Quinn is a big fan of caramel. I’ve talked about making him a caramel cake for ages. I like caramel, too, but in small doses. The idea of a cake whose primary flavor is caramel doesn’t really appeal to me. But, I aim to please, so I thought for Christmas I would try my hand at making one.
That’s when my plans took a little detour. Caramel cake being a popular dessert in the South, I figured Southern Living was a good place to start looking for recipes. Of the recipes I found on their recipe site, I was most intrigued by this one from another of their publications, Cottage Living, that has a caramel cream cheese frosting instead of the traditional caramel frosting.
I have made no secret about my adoration of all things cream cheese. Quinn also being a fan, I thought this cake would be just the thing. And was I ever right. The cake is delicious. No, it’s beyond delicious. In my mind, it was the highlight of our Christmas desserts.
My only problem was with the caramel layer. It didn’t set like I thought it should have. It became a little too hard and crumbly for my liking. I envisioned it being a lot smoother. I think that I messed that up somewhere along the way. Regardless, I still loved the cake.
And the caramel cream cheese frosting? Honestly, I would have been more than happy to have had just the frosting for my Christmas dessert. I will certainly be using that recipe again. I’m sure I can come up with all manner of things that would go with it wonderfully.
More caramel recipes from BoB:
13 responses so far ↓
1 Tracy // Dec 30, 2007 at 11:25 am
Oh… my….
Who cares about that caramel layer. That cake looks deelish.
2 Cedar // Dec 30, 2007 at 12:10 pm
That looks absolutely delicious! I love caramel, and even more than that love cream cheese…what a yummy combo!
3 JEP // Dec 30, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Even tho’ I really like caramel goodies, I, too, could do without the caramel layer on this cake as the frosting would satisfy me. Thanks for the related recipes!
4 rachel // Dec 30, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I love the idea of caramel cream cheese frosting! YUM!
5 peabody // Dec 30, 2007 at 3:53 pm
It looks amazing. To this day one of the most favorite thing I made was a double caramel cake. But I am with Quinn, I love caramel.
The only thing I can think that might of happen to the caramel layer is slightly overcooked caramel. Caramel as much as I love it can often be such a pain.
6 jennifer // Dec 30, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Thanks, Tracy! It was indeed delicious.
Cedar, if you like caramel and cream cheese, I highly recommend this cake to you. Or, you know, just make the frosting. Yum!
JEP, I think it would be more than fine to omit the caramel layer. You might need a bit more frosting.
Rachel, it is so good. I don’t have words sufficient to describe that frosting.
Peabody, I agree that the caramel might have overcooked. Either that or it got too cool too fast when it was transferred over to be beaten. Oh, well.
7 Ashley // Dec 31, 2007 at 12:40 am
This cake sounds perfect! I love caramel and I love cream cheese. I just discovered your blog through Patricia (Technicolor Kitchen) and am already loving it and adding it to my blog reader list! So many beautiful photos and yummy looking baked goods.
8 Kate // Dec 31, 2007 at 8:09 am
This is the most food-pornie food porn I’ve seen in ages. I want to dive into that cake slice and roll all over it. I happen to LOVE caramel cake — it’s a very retro flavor, whereas, I don’t care much for caramel drizzled anything, or caramels, or caramel sauce. But cooked caramel cake? Oh yes. Someone light me a cigarette.
9 Nan // Dec 31, 2007 at 5:31 pm
This caramel cake was delicious. It is just the right amount of caramel and the frosting, I think, was the best part of all! Cream cheese? You can’t go wrong with cream cheese anything! If the caramel layer was “messed up” as you say, I don’t think it hurt the taste of this cake one little bit!
10 Kristen // Jan 11, 2008 at 11:40 am
I bet this is one of the most amazing cakes ever! It looks fantastic!
11 jennifer // Jan 11, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Welcome, Ashley! I’m glad you found me!
LOL, Kate! Sounds like you and this cake had a moment.
Thanks, Kristen! It is definitely one of my favorites.
12 Heather // Jan 25, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I found your site not too long ago and have really been enjoying it. Great photos! I was thinking of making this cake and noticed that I had a box of yellow cake mix in my pantry. I have no problem making things from scratch but wanted to get this box out of my closet, so I’m wondering if you think a box mix would hold up against the filling and frosting. Thanks in advance for your advice! Have a great weekend!
13 jennifer // Jan 25, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Heather, I would absolutely try the yellow cake mix. This cake itself wasn’t heavy on flavor. It let the filling and frosting really come through. Personally, I might prefer a white cake mix, but I’m sure yellow will work just fine. Let me know what you think!
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