Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink. That’s how I feel when I’ve to make a dessert, especially if I’m making it for others.
My phone camera storage is overflowing with cake and dessert pictures. If you’re following me on Pinterest, you can see that I keep on adding to the cakes and dessert boards.
Everytime, I have to make a dessert for a party, I’m lost and confused! The scene almost repeated when we had some friends over recently. But I kinda made it easy for me by narrowing down what kind of dessert I want to make.
Since the weather is a bit chilly and the flu season is very much active, I decided “not to” have a cold dessert. That left me with the option of cakes and hot puddings. Since hot puddings have to be served immediately, I ruled out that option too and that’s how I decided it’s going to be a “cake”.
Now the question was which flavour would it be? Usually when I’ve guests over which have a good number of kids too, I end up making two desserts. One chocolate cake or cupcake and for the grown ups, something else.
This time, I didn’t have the time to make two desserts and I was kinda stuck between chocolate and other flavours. So I decided to take a bet and go ahead with this Caramel cake. Surprisingly, it did work with kids too!
About this cake – it’s a very simple and straightforward recipe. Nothing fancy or complicated about it. Well, you can make it fancy, if you want – depending on how you serve it ;) This cake has a very homey feeling about it. It’s buttery, soft and dense with fine tender crumbs and the caramel icing gives a touch of “fanciness” to the cake.
It’s perfect as a dessert or as a birthday or an anniversary cake. If you wish to have it for tea, you can skip the sauce.
Since, I was serving it as a dessert, I made some Mascarpone cream to go with it and that really added to the whole experience. Though it’s not a must (the original recipe doesn’t have it), if you are living in a place where Mascarpone is easily available and if you are making it for a special occasion, I recommend you to go for it.
If you are a cake lover, then you MUST try this recipe. This comes STRONGLY recommended from me.
Happy baking and eating ;)
Btw, if you are looking for something special to make on Valentine's day, check out this dessert round up.
Here is the recipe…
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars for 4 minutes…
Add oil, eggs, and vanilla beating again for 5 minutes…
Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour…
alternately with milk, until it's incorporated…
Pour batter in prepared bundt pan and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes. Cake is done when toothpick comes out clean…
In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter…
Add in heavy cream and brown sugar and stir mixture until it begins to boil…
Remove immediately from heat and add in 1 cup powdered sugar…
Recipe from here
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter (227 gms, softened (refer notes))
- 2 cups Brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup Vegetable oil (I used Sunflower oil)
- 5 Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla essence
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 3 cups Plain flour
- 1 cup Milk
- Caramel Frosting
- 4 tbsp Butter (57 gms)
- 6 tbsp Heavy cream / Whipping cream
- 1 cup, packed Brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
- 2 cups Powdered / Icing sugar (I used icing sugar, refer notes)
- 1 tsp Vanilla essence
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Spray bundt pan with baking spray that has flour in it or grease generously with butter and dust with 1-2 tbsp four. Shake off excess flour.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars for 4 minutes.
- Add oil, eggs, and vanilla beating again for 5 minutes.
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour alternately with milk until it is all incorporated.
- Pour batter in prepared bundt pan and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes. Cake is done when toothpick comes out clean.
- Invert cake onto cooling rack. Cool completely and then drizzle frosting.
- Caramel Frosting
- In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter.
- Add in heavy cream and brown sugar and stir mixture until it begins to boil.
- Remove immediately from heat and add in 1 cup powdered sugar.
- Cool slightly and add in vanilla and remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar.
- Add in more milk if needed to thin frosting or more powdered sugar to get it thicker.
- Drizzle over cooled cake.
Notes
I used salted butter for the cake and unsalted butter for the icing. You can use unsalted butter for cake too, if you wish.
I added only 1 cup icing sugar for the frosting and also added 1/4 tsp of salt to the icing.
For the mascarpone cream – I used around 100 gms of mascarpone cheese and 1/2 cup whipping cream (whip till soft peaks form), 1 – 2 tbsp icing sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence and 1 vanilla bean. Whisk together mascarpone cheese, vanilla bean seeds , essence and icing sugar. gently fold in the whipped cream.
You can bake the cake and make the sauce and mascarpone cream (if making) one – two days in advance. Store the cake @ room temp and icing and cream in the fridge.
Make sure you reheat the sauce in micro and pour / drizzle over the cake while serving.
The cake with the sauce can be stored at room temp for one – two days, unless you live in a humid place.
Hi, can i bake this cake in 2 9 inch round pans and use caramel swiss meringue butter cream on it. Will the cake and the fristing go well together? Just wanted to make sure whether the cake will be dry or so..Also will it be a good idea to moisten cake with a lil coffee.. planning a birthday cake for hubby..Thanks Maria
Hello Maria , what should be the texture/consistency of the icing ? Would it be like the cream cheese frosting or thicker or thinner ? Also does it spread on its own or we need to do with a knife ?
Hi Benita,
since the icing is drizzled over the cake, it’s somewhat of pouring consistency. So it’s thinner than cream cheese frosting. It spreads it’s own.
Thanks maria ..also does the frosting harden like the normal sugar frostings or caramel or remains soft ?
It will set a bit like the usual sugar frosting.
Hi Maria
Is it OK if we half the amount of ingredients??
Also can we substitute brown sugar for normal sugar?
Hi Maria,
Yes if you half the amounts proportionately, it should be ok. I dont think substituting Brown sugar is a good idea for this recipe. Brown sugar gives the caramel flavor to the cake.
I made this cake for my son for his special day in school wow it lit up the special day really soft and tasty
Hi Latha,
Thanks a lot for the wonderful comment! Really great to know that the cake made the special day even more special :)
Cheers
Maria