Caramel Cake from The Help

By mitzzy

Caramel Cake, inspired by the book, The Help (Kathryn Stockett) The world needs a great caramel cake and great books such as The Help. The only problem with the book is that it mentions caramel cake so many times and there’s no recipe. But Caramel Cake is a popular Southern cake –not too hard to dream up a quintessential one – which I think I did in this recipe. This is the basic great cake. In my own final version, I whipped up a vanilla buttercream and vanilla simple syrup (instructions below) for a deluxe Caramel Cake

Ingredients

• Cake
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon butter extract, optional
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups warm buttermilk
• Brown Sugar Caramel Frosting
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 teaspoons corn syrup
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3-4 tablespoons whipping cream or evaporated milk
• Vanilla Simple Syrup
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large vanilla bean, cut in 4
• Vanilla Buttercream
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon Nielsen Massey Vanilla Paste or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
• (cream or water if required, to whip icing to correct consistency)

Details

Servings 12

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Generously spray two 9-inch layer cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and place the pan on a large, parchment paper lined baking sheet. Place the pans on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.


In a mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in the eggs and vanilla (and if using, the butter extract) and blend until smooth, scraping the bottom of the bowl occasionally to ensure no ingredients get stuck or remain unblended in the well of the bowl.

Fold in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and drizzle in the buttermilk while blending the ingredients to make a smooth batter, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally to ensure the batter is evenly blended.

Spoon into prepared pans. Bake until cakes test done when gently pressed with fingertips, about 35-38 minutes.

Cool in pans 10 minutes before unmolding on a wire rack to cool completely or wrap cakes lightly in plastic wrap and semi-freeze before assembling.

For the Brown Sugar Caramel Frosting, place butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, salt and vanilla in a 3-quart saucepan. Cook over low heat until the mixture thickens and reaches a little under softball stage (234 F or less). If you don’t have a thermometer, cook the mixture until a bit of the mixture on a cold plate, seems to hold together like soft taffy, 15-20 minutes. You can increase the heat to make it go faster but slow and steady makes for better results.

Remove the icing from the heat and let it cool 3 minutes and then stir in the whipping cream or evaporated milk. Keep aside.

For the Vanilla Simple Syrup, mix water, sugar and vanilla bean in a small saucepot. Over medium heat, simmer syrup 10 minutes. Cool.

For the Vanilla Buttercream, whip all ingredients together until fluffy in a food processor.


To assemble the cake, cut each layer in two, horizontally.

Brush each layer (as you use it) generously with the vanilla syrup. Then smear some icing )there isn't allot of icing so smear it thinly; on the cake sides, there is almost none -it's fine) on first layer and drizzle or smear on some Brown Sugar topping. Repeat with all but top layer, reserving bulk of brown sugar syrup to pour over top and let drip down. Chill before serving.
Essentially what you are doing is giving the cake a moisturizing brushing of syrup, smearing on a thin coat of buttercream and then topping it off with the thicker, sweeter, Caramel Syrup.

Serves 12-14 (Keep chilled/freezes well)