Easy Caramel Cake

Name: Easy Caramel Cake
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients: 1/2 cup, buttermilk, room temperature; 4 large, eggs, room temperature; 2 teaspoons, vanilla extract; 2 1/4 cups (11¼ ounces), all-purpose flour; 1 1/2 cups (10½ ounces), granulated sugar; 1 1/2 teaspoons, baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon, baking soda; 3/4 teaspoon, salt; 16 tablespoons (2 sticks), unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces and softened; 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks), unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened; 2 cups packed (14 ounces), dark brown sugar; 1/2 teaspoon, salt; 1/2 cup, heavy cream; 1 teaspoon, vanilla extract; 2 1/2 cups (10 ounces), confectioners' sugar, sifted

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Appears in Cook's Country December/January 2009, America's Test Kitchen TV

Desserts or Baked Goods

Cakes

Caramel frosting is delicious-rich and toffee-flavored, this unique frosting starts out creamy but quickly firms up to a fudgelike consistency. It is also notoriously tricky. Our goal was an easier, foolproof caramel icing that would bring this cake back into every baker's repertoire.

SERVES8

TIME1¾ hours, plus 2 hours cooling

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WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

A Southern favorite, caramel cake boasts a rich toffee-flavored frosting spread over yellow cake layers, but the best part—the caramel frosting that develops a thin, crystalline crust on its exterior—is notoriously troublesome to make. We w...

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