Saturday, November 29, 2008

A Daring Caramel Cake.....

My second DB challenge was a Caramel Cake chosen by Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater. This cake is her signature recipe! The recipe can be found at Bay Area Bites , along with many other wonderful sounding recipes. Helping Shuna this month are Alex (Brownie) from Blondie and Brownie, Jenny of Foray into Food, and our alternative baking guru, Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go .

I read all the tips given by Shuna, in the Bay Area Bites and had no problem with making the cake. I used a Mary Ann pan that creates a cake that has an indention on the top to fill with whatever you choose. From some of the comments it sounded like the frosting was a bit sweet so I thought I would just put frosting on top of the cake. Making the caramel sauce was easy, I have been making Fleur de Sel caramels for the last few months for Christmas presents, but the frosting really didn't have a caramel taste. The cake smelled wonderful baking and came out of the pan with no problems. After cooling I frosted the cake and drizzled the caramel sauce on top, I also added chopped pecans. I gave DH the first piece, he had been waiting patiently all day! The first comment was how sweet the frosting was and that the cake didn't really taste like caramel, but was good, non-the-less. I felt it was too dense and had expected something lighter in texture; perhaps it was the pan I used, not sure. Not a disappointment, but not a knock your socks off cake either. The frosting was tooth achingly sweet for my tastes; maybe a different frosting next time. Be sure to follow the Daring Baker link to see other members results!



18 comments:

Angela said...

Your cake is so pretty! I'm sorry that it didn't come out as caramelly as you'd expected. I think that very much depends on how dark you take the syrup.

Shelby said...

I didn't get to make this because of our family circumstances - reading what you have to say makes me think its not too bad of a thing I didn't do it. I don't need the sweet and I don't need a whole cake! lol

Renee said...

Your cake could be in a bakery shoppe! It looks so professional. I love the way you minimized the frosting.

kat said...

Your cake looks really beautiful. I thought the frosting tasted more of brown butter than anything else

Anonymous said...

The cake looks awesome - I love the Mary Ann pan!!

Unknown said...

Love the pan you used! And I had the same problem with my own caramel. I guess practice makes perfect...

Lauren said...

Ooo, your cake looks amazing! I love the shape of pan you used!

vibi said...

That is a superb idea, Fit Chick! ...to fill in the cake! Somehow it makes it seem way lighter and easier to take in... as sweet as it was!
Beautiful!

Engineer Baker said...

I'm impressed that you put so much frosting on top - maybe a layer of fruit or something in that divot instead of frosting would have cut the sweetness? It looks pretty nonetheless!

Joeli said...

I really like that pan and your cake looks beautiful. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for one of those pans.

Eat4Fun said...

Very nice looking cake! I like the way your pan left an indentation in the cake for holding fillings. Very cool!

Amy said...

Great job - your cake looks lovely!

Jessica said...

Your cake looks wonderful. That pan was an excellent choice :) I wish I had thought of that!

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks gorgeous. Love the pan.

nikkita said...

Oh wow you ARE fit! Thanks for dropping by my website, I am bookmarking you to check for some diet tips (if you have any, hehe) and how to control oneself when one makes too much desserts ;). I absolutely love the Mary Anne pan that you used for this cake too.

Laurie said...

I love the pan you used! It looks really nice :)

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

A pretty cake! I love it's shape... Great job!

Cheers,

Rosa

Namratha said...

That is an interesting pan, haven't seen it before. Cake looks good!