Wednesday, April 6, 2011

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. 

caramel cake

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.

caramel cake1

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.

caramel cake2

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

Thanks for visiting today!

DG 

 

 

5 comments:

kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor said...

I have always wanted to make a cake with caramel frosting like this. Yours turned out beautifully! I'm visiting from Full Plate Thursday & am your newest follower. Bon Appetit!

http://ishouldbemoppingthefloor.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Oh heavens this look good!

I would like to invite you to join in on a WEEKLY RECIPE LINK PARTY on my blog.

http://larkscountryheart.blogspot.com/

"Made it on Monday" link is open every WED.-SAT.

I hope you will come join us. :)

Our Italian Kitchen said...

That looks like heaven! I want some now! Thanks for sharing!

Miz Helen said...

Hi DG,
It is so good to see you here today. Your Caramel Cake looks so beautiful and the frosting looks delicious. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you next week!

GratefulPrayerThankfulHeart said...

Hello DG,

So nice stopping by to visit with you! Lovely place you have here. I have perused many of your posts and enjoyed each one.

Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving your comment!
Kindly, Lorraine