Bakin on a Saturday ...Brown Sugar Caramel Cake

Hi All ...well On Wednesday night ..I was over at Lowes getting a few things I needed ..on the way to the register ..of course I can never resist the magazine rack... !!! Of course the first thing I spotted was the Taste Magazine...and on the front the most delicous looking cake ..!!!

Brown Sugar Caramel Cake ...Yummmmm !!!!

So I decided to try my hand at baking it yesterday ..and thought I would share the recipe some picts and the tasting results with you all .

P.s. don't forget you can click on the picts to enlarge them and see a better view !

Just out of the oven ..My 3 layers....Of course the outer edges and bottom got a little to done ..I hate the stove we have but beings we are renting right now ..not a whole lot I can change about that ..can't wait til we get moved and get a good stove. Nonetheless they still came out good !

Ta Da ....here it is ...Nope mines not as perfect as the one on the magazine ....but that's o.k. ...the drizzles down the sides make it look sooo yummy ! I have to admit though ..I was getting a bit frustrated with it being messy on my hands ..I do like clean hands ..LOL !!

The 1st Piece was cut ...for the taste test ....

Yummmm !!!

Look at that Heavenly Goodness !!!

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O.k. this project took a little bit of my morning but was actually rather easy and if you haven't baked much ..you should find this rather simple to make ..really the only tricky part was the icing ..and I think the directions on making it could have been better so I'll share a little further on about that.

First the Cake Recipe

Brown-Sugar Caramel CakeYield: 1 (9 inch) 3-layer cake

Preparation: 15 minutes
Bake: 20 to 25 minutes
Cool: 2 hoursFrom Taste of the South, Aug/Sept 2009

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

4 large eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon maple extract

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 3 (9-inch) round cake pans with baking spray with flour. Line with parchment-paper rounds*. Spray parchment rounds. Set aside.

2.In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

3.In a mixing bowl, beat brown sugar and eggs at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until smooth, approximately 3 minutes. Add oil and beat until combined. Set aside.

4.In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sour cream, and extracts.

5.Add flour mixture to brown-sugar mixture, alternating with milk mixture in 3 batches and beating well between additions. Pour batter into prepared pans, smoothing tops.

6.Bake until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean, approximately 30 minutes. Let cakes cool in pans for 20 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

7.Spread Linda’s Cooked Caramel Icing between layers, on top, and around sides of cake, working quickly†. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Note: †If icing becomes too stiff to spread, return pan to stove and warm over low heat until spreadable.



Cooked Caramel Icing

Yield: 5 cups (approximately)Preparation: 2 minutes
Cook: 7 minutes
Cool: 1 minuteFrom Taste of the South, Aug/Sept 2009
Recipe courtesy of Linda Ables

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups sugar, divided2 (5-ounce) cans evaporated milk

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

Directions

1.Before beginning to make this icing, read the entire recipe, noting that two pans will be on the heat at the same time.

2.Place 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan or skillet. Set on stove.

3.Place remaining 4 cups sugar, evaporated milk, and butter in a large saucepan. Set on stove.

4.Cook sugar in small pan over medium-high heat, whisking constantly until caramelized or amber colored, approximately 4 minutes.

5.At the same time, bring ingredients in large pan to a boil over high heat, whisking constantly. (The objective is for these ingredients to come to a boil at the same time as the sugar in the other pan turns amber in color.)

6.When milk mixture begins to boil, carefully add caramelized sugar, stirring constantly. (Be careful; mixture is very hot and may give off hot steam that can burn you!)

7.Cook mixture for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

8.Remove from heat. Let cool for 1 minute.

9.Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer for 1 minute.

Use immediately.

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O.k. Now for my tips....

On baking the cakes ..if you don't have or have never used parchment paper ....I highly recommend using it ...It really makes a difference in your cake coming loose from the bottom. Simply tear 3 sheets of parchment paper big enough for your cake pans to sit on ,...then grab a pencil ..and trace around the bottom of your pan ..this gives you the exact size you need to cut the paper to fit inside the bottom of each pan ..once trace cut the three out ..and it's that simple and will save you alot of headache with a cake that sticks to the bottom of the pan and tears up.

If your like me you love to hurry so you can get the cake done and iced to enjoy ..but really the waiting time is a good thing...so go with it on this one.

As for the icing...On the recipe it says at the end to cool for 1 minute then beat with electric beater on medium for 1 minute ... well I did this ..and as they say the icing was so hot it would give you third degree burns if it got on you ..thus ..it was very liquified and not even ready to spread as is suggested in the recipe. I waited a good 15 minutes and still was to soupy ..so I sat my pot in a water bath to cool it and whisked it while it cooled so it didn't set up to quickly. Finally it got thick enough that I could pour it on ...and it would nicely and slowly flow out and over the cake and stop just as it hit bottom. However I didn't get it perfected until the top ..so my 2 inner layers didn't get near enough thickness of icing ..so make sure it's fairly thick yet still ..liquified enought to pour and spread. If it's to soupy ..it just won't go on thick enough.

Other than that I didn't find any other things that went wrong it was really very simple !

Well I hope you all enjoy one of these cakes yourself ...and stay tuned ..I'll be posting a super quick recipe for how to make your very own ..dark chocolate chunk chip ..Blizzard ..right at home.. Simpler than you think ..and you'll actually get some chocolate in your blizzard ..not the chincy amount they give you at the store ..!!!

Have a Beautiful Sunday ...Everyone ! Blessings ..Sara