The Best Caramel Cake
Old Fashioned Southern Recipe
A moist Southern-style caramel cake with rich, buttery layers and a decadent homemade caramel buttercream frosting.
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
cake flour (sifted)
360 g
baking powder
12 g
salt
3 g
unsalted butter (softened)
113 g
butter-flavored shortening (softened)
100 g
granulated sugar
350 g
large eggs (room temperature)
3 pcs
egg yolks (room temperature)
2 pcs
buttermilk (room temperature)
320 ml
vanilla extract
15 ml
Caramel Sauce
granulated sugar
300 g
heavy cream (room temperature)
240 ml
unsalted butter
42 g
salt
1 g
Caramel Buttercream Frosting
unsalted butter (softened)
226 g
confectioners sugar (sifted)
360 g
heavy whipping cream
60 ml
caramel sauce
60 ml
vanilla extract
10 ml
salt
1.5 g
Instructions
Preheat oven and prepare pans
Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease and flour two 23cm round cake pans.
Mix dry ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cream butter and shortening
In a large mixing bowl, cream together softened butter and shortening until light and fluffy.
Add sugar
Gradually add granulated sugar and beat until creamy and well combined.
Add eggs
Add eggs one at a time, then egg yolks, beating well after each addition.
Alternate flour and buttermilk
Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Mix just until combined.
Add vanilla extract
Stir in vanilla extract until incorporated.
Bake the cake layers
Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Prepare caramel sauce
In a heavy saucepan, melt sugar over medium heat until golden amber. Carefully add cream and butter, stirring until smooth. Add salt.
Cool cake layers
Remove cake layers from oven and cool in pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Prepare caramel buttercream
Beat softened butter until creamy. Gradually add confectioners sugar, then heavy cream, caramel sauce, vanilla, and salt. Beat until light and fluffy.
Assemble and frost cake
Place one cooled cake layer on serving plate. Spread a layer of caramel buttercream, drizzle with caramel sauce. Top with second layer and frost entire cake. Drizzle remaining caramel sauce on top.
Original recipe
Storage
Store in airtight container. Caramel sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated up to 1 week.
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