Picture Perfect Cooking

For C’s Granny’s Christmas party, I went looking online again for a new cake recipe.  There are multiple people in this group that don’t care for chocolate, so I decided to try my hand at a caramel cake.

This recipe was also on www.myrecipes.com and originated from “Cooking Light” magazine back in 1999.  The recipe below has been changed though.  The original frosting recipe did not make nearly enough to frost a 9 inch layer cake.  I doubled the recipe and add a little more liquid.  I probably did not add quite enough liquid because the frosting was turning to fudge while I made it.  The taste was delicious, but it wasn’t the prettiest cake ever made.  Next time, I will add a little more milk to make it more spreadable.

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 large egg white

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups milk (The original recipe calls for fat-free.  I used 2%)

2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare two 9 inch cake pans with non-stick spray, flour and wax paper.  Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Beat granulated sugar and butter at medium speed until well blended, about 5 minutes.

Add eggs and egg white, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.  Stir in vanilla.

Pour batter into prepared pans, and sharply tap the pans on the counter to remove air bubbles.  Bake for 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto racks and cool completely.

For the frosting:

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup evaporated fat-free milk

5 tbsp butter

4 tsp light corn syrup

dash of salt

3-4 cups powdered sugar

3 tsp vanilla extract

Combine brown sugar, milk, butter, corn syrup and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat and simmer until thick, about 5 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Remove from heat and add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until the frosting starts to take shape.  Stir in vanilla.  Let cool for a few minutes.  The frosting will get thicker.  If it is too thick to spread, beat in 2-3 tbsp. of milk.