Cookies, Coffee and Chaos

Let’s start off this post saying….. I HATE caramel and how it treats me…. I don’t hate to eat it, in fact, this recipe is the only caramel cake recipe I like. However, I can NEVER make my caramel come out just right. It is either too hot and it runs off the cake, or it is too cool and it clumps up… I have tried this recipe for, I swear 15 years and have not made but 2 that have looked halfway decent. My sweet husband says it doesn’t matter what it looks like, it tastes amazing. Well, I am not one to give up easy and this cake will not define me.

My husbands grandma, the one I posted about before, has made this recipe for as long as he can remember. It’s the caramel that wins first place in his book every time. She made this recipe so many times she could do it in her sleep and it turn out perfect. I remind myself when I make this, to give myself grace. She had 70+ years of baking experience underneath her apron ahead of me. I will perfect this cake, one day. Until then, I will try with every special holiday. With it being Fathers Day this weekend, what better gift to give my husband than his grandmas caramel cake.

Now, this cake you see in this picture is half of what the recipe makes. It will make 4 layers of an 8″ or 9″ pan. I tried to half the recipe with 4 layers of 6″ pans, that way I could have 2 smaller cakes, one for my husband and one for my father-in-law. Whom of which loves this cake almost as much as my husband. So when I make one for our house, I am sure to send one a mile down the road to my in laws house.

I will say, I have learned that the weather plays a HUGE part in the making of caramel, and divinity (I may try that around Christmas). And it did come up a little rain shower at our house right in the middle of my cake/caramel making, so I am saying that’s why this cake didn’t turn out beautiful!!!

***** Read until the end to see what it usually comes out looking like… this may be the worst looking one yet!!!

Ingredients

She called this a 1-2-3-4 cake.

Directions

Cream your shortening and sugar. Add eggs beating one at the time, add vanilla. Alternately add your flour and milk. Bake in 8 or 9″ cake pans (4). Bake at 325* until done, about 25 minutes.

Ingredients

Caramel Icing

Directions

Put all ingredients into a pan and boil hard for 2 minutes.

Remove from stove and beat until cool. Nuts may be added. For large cakes, double the recipe.

I am so ashamed to post this picture, but I did promise that I would be real and not leave you with unrealistic expectations. This is me and how my cakes come out, if I’m honest, most of the time, but it was the weather. Nothing I could have done to make it any better. Except, I did run out of Bakers Joy and some of my cake didn’t make it out of the pan. I do swear by it and will be sure to never run out again!

I hope when you make this cake it turns out so beautiful and that you have all the confidence that comes with it. I hope that you are so pleasantly surprised at just how good it looks and tastes. When you figure it out, please let me know, so I can better make this.

Happy Baking Friends,

XOXO, Cori