speed until thick enough to hold to the cake when spread. If the frosting becomes too thick, beat in a few drops of hot water. If it seems too thin, beat in a little powdered sugar.
- To frost cake, spread the caramel frosting over one layer of the cake, top with the other layer and cover the top and sides of the entire cake with the remaining frosting (wetting the knife makes spreading easier).
Deep amber caramel coats a tender, pale yellow crumb that holds its shape cleanly under the weight of a thick, boiled sugar icing. This traditional southern bake relies on precise thermal control to transform basic pantry staples into a rich dessert. Baking at a moderate 325 degrees F ensures the dense batter cooks evenly to the center without over-browning the delicate exterior edges. Room temperature dairy and eggs form a stable emulsion during the creaming stage, trapping air that expands securely in the oven.
Scaling this multi-tier project requires careful attention to pan geometry and sugar chemistry. Doubling the batter to feed a crowd demands dividing the mixture across additional nine-inch pans rather than crowding extra volume into deep vessels, ensuring uniform heat penetration within the standard 35-minute baking window. Conversely, reducing the portions requires strict proportional math for the six eggs, since whole eggs do not divide neatly in half without weighing the liquid contents.
The frosting presents the greatest technical challenge because sugar crystallization happens rapidly during the transition from boiling milk to the soft-ball stage. Maintaining medium-high heat while melting the initial portion of sugar in a cast-iron skillet requires constant stirring to prevent burnt bitterness before blending it with the remaining liquid. A candy thermometer clamped to the saucepan rim removes guesswork by verifying the precise 234 to 240 degrees F window before beating.
Working quickly during the assembly phase prevents the caramel coating from hardening prematurely on the mixing blades. Wetting the spatula blade with hot water creates a smooth glide across the sticky surface, sealing the crumb layers completely against air exposure. Storing the finished cake under a domed cover at cool room temperature preserves the moisture of the crumb for up to three days.
