My Birthday Cake for this Year.

Dan made me this amazing cake this year Caramel Cake with Caramel Icing.  I loved it.  The recipe came from The Rock Recipes. Just look at those layers of caramel.......

The Best Caramel Cake

Caramel Sauce 

 2 cups sugar

2/3 cup butter cut in small cubes

4 tbsp water

1 cup whipping cream

 Vanilla Cake

 1 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour

 1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour

 1/2  teaspoon baking soda

 2 tsp baking powder

 1 teaspoon salt 

 1/2 cup butter

 2 tablespoons good quality vanilla extract

 1 1/2 cups sugar

 1/2 cup vegetable oil 

 3 large eggs

 1 1/4 cups milk

 Caramel Frosting

 3 1/2 to 4 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup caramel sauce
a few tbsp milk

Directions:

Caramel Sauce:

 Begin by mixing the sugar and water in a large saucepan. 

NOTE: I use a large saucepan of about 3 quarts or larger because the sugar foams up when you add the butter and cream so make sure you have a large enough pot.

Boil the sugar and water over medium heat until the mixture begins to turn a light to medium amber color. The real skill in making caramel sauce does come with experience and knowing the point at which the color is perfect. 

Good advice for beginners is that it is better to be a little too light in color rather than a little too dark because too dark a caramel can often taste a little burnt. 

It is very easy to burn this mixture which can happen very quickly once the proper color is achieved, so have your butter and cream at the ready, as timing is crucial for this recipe.

Do not stir the boiling sugar, this can cause it to crystallize. 

If you find the sugar starts to crystallize, use a pastry brush to brush water around the inside edge of the pot as it boils. You may have to do this several times. 

Carefully swirling the pan occasionally is also helpful to avoid crystallization of the sugar.

When the color is right, quickly add the butter and stir quickly until the butter is melted. 

Remove from the heat immediately and pour in the whipping cream, stirring constantly until the sauce is uniformly smooth. Cool completely.

Vanilla Cake:

Grease two 8 or 9 inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

 Sift together and set aside:

both flours

baking soda

salt

baking powder

 In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together well at high speed  until light and fluffy :

butter

vanilla

sugar

 Slowly beat in:

oil

Beat in, one at a time,

3 large eggs

Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with:

Milk

Begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. 

Do not over mix the batter. 

As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the two prepared cake pans.

 Bake at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Caramel Frosting:

Beat all ingredients together until smooth, fluffy, and a spreadable consistency. 

Use a couple of tablespoons of milk to begin and add more if need be or of it becomes too thin, just add a couple more tablespoons of icing sugar at a time.

To construct the cake, cut the two layers into 4. 

Reserve about 2/3 cup of the caramel sauce (1/2 cup for the frosting and the rest to drizzle on top of the cake. 

Divide the remaining caramel sauce in 3 parts and use it to fill the three inner layers of the cake. 

Frost with the caramel frosting and drizzle with any remaining caramel sauce.