More Favorite Caramel Cake & Frosting Recipes!
If you love caramel, don’t miss these other favorites from our Recipes section!
Caramel Cake with Caramel Frosting {A Scratch Recipe}
Moist and Delicious Caramel Cake old fashioned Caramel Frosting!
Ingredients
For the Caramel Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 and prepare three 8 inch pans
- 1 1/2 sticks (12 T) (170g) unsalted butter ...cut into 1/2 inch slices, it does not need to be room temperature, it should be cool
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup (200g) white granulated sugar
- 1 cup (217g) light brown sugar (packed)
- 3 cups (342g) cake flour, lightly spooned into measuring cup and leveled
- 1 Tablespoon (12g) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
- 1 cup (242g) sour cream
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla flavoring
- 1/2 cup (121g) milk (We used whole milk)
- 1/4 cup (54g) vegetable oil
For Caramel Frosting
- 6 Tablespoons (84g) unsalted butter
- 2 cups (434g) light brown sugar (packed)
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup (232g) whipping cream
- 7 to 7 1/2 cups (805g) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Caramel Cake Layers
In a separate bowl combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk at least 30 seconds to blend. Set aside.
In another bowl combine the sour cream, vanilla, oil, and milk. Stir and set aside.
In the bowl of your mixer add the butter that is still very cool and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Beat on low to medium speed until smooth and light, one to two minutes (longer if using hand mixer). Slowly add the white and brown sugar beating on MEDIUM speed until the mixture is lighter in color and fluffy, approximately 2 minutes (longer using a hand mixer). Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each egg is added, just until it is blended in.
Add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scraping the bowl at least twice.
Pour batter into 3 prepared cake pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the center pulls out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. The cake also springs back when lightly touched.
Makes 8 cups of batter
For the Caramel Frosting
Heat the butter in a large saucepan until melted.
Stir in the brown sugar, salt and whipping cream. Heat to boiling, stir constantly for 1 minute. Take off the heat and let cool. While still warm stir in the vanilla. *If you would like to drizzle caramel on the top of your cake, reserve 3 to 4 Tablespoons before moving to the next step. Slowly add the powdered sugar and stir until spreading consistency. You may not need to use all of the powdered sugar that the recipe calls for.
This frosting becomes more difficult to spread as it cools, so begin using while it is still somewhat warm. If the frosting becomes too thick, add cream a teaspoon at a time to thin. I like to use a hot spatula (slightly wet) to glide over any patches of frosting that need to be neatened up with a smooth finish.
Notes
**Note that the caramel frosting is not the consistency of a typical buttercream frosting. It quickly develops a crust as it cools (though not at all grainy) and works best with textured designs rather than piped. However, I found that the crusted frosting smooths very easily with a hot (slightly dampened) spatula or even a Viva (no impressions) paper towel. We hope that you enjoy the recipe!! It is one of our fall favorites!
Hi Melissa, will you be able to help with the measurements for making a 6″ cake..
Ann
Hi Ann, We use approximately 2 cups batter for each 6 inch round pan. This recipe makes 8 cups of batter, so to make a 2 layer cake using 6×2 inch round pans you can divide the recipe in half. To divide the 3 eggs in half, you will use 1 whole egg and for the 1/2 egg do the following: break an egg into a measuring cup and whisk with a fork to blend the yellow and the white. When well blended, if you have a food scale you could weight the blended egg (gram weight) and use 1/2 of that amount. If you don’t have a scale, 1 large egg is usually 1/4 cup, 1/4 cup is 4 Tablespoons so you will use only 2 Tablespoons.
Thanks a lot for your reply… I tried and it came out well….have you tried using full brown sugar for a more caramel taste (instead of half white and brown sugar)
Ann
Hi Ann, We have never tried using all brown sugar. If you try that, let us know what you think.
Hello! Can’t wait to try your recipe. Would this work to make this same recipe into cupcakes? And what is the drizzle that you used for the cake? Is there a recipe for it?
Hi LaTanya, Yes, this will work well for cupcakes. For standard size cupcakes, bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. The drizzle on the cake is the caramel that you will make, a few Tablespoons will be reserved before completing if you want some for a drizzle. Melissa explains this in the write up. Remember that this frosting sets up very quickly. Hope you love the recipe.
Hi! Can I use the reversed creaming method
On this and your peanut butter cake?
Hi Kim, The Reverse Creaming Method of mixing works well in recipes when the weight of the sugar is equal to or greater than the weight of the flour. For this Caramel Cake recipe the combined weight of the white and brown sugar is 417 grams and the flour is 342 grams, so Reverse Creaming should work well for this recipe as well as the Peanut Butter Cake recipe. Hope you will enjoy the cakes.