Sweet Caramel

My 2nd challenge for Daring Bakers is Caramel Cake with Caramelized butter frosting. This month's challenge is hosted by Dolores of Culinary Curiosity and co-hosted by Alex of Blondie and Brownie, and Jenny of Foray into Food. The alternative version of recipe is provided by Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go. The recipe is from Shauna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater.

I’ve previously worked with caramel once in baking class. We made butterscotch caramel for crunchy caramel cake. I remember using a pastry brush to continuously brush down sugar crystals to prevent the sugar from crystallizing. This time I was going to do the same but couldn’t find my pastry brush. Luckily my caramel didn’t crystallize. Thank goodness for the warning about the sputtering sugar...I poured in the water slowly and stepped back.

I thought the cake would be way too sweet for me but it wasn’t. The cake itself was very moist from the addition of caramel syrup into the batter yet not too sweet. The caramelized butter frosting on the other hand was too sweet. Even my co-workers who love caramel found the frosting too sweet for their tastes.
I was lazy with the decorations on this cake as I finished this cake really late and I just wanted to get to bed.

Although I didn’t really enjoy this cake, I had fun making it. I got to try making caramel syrup again and got the chance to make brown butter. I have several recipes that use brown butter but it’s something I never tried. The reason for joining Daring Bakers is to try recipes I wouldn’t on my own and this challenge gives me the opportunity to do just that.