If you’ve been looking for a special cake to impress your friends with then this is it!! Indulgent homemade salted caramel gets drizzled onto FLUFFY vanilla cake layers and mixed into a dreamy Swiss meringue buttercream. This cake has all the textures and salty sweet amazingness to make it a winner!
How to Make a Caramel Cake
- Pipe a layer of caramel onto the first layer of the cake.
- Pipe a layer of caramel buttercream on top of the caramel. Add second layer and repeat into the cake is built.
- Pipe buttercream onto the side and top of the cake.
- Use a bench scrapper to smooth the side and an offset spatula to smooth the top.
- Scrape the side using a cake comb. Try to get a neat edge but don’t remove too much buttercream. Chill the cake so the buttercream hardens.
- Pipe the darker caramel buttercream into the grooves of your chilled cake.
- Use a bench scraper to smooth the side and an offset spatula to smooth the top.
- Pipe the caramel onto the top. Smooth and add a few additional drizzles of caramel onto the corner. Don’t add too much as the caramel will continue to drip for a while.
- Finish the cake with a sprinkling of flaked sea salt around the edge. You could instead pipe dollops for added height if you’d like some added height.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make fluffy caramel frosting?
Beat the caramel into a meringue-based buttercream like Swiss or Italian for a silky frosting that’s still like in texture and perfect to decorate with! If you haven’t made Swiss buttercream before then you might want to check out my FULL tutorial!
Do you refrigerate caramel cake?
This cake is fine at room temperature over night as long as it’s covered however for longer storage it should be refrigerated. Allow to come to room temperature before serving for best results.
Want to up your cake decorating game?
If you find cake decorating to be a bit intimidating then check out my How to Decorate a Cake post, it has lots of helpful tips and a full how to video where I cover everything from how to perfectly smooth a cake to what to do when your cake starts collapsing!
Swiss meringue Buttercream is one of my ALL-TIME favorite frostings to make but it can be intimidating if you’re used to American buttercream. I’ve put together a full how to post with a video tutorial here to guide you through the process and turn you into a total frosting pro!
Pro Tips for Making Caramel
- Don’t stir! After the sugar has dissolved you don’t need to stir as it can cause crystals to form and ruin that silky consistency.
- DO brush the side of the pot down with a wet pastry brush. This will help prevent those pesky crystals from forming.
- Watch the color carefully taking the sugar to a deep amber color gives a wonderful flavor but going too dark will make a bitter caramel and that sugar will go from perfect to burnt in an instant!
- Use room temperature butter and cream.
- Caramel keeps for a while in the fridge so you can make this part ahead of time or make a big batch and save some for ice cream, coffee drinks and snacking!
- When adding salt dip your a spoon in, let the caramel cool a bit then taste and add more salt if needed. Be careful that sugar is HOT. You can also sprinkle more salt on at the end for a finishing touch!
Love Caramel? Try some of these desserts!
If you’ve tried this caramel cake recipe then don’t forget to leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Caramel Cake
A moist fluffy caramel cake covered in homemade salted caramel and caramel infused Swiss meringue buttercream.
Servings 10 people
Calories 821kcal
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 330g
- 2 1/4 tsp baking powder 8g
- 1 1/2 tsp salt 5g
- 1 cup butter plus one tbsp, 240g room temp
- 1 1/2 cups sugar 300g
- 5 eggs
- 1 yolk
- 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract 22mL
- 1 1/2 cup milk 360mL
- 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar 22mL
For the Caramel
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup cream room temp
- 5 tbsp butter unsalted, room temp
- 1/2 salt
For the Frosting
- 5 egg whites large
- 1 1/2 cups sugar 150g
- 1 pound butter room temp 454g
- 1/3 cup caramel
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour three 6 inch round pans. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Mix vinegar and milk in a small bowl and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer using a paddle attachment.
- Add vanilla and eggs one at a time mixing until incorporated before adding the next. Scrape the bowl down.
- Add flour and milk mixtures to the butter in alternating batches.
- Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until the centers are set and springy.
For the Caramel:
- Add the sugar and water into a medium saucepan and stir until sugar is dissolved. Place over medium-high heat and brush the inside of the pot with a wet pastry brush so crystals do not form.
- Cook until sugar mixture becomes a golden amber color, then remove from heat and whisk in the cream vigorously. Add butter and bring back to a medium low heat. Continue whisking and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.
- Mix in salt, transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature. Caramel can be made in advance and refrigerated.
For the Frosting:
- Whisk together egg whites and sugar in a glass bowl. Set over a pot of simmering water making sure the water doesn't touch the bowl.
- Whisk over hear until a thermometer reads 165F. Transfer mixture to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and mix on high for a few minutes then stitch to medium low until room temp.
- Switch to a paddle attachment and add butter a tablespoon at a time. Reserve about a cup and a half of the frosting.
- Add about 1/3 a cup of caramel to the large batch of frosting and another 1/3 a cup to the small batch. You can add more caramel and salt to taste but it is important for the two batches of frosting to have a visible contrast.
For the Assembly:
- Drizzle caramel onto the fist layer then add a layer of buttercream. Place second layer on top and repeat the process until cake is three layers tall.
- Cover cake in buttercream and smooth. Use a cake comb to cut grooves into the side then chill the cake.
- Pipe the darker caramel buttercream into the grooves and smooth so stripes show up.
- Add a layer of caramel onto the top of the cake and smooth. You can add additional drips onto the side if needed.
- Sprinkle flaked sea salt onto the top of the cake and serve.
Video
Notes
For the Caramel:
- Don't stir! After the sugar has dissolved you don't need to stir as it can cause crystals to form and ruin that silky consistency.
- DO brush the side of the pot down with a wet pastry brush. This will help prevent those pesky crystals from forming.
- Watch the color carefully taking the sugar to a deep amber color gives a wonderful flavor but going too dark will make a bitter caramel and that sugar will go from perfect to burnt in an instant!
- Use room temperature butter and cream.
- Caramel keeps for a while in the fridge so you can make this part ahead of time or make a big batch and save some for ice cream, coffee drinks and snacking!
- When adding salt dip your a spoon in let the caramel cool a bit then taste and add more salt if needed. You can also sprinkle more salt on at the end for a finishing touch!
Nutrition
Serving: 126g | Calories: 821kcal | Carbohydrates: 90g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 68g | Saturated Fat: 42g | Cholesterol: 234mg | Sodium: 831mg | Potassium: 186mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 83g | Vitamin A: 2195IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 96mg | Iron: 1.2mg
*Nutrition Disclaimer
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Hi John,
I love the way the cakes turn out super moist and yummy…I have tried the chocolate cake, vanilla cake and caramel cake and all turned out soft and moist.
And the best of all was to place the bake even stripes which helped me the most..my cakes used to be a little roasted on the edges but after I started using the stripes i get soft edges tooo…thank you so much for sharing the recipes
Dear John, your recipes are amazing and it always comes out deliciously! You are such a wonderful baker! I adore the way you beautifully baked the cakes and every master piece of your creations! You are the best John! Cheers! Take good care of yourself and your love one especially during thing periods.
Love from Singapore 🇸🇬
Made this cake for my birthday. I love doing caramel so this was fun to make and delicious.
I did a lot wrong with this cake but still, it was amazing. One thing—my caramel tasted great and looked beautiful, but it was not as dark as the caramel on your cake and it was kind of runny. Do you think I didn’t let it cook enough? I was very concerned about it getting too dark….
you always amaze us with your way of making sweets, I have a question, if i want to make frosting with half the quantity or with two eggs, how are the ingredients, please answer a question
Hi John!
I am making this
Cake for a birthday party tomorrow and decided to make the sponges ahead of time. However I noticed that, when taking them out of the oven or even when I put a toothpick in to check if they were done, the sponge was really greasy. Could I have put too much butter on the pan when preparing it or could my batter have been incorrect? I tested a bit of the sponge to see if it was worth keeping but it does seem rather greasy. I’m not sure if it just needs to cool and set or what… any feedback would be much appreciated before I try again! Thank you!!
Hi there! I wonder? it should not be greasy really. Trying to think of what it could be…
Hi! I actually tried it again with really soft butter and also Pam baking spray instead of buttering my pan and that worked!! I think my butter was colder than I thought, and then I had lumps of nonincorporated butter in my batter that must have melted in the oven….
I submitted a photo in the comments on Pinterest of my finished cake! Everyone LOVED it!!! They only wished there was more!
Thank you!
Yay!!! So happy it worked out, I actually LOVE that cake!
Love this recipe but please help!! My frosting is FULL of air holes! It’s super light and creamy, pipes great – but I swear there are more air holes than sugar crystals in it. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!
needs a quick whip. meringue-based frostings lose consistency quickly.
This cake was a challenge for me, but I get a lot better every time I make it (three times). I have never made caramel so it helped me to watch a youtube video on the process. Its a great cake with a beautiful appearance. Thanks so much for the recipe…I’m on to the next. 🙂
Hi John-I can’t wait to try this recipe. Can it also be used for salted caramel cupcakes?