caramel cake
I know. I know what you’re thinking: this is out of control. This non-stop sugar/butter/egg/flour assault needs to stop. Our hips! Our abs! For the love of all that was once taut and perky, Deb, no more desserts! And I want you to know, I couldn’t agree more. I, too, strive for balance. I, too, swore those jeans were looser before Thanksgiving.
Yet Dec. 30 is no time to be burdened with these lofty soup-and-salad goals. What else will we have to live down, and resolve ourselves better than, on New Years Day? Salad in December is like… mistletoe in January.
Besides, on a last-minute whim we had a bunch of friends over last night to watch some yawnfootballyawn game and I can’t tell you about the three pizzas I made, because you already know about them. But I can tell you all about this delightful caramel cake from the gorgeous January Gourmet devoted to Southern food, how it came together rather quickly (I literally started on it at kickoff, and we ate it in awkward silence after the final score was called and I was all, “Who’s that guy? He’s hot!” and the whole living room groaned and said “That’s Tom Brady and he is The Sworn Enemy”) and what a welcome guest this could be at any New Years Eve party, along with your best bubbly and most scandalous dress. Or Tom Brady jersey.
So, if homemade brown sugar caramel sliding down the sides of a oh so fluffy, impossibly moist yellow cake that even smells like the embodiment of softness itself, I think you know what needs to be done. Turn off the Biggest Loser Australia marathon, close your browser, even if it is currently boasting the cutest puppy that has ever lived, get a few things out of the pantry and you could have this cake made in time for dinner.
Not your bag (and really: who are you?)? Here are some non-dessert recipes from smittenkitchen.com I think would be welcome at any cocktail party:
- Best Classic Hummus
- Gougeres
- Green Crostini
- Mushrooms Stuffed with Sundried Tomatoes
- Parmesan Black Pepper Biscotti
- Pita Chips
- Potato Latkes (perfect with a dab of creme fraiche and sprinkle of caviar)
- Tortilla de Patatas (cut in small cubes, top with a sprinkling of chopped olives, red peppers, spicy aioili or any of the above and serve with a toothpick in each piece)
- Roasted Mushrooms Stuffed With Feta, Spinach and Bacon
- Sweet and Spicy Candied Pecans
- White Bean Roasted Red Pepper Dip
One year ago: Russian Tea Cakes, Coq Au Vin
Caramel Cake
Gourmet, January 2008
For cake
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
For caramel glaze
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Equipment: a candy thermometer
Make cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter an 8-inch square cake pan and line with a square of parchment paper, then butter parchment.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture may look curdled). Add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.
Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.
Make glaze:
Bring cream, brown sugar, corn syrup, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Boil until glaze registers 210 to 212°F on thermometer, 12 to 14 minutes, then stir in vanilla.
Put rack with cake in a shallow baking pan and pour hot glaze over top of cake, allowing it to run down sides. Cool until glaze is set, about 30 minutes.
Note: Cake (before glazing) can be made 1 day ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.
Oh wow! That looks fabulous! Caramel…Yum! :)
OMG, I LOVE that puppy - I just about died when I saw him a couple of weeks ago on CO. I am obsessed with english bulldogs right now. Oh, when we have a house…
Oh that looks luscious. My stomach is never going to EVER flatten down! But I love these recipes! LOVE THEM ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mmm…you have convinced me I need one more caramel thing before the end of the year!
OMG!!! That looks soooooooooooooo good! I declared a moratorium on baked goods now that Christmas is over, but….. my daughter and two friends will be spending the night before they head back to AZ and I think the calorie distribution might work with a few twenty somethings and a teenage boy to spread them amongst!
Does that caramel topping stay gooey at room temperature or does it get solid?
I hear football coming from the family room! Maybe I should get started??
Wow! This cake could have even made my husband feel ever so much better after our Giants loss last night. I will make this for sure…..looks dreamy maybe kinda like Tom Brady…..smack me I mean Eli!!
Strangely enough, I recently made a caramel cake, too, but with a caramel-cream cheese frosting. Yours does look divine. And as a Southern girl, I will say it looks pretty authentic. I must add that because Eli and I share the same alma mater, I feel compelled to root for him. Happy new year!
this looks so delicious! i’m definitely going to make this cake…to bad it’s 1 a.m. and i can’t bake anything right now.
OH…looks SOOOO good! My favorite part of cakes is often the icing if it’s one of those thick kinds. This would qualify!
Yum! I agree January is for diets, December is for delicious looking caramel cakes!I can’t wait to make this.
That cake has been in my queue since I laid my eyes on that magazine and refused to leave BN without it… Ah, the holiday eating. I have red wine chicken stew on the stove right now. We had to rescue our vegetables - and give our waists a break! :) As for that hot, sworn enemy Tom Brady, I hope not to lose favor with you if I confessed that I’ve been a longtime Patriots fan. As a former Boston gal, I have to keep my loyalties. Happy New Year, btw, I hope it’s a wonderful one for you and Alex!!
Sue — It gets firm-ish once it sets, and from the fridge (where I kept it overnight, paranoid that it had so much cream in the glaze) it was even more like a caramel candy. However, and I am just considering this now, I ended up waiting a minute or two (though not more) after the caramel was ready to pour it over the cake (I was trying to get Alex in from the living room, actually, to take a picture of it being poured over!) and in that time, it started to set. If you check out the photo from the magazine the caramel seems to have absorbed into the cake more. It might even taste better that way, even if I think the draping of thick caramel in my pictures is prettier. I look forward to hearing/reading about how others found the topping–thick or thin and absorbant.
First, I have to protest that that puppy — while adorable — is not the cutest puppy that has ever lived. Amen.
But I am totally clipping this recipe for January. Is it not okay to use a probe thermometer in lieu of a candy thermometer? I’m not sure how quickly I can procure a candy thermometer…
god, i’m so glad i don’t have buttermilk in the house right now. i do not need to be making this.
just made your chicken and dumpings! was a disaster because i didn’t read that little sentence that said simmer. so it was on medium high for an hour. edible, but barely.
the peanut butter cookies, the russian tea cakes (i know them as snowballs), world peace cookies, all fabulous, just that for the world peace, i have to minus a tbs of flour and sugar each to get it to meld. oreos went a little iffy on me. don’t know why.
love your site!
i think my pants just popped. i want to dive in that caramel sauce. literally.
Mmmmmmm-mm!….I think I might have to try this using my homemade dulce de leche…the combination of cake and creamy caramel can’t be denied!!! :-)
geeshk
i dunno deb, this was almost kinda cruel
my food slots are full until D(iet) day, aka 1/2/08
no space to bake it tomorrow
making a tarte tatin
but damn girl
just damn
i would kill for that one
and me the nyc jew - living in nashville…
caramel cake = so. my. thing.
:(
I am picturing individual caramel cakes for the New Years Eve party! I have one of those square muffin tins. Little square cakes with all that gooey caramel! YUM! Thanks for the recipe. I haven’t been anywhere but work and the Chinese restaurant all week. This is just what I needed for tomorrow’s party.
Oh wow this looks good. The way the caramel is oozing off the sides of the cake. Yumyum.
holy cow…just breathing in the picture makes me put on the pounds. but give me a slice anyway. hahaha
That caramel looks so luscious and silky!!!
oh my lord.
i can’t breathe.
this is just GORGEOUS. It shall be the first cake that comes out of my oven in 2008 ‘cos I know it’s gonna bring in an entire year’s worth of delicious treats. I mean, how can it not?? Look at that dripping glaze and soft crumb. I’m swooning already.
Thanks Deb, for yet another superb recipe.
Ok, I just don’t get the Tom Brady thing… really I don’t see the hotness. But that cake - now THAT’S sexy!
Mmm… GIRL! You are crazy! Caramel… scary but mmmm……. (scary to make, that is)
I made the Tomato Soup from over a year ago last night and it was good. I have this theory that one of the secrets to good cooking is just to put shallots and butter in everything and figure that you can’t go wrong. Shallots/butter or liquor or all three. Yup, can’t go wrong. Have to admit that I wasn’t sure the soup would be worth the effort but I was wrong. I freezed some of it for later… :D
I have never gotten so much pleasure out of recipes and cooking until I found your blog!!! So far I’ve made the peanut butter cookies, my son couldn’t even let them cool, the truffles with some chocolate from La Maison du Chocolat that I have been saving from a trip to Paris for over a year and now I’m going to try the chocolate sour cream cake (saw it in the Boston Globe). Don’t malign the Patriots!!!!!
GO PATS………….
I don’t care what month it is, I want it now.
I’m not the biggest fan of caramel, but I can make an exception for this.
This is my dad’s very favorite kind of cake, homemade yellow+caramel. Maybe it’s time to try to make it for him (and me)!
Oooo weeee! I’ve been looking for this recipe. I thank you!!!!!! I pay $3+ a slice for this in Chicago.
Luscious and gorgeous. I love the simple elegance of it - who could resist! I love the mentioned idea of individual versions, possibly crowned with a fresh raspberry (or chocolate shaving) or two. Divine!
New reader…and all I can say is OMFG, YUM! Is it possible to fall madly, deeply in love with a picture of a caramel cake?
Hey, Happy New Year! This cake is killing me:) I am not a frosting girl at all, but caramel…that is a different story altogether. And I agree on the Tom Brady thing, he should knock up more women, those genes should not go to waste. I have an easier time of it - husband is a Pats fan, so he takes my drooling for um…fandom or something
After a very “smitten kitchen” holiday (I even attempted the babka:), this might have to be a last minute addition to my New Years Eve menu….and as for hot QBs, a Wisconsin gal must stick with Favre….old but a goody:) Have a happy new year Deb, and here’s to another year of fantastic food!!
First of all…two things.
1) I first noticed Tom Brady during the after Patriots game press talk. I asked my husband the same exact thing…saying “He’s a hottie!”
2) I have this cake in the oven as we speak and was delighted to stumble upon the fact that you made it too and that it was a hit. This entire issue of Gourmet was fantastic! I have the Savannah Cream Cake from that issue chilling in the fridge. I have a dozen other recipes from that one issue I want to try!
Happy New Year, deb!
Kristen
Great Recipe. I just finished making it for my NYE party and if the cake is as good as its parts (the cake batter and the caramel) then it is sure to be wonderful. Just one variation I would offer tough, use a bigger saucepan than what is in the recipe. I used the size indicated and my caramel runneth over, and made a huge mess on my stove! Also, I inadvertently put the vanilla in before boiling the caramel mixture, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference in the end product.
Also, my caramel sauce seems to be a bit thinner. Could be because i don’t have a candy thermometer, so I just boiled it until it seemed to reduce and stop being so bubby on the top.
I love your not-so-enthusiastic commentary on the football game :) I’m sure I’d have a similar response! At least you all had this delicious looking caramel cake to share in.
Happy New Year! Peace in 2008!
I will be dreaming about this cake tonight…I just know it! That caramel looks dreamy!
Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to lots of great recipes!
Out of all of the wonderful sounding recipes in that issue of Gourmet, this one totally stuck out to me (of course my love for the butter, sugar and cream helped).
I’m thrilled you have made it, as now I know it’s truly possible. It shall be made tomorrow.
Happy New Year!
I’m sorry, was there content on this post? I was too busy dreaming of diving into that beautiful beautiful caramel to notice. *giggle*
OMG I TOTALLY NEED TO MAKE THIS CAKE IT LOOKS DELICIOUS! Everything you make is so beautiful and perfect. Thank you for that!
Wow! That looks absolutely dreamy. I love the way the caramel is dripping down the sides.
Happy New Year!
Another gorgeous recipe! I’m in the process of making it myself this afternoon. Happy New Year to me :) Deb, one quick question for you: when you decide, at the last minute, that you’d like to bake a cake, make cookies–how do you soften the butter to room temperature quickly? I tried the defrost setting on my microwave with okay success but am wondering if you have a better solution. Thanks!
Deb! Help! My friend and I successfully made the cake but totally effed up the caramel! It burned. Badly. And just now I can see the end of my apartment through the smoke. Where did we go wrong? It was bubbly and then bubbly some more. Obviously I cooked it too long but it never stopped looking grainy. Should it still be grainy at the end? It’s now grainy black and dark brown in the snow on the front lawn.
Perhaps another idea of what to top our delicious cake with?
Happy New Year!
Hi Deb, Happy New Year! We made the mushrooms stuffed with sundried tomatoes last night for our party and everyone loved them! Thanks for all the great recipes and very enjoyable read! I crack up at your jokes all the time.
Oh! Deb! Love that cake!
I’m doubly thrilled as I too thought that whole January issue was fab, and didn’t know where to begin.
I did make the potato casserole (yummy) and now I know what my second recipe will be - this cake!
Thanks for a tasty 2007 (your red cat zucchini recipe is now one of our FAVORITES) and wishing you a happy, healthy 2008!
That cake? Better than sex.
Oh god, that just looks amazing. THe picture of the caramel sauce being napped over the cake? Sheer porn.
Oh good Lord… I know what kind of cake the Angel is getting for her birthday assuming she makes it until the 23rd (13 is such an ugly age)
Thanks for this! I made it to top off our New Year’s Day meal of Corn Chowder and Ribs - it was the perfect ending. (Although eating while watching the Biggest Loser is NOT, I repeat, NOT a good idea). I will make this again and again. You have never led me down a tasteless road Deb - thanks!
Eating while watching The Biggest Loser is my favorite guilty pleasure.
Sweet fancy Jesus. I think i just broke out in hives of cellulite (is that possible?). If this is what wrong looks like, I don’t want to be right.
oooooh! ooooooh! oooooooooh! Those are the noises that I realised I was making when reading that post. That looks truly, truly decadent. Food porn at it’s best!
big fan. will be making this as soon as i can get to the grocery store.
The top photo is absolutely STUNNING!!!! I wish you could send food via email! :)
Deb..the drizzled cake looks so beautiful, but I really flopped on the glaze..maybe my thermometer was off…cooked too long..what is the secret..There was no way I could put that stuff on the cake..cleaning it out of the pan has been the chore of the evening…I will probably use the cake with raspberries and cream tomorrow..
HELP - Okay, I’ve made this cake 2x and with the same results: the texture seems strange, almost cornbread-y. Is that how it’s supposed to be? The taste is great and we LOVE the caramel glaze!
Newgrandma — You might want to try re-melting the caramel, and pouring it quickly. Mine, too, went a little past the ideal temperature, hence the thickness you see, but moving quickly, I was able to drape it over the cake.
Susan — The cake has a rather large crumb–like cornbread–but I found mine to have none of the dryness of cornbread. Hope that helps!
i made this cake, and it turned out exactly like the photo on epicurios. i, too, think that deb’s photo looks much tastier! i poured the glaze over the cake, on a rack over foil, and quite alot of the glaze pooled up on the foil. so, i scraped it off, and drizzled it over the cake again. i did this two or three times. the cake was good, but not a really strong caramel flavor, so i was a bit disappointed. if i were to try it again, i’d cook the caramel a bit longer, and maybe let it set a while before putting it on the cake, and hopefully it would be thicker.
I made this over the weekend and my caramel topping (i took it off at 211 degrees) was very liquidy. It absorbed into the cake but gave it a nice sheen on top. This cake was so great- simple and wonderful. Especially good for breakfast the next day.
I just made this for my husband’s birthday today, and also got more of a glaze. Just wondering–when you made it, did you take the 12-14 mins to mean boil it for that long (after it reaches that temp) or cook it for that long total?
It does smell and taste great (the caramel), and the cake batter was delicious. I can’t cut it yet, since it is for my husband, but I’ll let you know how it turns out!
I made this cake last night….and it was really good. My caramel wasn’t as thick, more glaze-y, but I did it without a candy thermometer. My suggestion: poke holes in the cake before pouring the caramel over top. The caramel then sinks in and makes it extra moist and delish.
i’m gonna try this for my grandma’s birthday this weekend… i was wondering can i layer this?
Hi Neesha — I am sure you could, simply by doubling it and pouring half the caramel over each layer. Oh, and then sending me a slice, though I’m sure that will have no effect on the final product. ;)
Just made the cake last night while watching the Super Bowl… and it was great. It domed a little on top, but otherwise great base for frostings and glazes. I wonder how it’ll be in cupcake form.
I have this recipe bookmarked and can’t wait to make it. Can you refresh my memory - didn’t you write that your candy thermometer was wacky and that’s why the caramel looks different than that made by many readers? I want mine to look like yours and most readers who make it indicated theirs was much thinner. thanks.
Yes. My thermometer seems to run low, meaning that I cooked it well past the recommended temperature, which made it thick–at least 20 degrees, but use your eyeballs to make sure you don’t go too far. One thing though, when this hardens, it’s almost like a jelly roll-up texture (okay, not that thick, but it is clearly a separate texture from the cake). It will still be madly delicious, but I just wanted to warn that it was a side effect of it being a bit thicker.
This recipe was absolutely fantastic. I mean it really made my birthday smell like caramel. All birthdays should smell like caramel. However, don’t attempt making this recipe into cupcake form. Once in the oven they are very easy to burn. All birthdays should smell like caramel
I made this cake a few months back and never told you how much I loved it and how my caramel turned out just like yours (it looked a tad lighter but it ran the same and was the perfect texture.) Thanks so much for this recipe! It’s such a lovely cake! I keep wanting to make it again, but it’s hard for me to make something without chocolate in it, even something this delicious. But I will make it again soon!!