Caramel Cake

It was a few years ago,when I noticed many bloggers posting the same recipe on a particular date of the month.One after the other,the recipes looked complicated to me,and that too baked recipes.For a beginner baker like me,all those looked like recipes which I could only gape at but never try.Later I came to know it was all a part of Daring Bakers,daring recipes they sure were!

I remember seeing a Caramel cake recipe challenge where the caramel syrup was made from scratch,so was the cake and the buttercream frosting plus caramel shards for garnish.I still remember,I saw it first on Deeba's blog PAB and thought to myself how one could even attempt something like that,I was too dumbstruck.

Years later,when me and a baker friend were having a conversation about adding caramel to cakes for the intense flavor it provides,I was immediately transported back to this particular recipe.Suddenly,it didn't seem so complicated at all.Making caramel from scratch is indeed a breeze,you've got to be cautious that's all,and the cake is a basic butter cake.I decided to skip the frosting,but let me tell you,the cake tastes awesome even when served plain.

 

Ever since,I've made this cake a number of times.This recipe even fights to take the first spot among my all time favorite cakes,a spot which currently belongs to this gem.The flavor of caramel intensifies after a day,so make sure you resist the urge to cut and serve it immediately.I had some chocolate sauce in the fridge,which I had to use up so I drizzled the sauce over the cake.

 

Caramel Cake

Recipe source - Baking Obsession

Ingredients

Unsalted butter – 150 gms, at room temperature

Granulated white sugar -  1 1/4 cups

Salt – 1 teaspoon

Caramel syrup – 1/3 cup

Eggs – 2, at room temperature

Pure vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon

All-purpose flour – 2 cups

Ground cardamom – 1 teaspoon

Baking powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Milk – 1 cup, at room temperature

For caramel syrup

Granulated white sugar – 2 cups
Water - 1/2 cup
Water to stop crystallization - 1 cup  

Method

For making the caramel syrup


Add sugar and 1/2 cup water in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and put it on high flame until the sugar dissolves. Keep stirring with a wooden spatula. It will start boiling and bubbling and colour starting to change. Stir once in a while but not constantly.Let the colour change. Now switch off stove and remove the sauce pan to the kitchen counter. Take all precaution, step back and stretch your hands to just pour a bit of the water and keep away while it splatters. Now again pour some more of the water and let it splatter some more. Now you can pour all of the remaining 1 cup. Mix well and bring it back on to fire on high flame and keep on high flame for 2 to 3 minutes until it reduces a bit and thickens. Do not leave it for long, then it would really thicken making it difficult to pour once it cools down. 
 
You got to have a fairly thin syrup while switching off the stove, which when cooled down is honey consistency.

For making the cake

Pre-heat oven to 160 degree C. 
 
Butter and flour an eight inch round pan. 
Sift together flour,
 
salt

and 
 
baking powder. Keep aside.
 
Add butter into your bowl and whip it with beater until fluffy and then 
 
add sugar and whip on medium high speed for 5 minutes until the mixture has become really creamy and paler. 

This process needs all that time, because here is when air is incorporated into the batter which gives the cake its real texture.
 
Add the eggs one by one and beat well for a minute after each addition. 
 
Now add vanilla extract and beat again until incorporated well.
 
Now add caramel syrup and beat well again until incorporated.
 
Add flour mixture and milk alternating both and beating just until incorporated after each addition. 
 
(Start with 1/3rd of flour mixture, followed by 1/2 of the milk mixture, then again 1/3rd of the flour mixture, remaining milk and then the final part of flour. You got to beat just until they get incorporated into the batter). 
 
You should NOT over beat at this stage, else you might end up having a tough and dense cake.
 
Pour the batter filling half of the pan and tap the pan on your counter to release air bubbles if any.Bake in pre-heated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the top of the cake is well risen, and a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
 
Cool on wire rack.The cake keeps well at room temperature for 3-4 days and upto a week,refrigerated.

At the cost of sounding repetitive(I seem to be saying this in every post of mine!)let me thank all my readers from the bottom of my heart for being so supportive of me,it gives me a huge confidence boost and that's what brings me back here even when all my time is taken by a piece of my heart,my 8 month old Arjun.