Old-Fashioned Caramel Cake

My grandfather's 75th birthday was last week, and he requested an Old-Fashioned Caramel Cake. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a single bakery in our area that actually makes this yummy confection...maybe because they are kind of difficult to make. I the awesome granddaughter that I am offered to attempt to make it. Very ambitious, but also doable...even if it did take me two days and make a huge mess of my kitchen! It was totally worth it!

I couldn't find the recipe that I was looking for online, so I ended up calling an older lady that I went to church with a few years ago. She was thrilled to share her recipe with me...I think it may be an adaptation of a Southern Living cake, but she read it to me over the phone so I'm not really sure. And the instructions may be a little vague because of that too.

Old-Fashioned Caramel Cake and Icing

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs
8 oz. sour cream
1/4 cup of milk
2 ¾ cups AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter in an electric mixer. Add sugar. Cream together until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Mix sour cream and milk in a small bowl. Combine dry ingredients in another small bowl. Alternately add in the dry ingredients and sour cream mixture…start and end with dry ingredients. Stir in vanilla.

Bake 350 for 30-35 in a two 8' round prepared pan. I recommend lining the pans with parchment paper. After the cake has cooled, cut each cake round into two pieces...or more it you can. The thinner the layers the better.

Icing

3 cups sugar, divided

¾ milk

1 egg beaten

½ cup butter

Add ½ cup sugar in sauce pan {I used a cast iron skillet}. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until sugar melts and is golden brown. Combine sugar, milk, beaten egg, and then stir in butter. Slowly add the mixture into the melted sugar.

Cook over medium heat until 230 degrees on a candy thermometer. This step should take about 15-20 minutes. Cool the icing for 5 minutes then beat with wooden spoon....I actually put the icing into my mixer and beat it with the whisk attachment for a few minutes.

{**I ended up doing a double recipe of both cake and icing**}

The cake is very pound-cake like and the icing is SUPER sweet...just in case you couldn't tell that from the 3 cups of sugar. I need to work on cutting my layers a little more evenly, but all in all I think this cake was a big success! The most important part was that it was exactly what my grandfather wanted:)

Have you baked anything lately?

This is the Stuff...

...That Drives Me Crazy!

*Got out of bed 30 minutes early because all 3 boys got up early*

*Had a battle before school because of socks...and probably not why you would think*

*Dropped the boys off*

*Walked a couple laps with a friend, while Eli begged to go home*

*Burned my egg for breakfast*

*Quick trip to Target for a few weekend items*

*Browsed the Dollar Spot*

*Bought Eli popcorn and an icee...he is much a much better behaved shopper if he has food*

*Stole a few pieces of popcorn even though I'm still on my diet*

*Looked for sugar...Target was out of sugar*

*Browsed the little girl's section at Kohl's with my friend*

*LOST (like really lost) Eli when he ran off in Kohl's*

*Ran around like a crazy person trying to find my child who thought he was playing a game*

*Found him in the back of the store smiling and waving*

*Got a call that my grandma was in the hospital*
*Headed home to unload grocery and put Eli down for a nap*

*Showered...because I really needed it*
*Got ready to go the hospital and Jason left work early to pick up the kiddos*
*Got a call that everything was fine with my grandma and that she was probably going home soon*
*Looked for a video of the song that inspired this post, but couldn't find one*
*Listened to some music on the computer*
*Looked again and found a video to share with you:)*

This post was inspired by the song "This is the Stuff" by Francesca Battistelli and my SUPER fun Friday:)

This is the Stuff You Use!

Valentine Dish Towels and a Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed! Congrats to Kelly!

I spent most of the morning yesterday avoiding laundry working on these SUPER cute Valentine Dish Towels!

 I love having an excuse to make something pink and girly and ruffley! Plus this was the perfect first project for me to finally put my ruffler to work:)

 One of the best things about these dish towels is how easy they are to make....and it doesn't hurt that they are pretty inexpensive too. I picked up a couple different kinds of white dish towel/sack clothes at Walmart and Target a few weeks ago, and I found some really cute pink/red/Valentine fabrics and ribbons at Hobby Lobby. A few ruffles, a few snips with my pinking shears, a few straight stitches and I had some SUPER cute Valentine dish towels:)

 But the very best thing about these SUPER cute Valentine dish towels is that I am giving TWO of them to one of you!

To enter:Mandatory entry: Leave a comment telling me what kind of Valentine's Day decorations you have or plan to have at your house this year.
For another entry, follow my blog and leave me a comment telling me that you do.
For another entry, follow me on twitter, and leave a comment telling me that you do.
For another entry, tweet about this giveaway and include @SUPERMOM_Kelli and a link  http://tinyurl.com/4vrhmrg to this giveaway in the tweet.
For FIVE extra entries, subscribe to my blog via feedburner...click on the icon in the right sidebar by the facebook and twitter icons. Make sure to leave 5 separate comments.
Make sure to leave a comment for each thing that you do. This giveaway will end next Friday, February 4th at 10:00 pm. I will use random.org to pick a winner! Good Luck and thanks for entering!