I *heart* Caramel Cake!

I love this cake! I have to admit I almost didn't make it. You know, with all the "have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back" and "for safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into" talk - YIKES! Thankfully, my inner Daring Baker stepped in and gave me a good slap in the face and I got to work.

I made the heart-shaped cakes first and froze them because I didn't feel like putting it all together in one night and I was getting ready to go on vacation (excuses, excuses) but mostly because I'm a lazy procrastinator. I'm hoping one of these days I will do my challenge at the start of the month so that I'm not scrambling to make it under the deadline.

Everything worked out well. I let my cake thaw out while making the buttercream. The icing is delicious but very sweet. When I make this cake again I think I will have to either lessen the sugar or use some sort of substitute. The caramel sauce set up perfectly on top. I could have made the caramels but...you guessed it...I'm lazy. I think I would like to try some of the ideas of the other challengers posted on what they did with their leftover sauce. We have quite a talented and creative group here:-)

I had a lot of fun with this challenge - thank you!!!

RECIPE SOURCE Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon (http://eggbeater.typepad.com/), as published on Bay Area Bites (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/).Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich, Artisan Press, Copyright 2007, ISBN: 978-1579652111

HOSTS (http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/) 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/).