Southern Caramel Cake Tutorial

This is a step by step tutorial on how to make authentic Southern caramel cake. When I started baking I looked everywhere for a comprehensive video or recipe for caramel cake. Once I mastered it, I wanted to make sure to share it with everyone! Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments section. The recipe for the icing and the cake are below. Enjoy and have fun!

Caramel Icing
2 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup butter (I use salted and eliminate the salt in the recipe. If you use unsalted butter, keep the salt*)I would also recommend this be at room temperature so it will melt quickly.
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt*

In a medium saucepan, combine 2 cups sugar, butter, and heavy cream over medium heat. Allow to sit and melt. It will need to eventually come to a boil, but should not be boiling when the sugar from the skillet is poured in. Keep an eye on it while you work on the sugar in the skillet. If it begins to boil, turn the heat down or remove it from the burner. Both this and the sugar in the skillet can be heating at the same time as long as you can watch both of them.
In a heavy cast-iron skillet, heat ½ cup of the sugar over medium-high heat. Stir the sugar to keep it from sticking or burning on the bottom of the skillet. Keep an eye on the sugar as it begins to melt and keep the sugar moving around to cook evenly. Once it has turned to a liquid, tilt the skillet up on its side to have all of the caramel pool in one end. Stick your candy thermometer in the caramel and allow it to come to 320 – 335 degrees F.
Once the sugar in the skillet reaches the caramel stage (320 – 225 degrees) pour it into the hot cream mixture and combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring once or twice, until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 232 – 240 degrees F. Once it has reached the soft ball stage remove it from the heat and onto a wire rack. Add the vanilla and salt if needed and stir until combined.
Let the mixture cook for 10-15 minutes. You will still want it to be warm, but not hot.
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk on high speed until creamy, 5-7 minutes. You’ll want this to look whipped but still a little wet looking.
At this point you can ice your cake quickly to get a pretty swirl on top, but you can still work with it after it begins to cool.

Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature, well beaten
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray (or butter/flower) your pans. I use Bakers Joy and couldn’t live without it! Line the bottom of your pans with a little parchment paper to keep the bottom from sticking. I have found this makes two 8” layers perfectly.
Sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside.
Combine the eggs, milk, and vanilla in a measuring cup and set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the flour mixture and the milk mixture to the butter-sugar mixture, alternate between the dry and wet ingredients in three portions, starting and ending with the dry mixture (flour mixture, milk mixture, flour mixture).
Pour into the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick comes out with wet crumbs, but not wet batter. The cake will start to come away from the sides of the pans when it is ready. This takes about 25 minutes.
Remove the pans from the oven. Let them sit for about 5 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans and put on cooling racks until completely cool.
Once they are cool you are ready to start making your caramel icing.

Some nice tools to have:

Candy thermometer:


Offset spatula:


Rubber spatula: