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The Best Ever Southern Caramel Cake

Shadi HasanzadeNemati

4.50 from 2 votes

Oct 08, 2015, Updated May 27, 2024

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This is the best ever southern caramel cake! buttery cake with homemade caramel sauce is something no one can resist!

BEFORE YOU START READING: put butter, eggs, and some Greek yogurt out in room temperature, because you will want to make The Best Ever Southern Caramel Cake right away!

It was my mother-in-law’s birthday couple of weeks ago and I offered to bake a cake for her because why should a family make a cake from a cake mix box when they have a baker at home, right? Well, and a cook, I also made Wonton mini Lasagna Cups that day.

I wanted to make a good cake. That’s just how I am,  I never do traditional stuff for birthdays unless it is asked by them. If you leave it to me, you will always have a new cake!

Her love for caramel and caramel products is like an Iranian’s love for saffron, unconditional. She likes everything that has a caramel taste and will never say no to caramel. So why not making the best ever Southern Caramel cake for her?

Therefore I decided to make the most caramel-y cake ever, and I started my research in cookbooks and the internet. Many recipes were out there that had caramel and many of them looked really tempting. In the end I decided to go for a southern caramel cake and after searching, reading and testing, I can say this is the best ever southern caramel cake my friends. This cake has been inspired by Jocelyn from grand baby cakes. I have replaced sour cream with plain no sugar Greek yogurt and also reduced the amount of butter and sugar used in most recipes. And I also have made some changes in the caramel too. Yet it’s still the best ever southern caramel cake!

The cake is a not all fluffy because it has to have the strength to hold the caramel between the layers, it’s soft and buttery, and when it’s paired with some caramel, it makes the best match. The caramel is quite thick but not like frosting, so when you want to put it between layers of the cake, it’s good to just pour some in the middle of the layer and then rub it to the edge, using either a spoon or a spatula. And to cover the whole cake, I just poured some on top and then swirled the cake plate until it covered the top and started dripping around. You don’t have to cover the whole sides of the cake, to me it just looks more authentic when it’s not perfectly covered on the sides, and well, it’s sweet enough.

Making the caramel can be tricky. You should be very gentle with it, the term I use is: “You can never stress caramel.” And by that I mean don’t rush it, it is going to take at least two hours to be as thick as it should be and there is no way to do this type of caramel faster if you want it perfect. Trust me, it’s worth waiting and stirring for two and a half straight hours.

Remember when I told you put butter, eggs and Greek yogurt out? Now you can start making your caramel cake! See you in 3 hours!

4.50 from 2 votes

The Best Southern Caramel Cake

By Shadi HasanzadeNemati

This is the Best Ever Southern Caramel Cake. It’s worth every minute and every calorie 🙂

Prep: 20 minutes mins

Cook: 2 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Total: 3 hours hrs

Servings: 12 servings

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Ingredients 

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Cake:

• ▢ 3/4 cup butter
• ▢ 2 cups sugar
• ▢ 2 tsp vanilla
• ▢ 1/4 cup oil
• ▢ 6 eggs + 2 yolks
• ▢ 1 cup Greek yogurt
• ▢ 3 cup cake flour, For 1 cup cake flour: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup corn starch
• ▢ 2 tsp baking powder
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt

Caramel:

• ▢ 1 stick butter
• ▢ 1 1/2 can, 12oz evaporated milk
• ▢ 1 1/2 cup sugar

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Instructions 

• First start making the caramel.

Caramel:

• Put everything in a medium-sized pot over medium heat until the butter and sugar are melted.
• Reduced the heat to medium-low and stir frequently.
• Let the caramel cook for almost 2 hours until it reaches the desired consistency.
• While the caramel is being cooked, make the cakes:

Cake:

• Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
• Line three 9 inch cake pans with parchment paper.
• Mix cake flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
• Mix butter, sugar, vanilla and oil in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs, one at a time, and mix after each adding.
• Add in and mix the flour mixture and Greek yogurt in alternation, start and finish with the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated.
• Divide the batter into the three cake pans and bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean or with very few crumbs.
• Let the cakes cool completely and then transfer them into different plates.

Assemble:

• When your caramel is ready (Hopefully you haven’t forgotten to stir it every 2 minutes), turn the heat off and put the pot on the counter (It’s really hot, be careful.) and let it cool for 20 minutes.
• Pour some of the caramel on the layers and put the layers on top of each other.
• Pour the rest of the caramel on top of the cake, swirl the dish and let the caramel drip from the edge of the cake on its own so it has its authentic look.
• Let the cake sit for 20 minutes and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 562kcal

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this recipe? Leave a comment below!

This is the type of cake I make once a year for a crowd because it has more butter and sugar than we generally consume. With all these said, this cake is definitely worth making and eating because every bite puts the heaven in your mouth, happiness in your tummy and a smile on your face!

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