Caramel Cake

For the past several months, I’ve been cooking my way through three different cookbooks that belonged to my Grandmother.  I had the urge to bake yesterday, so I pulled them out to see what I could find that sounded interesting. 

One of the oldest books she owned was titled "The May Company Cook Book and Kitchen Guide For the Busy Woman Including A Complete Guide to Kitchen Management”.  Whew, what a title!  Written by Mable Claire, it was published in 1932.

A recipe for Caramel Cake caught my eye, so that’s what I decided to bake. 

Cake:

1/2 c butter

1 c sugar

2 c flour

1 t baking powder

2/3 c milk

1 t vanilla

3 egg whites

Cream the butter; add the sugar and cream until fluffy.  Sift baking powder and flour together; add to the butter alternately with milk.  Beat well after each addition.  Add the vanilla.  Beat the eggs whites until they are stiff and fold into the batter.  Bake in layers in buttered pans at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted tests clean.

Caramel Frosting:

1 1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c cream

3 T butter

1 t vanilla

1/2 c chopped pecans

Put the brown sugar, cream and butter in a saucepan; boil until the temperature reaches 238 degrees.  Remove from the heat and add the vanilla.  Cool and then beat until creamy and thick enough to frost the layers.  Add the pecans.  Frost between the layers, top and sides of the cake.

I would suggest doubling the frosting recipe.  It didn’t quite make enough to frost the entire cake (or maybe I’m just not very good at frosting cakes and used too much!).  I ended up putting the frosting on top and let it drizzle down the sides.

I chose to omit the pecans when I made the cake, but will add them when I make this again.  My husband raved about the flavor of the frosting.  While I enjoyed the cake, I did think the Caramel Frosting was just the tiniest bit too sweet for me.

I’m joining Miz Helen at her Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.  Hope to see you there!

Thanks for visiting today!

DG