A buttery, moist Southern caramel cake made from scratch, topped with rich caramel frosting for the perfect homemade dessert.
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This cake will bring back memories of old-fashioned caramel cake. It’s rich and flavorful with a tender crumb and all topped with caramel icing. The entire family will devour this one.
What’s special about this cake?
- Rich, buttery flavor
- Moist and tender texture
- Classic caramel flavor
- Made from scratch with simple ingredients
Pro Tip!
Measure the flour by spooning it into your measuring cup, rather than scooping the flour using the measuring cup. This will make sure that you don’t accidentally add too much flour, which could make your cake dense and dry.
How to make a Southern caramel cake:
(The full printable instructions are in the recipe card below.)
Step 1:
First, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and grease and flour two, 8-inch round cake pans and set aside.
Step 2:
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk well and set aside.
Step 3:
In another bowl, sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk well and set aside.
Step 4:
In a large mixing bowl, add the room-temperature butter, oil and the sugars and mix with an electric mixer on medium-high for several minutes until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, and mix on low-medium but only for about 15-20 seconds after adding each egg.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again on medium for another 10 seconds.
Step 5:
Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix only on medium and only until it’s just combined and you don’t see any dry flour.
Add the liquid ingredients and mix on medium only until just combined. Mixing too long once you add the liquid, will make the cake very dense. Only mix until just combined.
Add the second half of the dry ingredients and mix on medium until just combined.
Use a silicone spatula and scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl, then use the spatula to mix the batter a bit more to finish mixing without the electric mixer.
Step 6:
Pour the batter into the two prepared, 8-inch round cake pans, smooth the batter evenly and bake at 325 degrees F on the middle rack for approximately 40-45 minutes. Ovens will vary.
Step 7:
Remove the cake layers from the oven and place them on a wire rack, still inside the pans, for about 15 minutes. The cake layers will flatten out a bit as they cool. That’s okay.
Step 8:
After 15 minutes turn the cake layers out of the pans and set them onto the cooling racks and allow them to cool completely before adding filling and frosting.
Step 9:
Next, you’ll want to make the frosting. Melt the butter and the brown sugar in a saucepan over low-medium heat until melted. Turn up the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil and boil for two minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the cream and bring to a boil again, but take off the heat when it reaches a boil.
Once it’s removed from the heat, add the vanilla extract, stir it in, then let it sit for about 5 minutes or so.
Step 10:
Add the sifted confectioner’s sugar and mix until smooth using a spoon or a whisk. A whisk will help smooth out any lumps of confectioner’s sugar that may occur.
If there are still lumps of confectioner’s sugar, mash it through a metal strainer while it’s still hot to remove them.
Step 11:
Frost the cake with the slightly warm caramel. If it’s too warm, it will slide off the cake, so just experiment with the temperature when adding it to the cake. If too warm, just let it sit and set up a little more, stirring occasionally.
The frosting will set up fast while frosting the cake, so move quickly. If it sets up too much, just pop it in the microwave for about 10 seconds at a time, mix again, then continue to add to the cake.
Note About Recipe Measurements: I write recipes using volume (cups) measurements because here in the U.S., this is what people are more familiar with and I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated when baking. For metric/weight measurements, click the ‘metric’ button under the ingredients in the recipe card below. The weights are converted by a program, not me, and it’s just a best guess. I can’t guarantee that weighing the ingredients will produce the exact same results, since I test recipes using volume measurements.
Recipe:
Southern Caramel Cake with Caramel Frosting
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour (Measured correctly: spooned into the measuring cup and leveled off – don't scoop and pack the flour into the cup)
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup sour cream, near room temperature
- ¼ cup milk, near room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, or vanilla bean paste
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (or canola oil)
- 1 ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs, near room temperature
For the frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup heavy cream (whipping cream) (This can be called heavy cream or whipping cream, but it is not the same thing as whipped cream)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar
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Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Grease and flour two, 8-inch round cake pans and set aside.
- Make sure to set the cold ingredients out, so they can come closer to room temperature before making the batter. This will keep the batter from clumping up and will help it mix better.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk well and set aside.
- In another bowl, sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk well and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the room-temperature butter, oil and the sugars and mix with an electric mixer on medium-high for several minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, and mix on low-medium but only for about 15-20 seconds after adding each egg.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again on medium for another 10 seconds.
- Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix only on medium and only until it’s just combined and you don’t see any dry flour.
- Add the liquid ingredients and mix on medium only until just combined. Mixing too long once you add the liquid, will make the cake very dense. Only mix until just combined.
- Add the second half of the dry ingredients and mix on medium until just combined.
- Use a silicone spatula and scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl, then use the spatula to mix the batter a bit more to finish mixing without the electric mixer.
- The goal is to try and use the electric mixer the least amount that is needed. If scratch cake batter is mixed too long or at too high of speed, the cake will turn out dense and rubbery and may fall in the middle. Batter will be thick and fluffy.
- Pour the batter into the two prepared, 8-inch round cake pans, smooth the batter evenly and bake at 325 degrees F on the middle rack for approximately 40-45 minutes. Ovens will vary.
- The cake is fully baked when a toothpick inserted into the center of each layer comes out with a few moist crumbs on it or clean. The sides of the cake layers will also slightly pull away from the pans a bit. Do not overbake, or the cake can turn out dry. You do not have to wait until the toothpick has no crumbs on it. Moist crumbs on the toothpick are a good sign that it’s not overbaked. Just make sure there is no raw/liquid batter on the toothpick.
- Remove the cake layers from the oven and place them on a wire rack, still inside the pans, for about 15 minutes. The cake layers will flatten out a bit as they cool. That’s okay.
- After 15 minutes turn the cake layers out of the pans and set them onto the cooling racks and allow them to cool completely before adding filling and frosting.
For the frosting:
- Melt the butter and the brown sugar in a saucepan over low-medium heat until melted. Turn up the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil and boil for two minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add the cream and bring to a boil again, but take off the heat when it reaches a boil.
- Once it’s removed from the heat, add the vanilla extract, stir it in, then let it sit for about 5 minutes or so.
- Add the sifted confectioner’s sugar and mix until smooth using a spoon or a whisk. A whisk will help smooth out any lumps of confectioner’s sugar that may occur.
- If there are still lumps of confectioner’s sugar, mash it through a metal strainer while it’s still hot to remove them.
- Frost the cake with the slightly warm caramel. If it’s too warm, it will slide off the cake, so just experiment with the temperature when adding it to the cake. If too warm, just let it sit and set up a little more, stirring occasionally.
- Also, the frosting will set up fast while frosting the cake, so you’ll need to move quickly. If it sets up too much, just pop it in the microwave for about 10 seconds at a time, mix again, then continue to add to the cake. Don’t worry about getting the frosting on the cake perfectly. That’s not going to happen with a caramel frosting like this. The nature of caramel frosting is just messy, so don’t worry about striving for perfection here. Cakes that look homemade and rustic are some of the best cakes there are, so it’s okay.
Notes
Nutrition
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FAQs:
Sour cream is best in this recipe as it helps make a very moist cake and gives a little flavor. If you don’t have access to it, you can use plain yogurt, but use the full-fat yogurt instead of the low-fat or fat-free type.
Unsalted is always best because you can estimate the proper amount of salt that will be added plus salted has a different water content than unsalted. However, if you’re unable to get unsalted butter, you can use salted, but omit the additional salt that each recipe calls for.
The cake layers can be made ahead of time and frozen if desired. Let the baked cake layers cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap and foil and place in the freezer for up to two months.
To thaw, place the wrapped cake layers on the counter at room temperature and let thaw completely, then remove the wrapping. Once defrosted, add the frosting.
I would not recommend freezing the frosting as it could affect the texture and cause it to be grainy.
I have not tested this recipe out as cupcakes, but it may work. Fill 2 cupcake pans (24 cupcakes) with cupcake liners and fill with batter about ⅔ of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees F and start checking for doneness at around 15 minutes or so.
Probably although I haven’t tried it out. If you do try it, make sure to grease and flour the bundt pan very well so that it doesn’t stick. Bake at 325 degrees F for the same amount of time although it will likely take longer to bake since a bundt pan is deeper. Do not pull it out until the cake is fully baked. The cake will be firmer to the touch and not jiggly and a toothpick inserted into the cake will come out either with a few moist crumbs on it or clean.
Probably although I haven’t tried it out. If you do try it, make sure to grease and flour or spray the pan, then bake at the same temperature and for about the same length of time, although it may take longer (a shorter) amount of time to bake because of the pan size difference. The cake is done baking when a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out either with a few moist crumbs on it or clean.
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