Daring Bakers: Caramel Cake

Daring Bakers is another blogging bakers group I joined a few weeks ago. Daring Bakers are given a recipe each month that can be modified, accessorized, and individualized any way you like. Thousands of bakers around the world all using the exact same recipe, but getting different results. I love this connection with all these bakers so close yet so far away!
This months challenge is Caramel Cake and comes from Shuna Fish Lydon at http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2006/12/24/caramel-cake-the-recipe/.The challenge was chosen by Delores at http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/ with co hosts Alex (at http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/) and Jenny (at http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/).

I was in a pomegranate mood, and thought it would be a fabulous complement to caramel. I still think it's a good complement, but this is not going be a recipe I'll make again. It is sooooo sweeeet! Don't get me wrong, I love sweet. Obviously. So for me to say this is too sweet, I really don't know how you're supposed to eat it. Other Daring Bakers have been discussing this problem the last few weeks, so it's not just me. You'll have to really like sugar to be able to handle this cake. The cake is a basic yellow cake with caramel mixed into the batter.
The frosting is a browned butter caramel frosting. I love browned butter frosting, but I don't think it is a good choice for this cake. First of all, it is a strong flavor, and with more caramel in the frosting on top of a caramel cake, whew! Way too much. Second, it's a beige frosting on a brownish cake. BOR-ing. That's where I thought the pomegranate would come it particularly handy. I made a separate pomegranate buttercream to add to the browned butter caramel buttercream. A tart flavor and different color to offset all the yellow and caramel. Unfortunately it was around midnight when I got to actually frosting the cake. I'm not an artist, I'm a baker. So the late hour and my lack of artistry added up to quite an ugly cake. Especially after seeing Cannelle Et Vannile's cake. Blah, ok, here it is...There was a second, optional part to this months challenge, Golden Caramels. These caramels call for an ingredient called Golden Syrup,

From what I've read from other Daring Baker's, I'm lucky to have actually found it, just sitting there at Albertson's (though I doubt it's at Acme!). According to a little reseach on the nets, Golden Syrup is essentially light molasses. While I don't doubt the necessity of molasses in gingerbread and I'm an Anglophile in many ways, I don't think I'll ever be convinced of molasses. I added pomegranate juice to these caramels, also, but the molasses flavor overwhelms and makes the pomegranate indetectable. It was a fun expirament with a different recipe and ingredient, but I'll stick to my caramel recipe in the future. Oh, well. Here's to a less controversial challenge next month!


Don't forget to vote for my cupcakes here!!!