Daring Bakers: Caramel (Cup)Cake(s) with Caramelized Butter Frosting

I feel like a fool. Somehow, I forgot to post November's Daring Bakers challenge! The post date was supposed to be this past Saturday, but I was away with family. Even though I baked the recipe weeks ago, somehow I forgot I hadn't posted about it until I was sitting in a lunch meeting today and my mind drifted over to the subject of cupcakes. Yes, that train of thought comes around fairly often.

How perfect, then that this month's Daring Bakers selection is Caramel Cake! It's from Shuna Fish Lydon of Bay Area Bites fame. She's the genius behind this fantastic recipe.

Now, the original recipe didn't call for cupcakes. But I happen to find regular old cake a bit stuffy and boring, and nothing spruces up a cake batter better than pouring it into individual molds and calling it an infinitely-cuter cupcake. I just can't resist a cupcake.


Caramel cake requires you to make your own caramel syrup. Err on the side of caution when making the syrup; this month, many a Daring Baker threw away too-stiff batches of caramel syrup and had to start all over again. Once the syrup is made, the recipe comes together quite easily. I do recommend making the syrup in advance. It keeps well at room temperature in a mason jar.


The flavour it lends to the cupcakes is wonderful! It made the cakes moist and dense. The caramel flavour was rich, and these cakes were very sweet. And they paired perfectly with the brown butter-caramel icing, which sounds very complicated and gourmet, but really isn't all that difficult to make.


Dividing the recipe in half yielded 10 cupcakes -- 10 cupcakes which went very quickly when I brought them to my boyfriend's house. He and his roommates devoured them in just a couple of days, and would have devoured them faster if I didn't need to wait for daylight to photograph them.

I'm filing these under must, must, must make again.


This month's hosts are Dolores, Alex, and Jenny. Natalie helped them find gluten-free alternatives. Thank you!

Visit Shuna for the recipe.