Daring Bakers November Challenge: Caramel Cake-simple Just darn good.

Nothing like waiting to the last minute to complete a challenge, no?  This is beginning to be a bad habit...

I mean, when our recipe is Shuna Fish Lydon (from Eggbeater) 's signature Caramel Cake, one would think I would have made this right away.  I LOVE caramel, love love love it.  Caramel candies, caramel cupcakes, caramel ice cream... I could have kissed Dolores from Culinary Curiosity, Alex (Brownie from Blondie and Brownie), and Jenny of Foray into Food for choosing such a great challenge.  Pumpkin Caramel cupcakes anyone? or maybe Caramel Apple Cinnamon Cake?  I would bake and serve as our dessert for Thanksgiving!

But then mom came home and told us she bought a pumpkin cheesecake from a pieshop to remain nameless (Cough! MarieCallendars! Cough!) so we would not need any other dessert.  What to do?  I had waited until the end of the month to get this done and now we wouldn't NEED cake?  Who needs cake?  You have cake just because YOU CAN.  So guess what mom is having for her birthday cake on Sunday... Shuna Fish Lydon's Caramel cake.

Don't tell me you don't need cake...

The scrumptious recipe for Shuna's Caramel Cake is located here.

So how did it turn out?  I have to wait for the "official" tasting, can't have a big bite out ofa birthday cake a few days early, but each individual part was tasty.  I first made the caramel syrup.  It took a lot longer than I though it would to turn an amber color.  

I wish I had let it cook up a bit more but I was afraid I would burn the batch.  It ended up looking a lot more like honey than caramel.  But the taste was great!  

Then I made the cake itself.  Easy Peasy.  Well, I accidentally added double the amount of butter I was supposed to, so I made a double batch of batter instead.  It was just the right amount for the gigantic Bundt pan I found in mom's cupboard.  It did almost overflow when it rose but in the end it was a great looking cake.

But here is where I hit the wall - Caramel buttercream.  So I used the recipe more like a guideline than a recipe...big deal, right?...everything was in there!  But somewhere along the way I added way too much powdered sugar, and then way too much cream, and when it was all done I couldn't get the frosting to stay on the cake.  So I did what any self respecting amysing baker would do - I heaped it on in a big glob.  If I can't make it pretty then at least I can cover up all the imperfections long enough to take the picture, which is what I did.  Look close and you can see the buttercream is beginning to separate right on the cake.  And the caramel drizzle is on there, I swear, it is just so light it blends in with the rest of the goopy buttercream.

It was a good challenge.  I might actually make this one again soon.  I still have an hankering for pumpkin caramel cupcakes!