Caramel Cake: November DB Challenge

I was so excited that the November challenge was not only sweet in nature but also a cake!  I had never made a caramel cake before....in fact I have never even eaten a caramel cake before.  I like caramel, but the thought of a whole cake devoted to such a sweet made my teeth hurt just reading the recipe.  But alas this is the point of the DBs!! To push you out of your baking comfort zone to try new and exciting recipes each week.  So spirits were high heading into this adventure.

Step One:  The Caramel Sauce - This part was by far the most exciting to me.  As I mentioned I have never made caramel before so this part was definitely fun.  I know with sauces of this nature burning it can occur quicker than you think.  One minute the sauce is all brownish and caramelized and then *poof* blackened sticky goo.  So being my extra cautious self I was a constant monitor and probably could have cooked it just a little longer (although really now I am just being picky).  And one thing this recipe is bang on about is the crazy sputter action that happens when you pour in the water....STAND BACK! 

Step Two: The Cake - Overall I felt this to be a pretty standard issue cake (minus the addition of the caramel sauce above).  Now one thing that I find frustrating with cakes is that sometimes I find that they don't rise as much as I would like them to.  Now what does this stem from....perhaps my butter was sufficiently at room temp?  Not enough baking powder?  Room temperature eggs?  To me this is just as mysterious as the "caramel secret" (ohhhh....such a bad pun, but I had to).  I think perhaps because my cake didn't rise as much as I wanted it, it became somewhat dense once it was baked.

Step Three: Caramelized Butter Frosting - I think the frosting actually turned out pretty well for me.  I am not a huge icing fan to begin with, so sometimes it is hard for me to judge what a great frosting should taste like.  Overall this might have been the best part of the cake for me.

With the cake finally baked and frosted it was time to test my hand at a little decorating flare.  I would have loved to have actually made caramels from scratch, but I buckled and bought some store bought caramels and crushed them.  I then just placed them around the sides of the cake for a subtle yet scrumptious touch.  (I take my frosting comment back....this was the best part of the cake). 

Overall it was a great experience, but those who had my cake had the same comments as I did. "Sort of dense", "Very sweet", and "Not your best work"....sigh....my baking education continues. 

Credits:

• Recipe Details - http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2006 … he-recipe/
• Author - Shuna Fish Lyndon
• DB Hosts - Dolores the host http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/ with Co-hosts Alex (Brownie of Blondie and Brownie duo: http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/), Jenny of Foray into Food (http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/). And our gluten free expert Natalie of gluten-a-Go-Go (http://glutenagogo.blogspot.com/)