hello, lovely

Well, I sort of accidentally skipped last month’s challenge of Pizzas. Things were busy, and then we traveled, and then the month was over. But! When I saw we were switching to sweet stuff after a couple months of savory challenges, I was very excited. I was even more excited when I found out we were baking a CAKE! There was also the optional challenge of making these vanilla bean caramels, but eh. I didn’t feel like it, especially after the harrowing experiences I had trying just to MAKE this cake! lol

Team Unraveled (my 3-day walking team) decided to have a get together other than our regular Thursday night knit night and get together to watch Pride & Prejudice (the GOOD version. The Colin Firth version), because some of us had seen it, and some of us hadn’t seen or, or seen it the whole way through. When I found out the challenge, I figured the watching party would be a GREAT place to try it out!

I ran into some challenges along the way. My oven is crazy and very unpredictable, and it burned the cake within 10 minutes of being in the oven. (I HATE my oven, but I have no idea what I can do about it, living in an apartment.) Well, burned the edges and very darkly browned the top, but the center was raw. I turned the oven off and let it sit there, hoping to cook the center. That experiment seemed to work, but when I took the cake out of the oven, it still looked like it was going to be inedible.

I cut the cake in half and found that aside from the outside edges, it was edible, and actually very delicious. Unforunately, I’d already massacred it, so I ran out to get more ingredients, because I ran out of some stuff with the previous batch. I remade the batter, but some of the things didn’t get to room temp despite my attempting to hurry things along (eggs in a hot water bath, microwaving the milk for a few seconds, etc), and the batter looked like it was curdled after I finished it the 2nd time. I, fed up with the whole mess, dumped it and cleaned up the kitchen.

I ended up taking one of the halves of the cake to the party anyway, sans frosting, and it was a very delicious hit! Very moist and very tasty. I decided I wanted to try it again to take to my future in-laws for Thanksgiving, and the whole thing was a big mess. I made the syrup the day before, hoping to at least alleviate some of that headache, so it would be room temp by the time I needed it, but it ended up crystallizing in the jar I put it in. I don’t think I let it cook long enough. I warmed it up, hoping to be able to use it, but it wasn’t as dark and clear as the batch of syrup I’d made with the last cake.

My oven, again, burned the cake, but after learning from last time that it would still be good, I followed the same steps. This time, I cut off the edges and frosted it anyway. I wasn’t going through all that work for nothing again. LOL

I took it to Thanksgiving, and it seemed to be a big hit. I got a lot of compliments on it, but when I tasted a piece, it seemed to be very dry…not at all as moist as it was the last time, but it was still good. The frosting gave the dry cake a nice balance, and while it’s still very sweet, the sweetness seemed to be evened out by the cake.

I really liked it, and I will try this recipe again, if for no other reason than to get it RIGHT for once, but I will have to be VERY motivated to do it with all the prep work (ie: making the syrup) involved. I think I’d also maybe like to try it by substituting maple syrup or chocolate syrup or some other pre-made syrup. The recipe is behind the cut.

Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon (), as published on Bay Area Bites ().

Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich, Artisan Press, Copyright 2007, ISBN: 978-1579652111 (Did not make)

If you’re looking for additional guidance on the cake, Shuna’s got some great information posted here as well (http://eggbeater.typepad.com/shuna/2007/11/caramel-cake-a.html) and here (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/). And metric conversions can be found here (http://www.worldwidemetric.com/metcal.htm).

And now…THE RECIPES:

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Notes from Natalie for those of you baking gluten-free:

So the GF changes to the cake would be:

2 cups of gluten free flour blend (w/xanthan gum) or 2 cups of gf flour blend + 1 1/2 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1/2 - 1 tsp baking powder (this would be the recipe amount to the amount it might need to be raised to & I’m going to check)

I’ll let you when I get the cake finished, how it turns out and if the baking powder amount needs to be raised.

Preheat oven to 350F

Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for “stopping” the caramelization process)
In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner’s sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner’s sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light

(recipes above courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon)
This month challenge is hosted by Alex at , Jenny at , with alternate support by Natalie at .

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 29th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Daring Bakers, November 2008 Challenge - Caramel Cake. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.