#BundtBakers - Caramel Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Icing

Welcome to my first edition of #BundtBakers! Bundt Bakers is pretty self explanatory - a group of lovely bloggers who love their bundt cakes! I seriously cannot hear, say, or think the word "bundt" without this scene popping into my head. I love My Big Fat Greek Wedding! (I almost thought about finding a small flower pot to put in the middle of the cake for fun too.) So, let me tell you a little about this gorgeous and delicious caramel cake. Our theme this month was caramel! I went to Pinterest and pinned a ton of ideas, and let my hubby and son help pick the one we were going to try. They opted for Double Caramel Cake. Drool. The cake is mainly a nice, slightly dense, white cake with a little bit of caramel flavor, but that icing? It packs a sweet, creamy, caramel wallop! YUMM!

I am very inexperienced when it comes to cooking sugar to the softball stage - I posted about muddling my way through this icing recipe a little earlier here. I used most of the icing in the bundt cake, but used some of the leftover in the Apple Cinnamon Pretzel recipe linked above, so talked about the icing "incident" there. I made some mistakes, learned something new, and ended up with a big batch of super yummy (even if it was grainy) creamy caramel icing!

I love fall baking season and loved the chance to try out this delicious cake recipe and learn something new with the boiled frosting recipe! I'm always excited for an excuse to try something new. I am one of those people who would never make the same recipe twice, if it wasn't for my husband and son who accuse me of experimenting on them if I don't make something familiar at least every once in awhile! They both really liked this cake recipe though - so thankfully my experimentation (at least this time) was met with smiles instead of resistance! :)

#BundtBakers is a group of bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient. This month’s theme is caramel and our creative host is Lauren of Sew You Think You Can Cook. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. All recipes and photographs can be found on our individual blogs, on our Pinterest board, and the #BundtBakers homepage.

And don’t forget to take a peek at what the other talented bakers have baked this month:

• Apple Butter Bundt Cake with Cider Caramel Glaze by Cassie of Cassie's Kitchen
• Apple Pecan Bundt Cake with Caramel Glaze by Aisha of La Cocina de Aisha
• Brown Butter Praline Bundt Cake with Salted Caramel Drizzle by Tux of Brooklyn Homemaker
• Caramel Apple Bundt Cake by Kaylin of Keep it Simple, Sweetie
• Caramel Banana Bundt Cake by Kathya of Basic N Delicious
• Caramel Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Icing by Rebekah of Making Miracles
• Caramel Chocolate Bundt Cake by Natalia of Principiando en la Cocina
• Chocolate Caramel Apple Bundt Cake by Lauren of Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with Peanut Butter Caramel Sauce by Laura of Baking in Pyjamas
• Classic Vanilla Bundt Cake with a Salted Caramel Drizzle by Tammy of Living the Gourmet
• Cornmeal Bundt Cake with Caramel Popcorn by Patricia of Patty's Cake
• English Toffee Bundt with Drunken Dulce Drizzle by Stacy of Food Lust People Love
• Fall Classic Caramel Bundt Cake by Maleka of La Luna en Dulce
• Fair Toffee Apple Bundt by Jane of Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Milky Way Bundt Cake by Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Salted Caramelized White Chocolate Glazed Butterscotch Pecan Bundt Cake by Laura of The Spiced Life
• Snickers Bundt Cake with Caramel Glaze by Bea and Mara of I Love Bundt Cakes
• Spiced Apple Bundt Cake with a Caramel Brickle Drizzle by Teri of The Freshman Cook
• Spiced Caramel and Pear Bundt Cake by Rocío of Kids&Chic
• Three Flavor Zebra Bundt Cake - Vanilla, Caramel and Chocolate by Caro of En la Cocina de Caro

Caramel Cake  from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Ingredients
1/3 cup plus 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
1/4 cup boiling water
3/4 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
3 eggs
3 cups sifted cake flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place 1/3 cup of sugar in a heavy skillet over medium to medium-high heat and caramelize it (watch a "how-to" video on youtube here) by stirring / shaking constantly until the sugar melts and a deep-brown syrup forms. Remove from the heat and slowly stir in the boiling water (be careful to avoid burns from the steam when you pour the very hot water in).  Set the syrup aside and allow to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and generously grease a bundt pan with cooking spray or butter and then lightly flour.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar and cream together until well blended and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend well. Stir in 4 TBS of the cooled caramel syrup.
4. In a medium sized bowl combine the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In another small bowl combine the milk and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and the milk mixture, alternating between the two, to the batter and blend on low until smooth.
5. Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake in the preheated oven for 30 - 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 - 15 minutes, and gently run a butter knife between the cake and pan to loosen, then invert and place cake onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
7. Place cake on a plate or stand and frost when cooled, see Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting recipe below.

 
Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Ingredients
3 cups (light) brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons half and half
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 brick of cream cheese

Directions

1. Mix sugar and half and half in a heavy saucepan and cook, stirring over low heat until the sugar has completely melted into the liquid.  Turn the heat up and use a candy thermometer to register when the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage (235 degrees). If you do not have a thermometer, or just want to confirm the mixture has reached the softball stage, get a small bowl filled with ice water. Use a spoon to drop some of the sugar mixture in. Give it a second to cool and then see if you can reach in and gather the mixture into something that will hold together. If you can form it into a "ball" - it is ready! (And it tastes really good, so go ahead and taste test... for scientific testing purposes...)
2. Remove pan from heat. Stir in butter, then let syrup cool. (This took several hours for me, so be prepared to allow this part of the process some time.)
3. Once cooled, add in the vanilla and cream cheese and beat until smooth and the desired consistency has been reached. If it is too thick, add a small amount of half and half or additional cream cheese and continue blending until you get the correct consistency.