Bakers Challenge for November -- Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting

- Name of the Cookbook - Shuna Fish Lyndon's recipe - (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2006 … he-recipe/)
- Name of the Author - Shuna Fish Lyndon
- Hosts for the month - Dolores the host (http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/) with Co-hosts Alex (Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo: http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/), Jenny of Foray into Food (http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/). Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go (http://glutenagogo.blogspot.com/) assisted with the gluten free info.

This was my second attempt at a Daring Bakers Challenge. I see from the other Daring Bakers posts that some folks are really creative -- at this point, I'm just trying to get the basic recipe made! I used Better Batter flour for the gluten free flour, and upped the baking powder to 1 teaspoon. I used a 9 inch springform for the baking pan. The cake didn't rise very much (either that, or it rose than sank) so it was a fairly "short' cake -- more like a torte. However, it was really moist and quite tasty. Definitely on the sweet side, but not too sweet for my taste.

I had read reports that the frosting was WAY sweet, especially in conjunction with a sweet cake, so I halved the recipe, and reduced the sugar even further. In the end, I used about 6 tbls. butter, 1 an 3/4 cups confectioners sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 3 tbls. heavy cream and 3 tbls. caramel syrup. I also added a little sea salt. The frosting was nice and light and fluffy; I didn't think it was too sweet. The half recipe did cover the top and sides of my not very high cake.

If I was making the recipe again, I'd make sure to halve the caramel syrup -- it made far more than was needed, even if you were making a full batch of frosting. Now I need to figure out what to do with the leftover syprup -- maybe combine with heavy cream to make caramel for ice cream?

The assembled cake (frosting and cake) was delicious. I drizzled some of the caramel syrup on top for decoration. I would definitely make it again.