Need HELP on Maya Angelou's caramel cake!!!!!!

[cheezz]

I made the caramel exactly as directed, just when it bubbled evenly I removed from heat and added the boiling water....but it tastes kind of bitter rather than a nice mellow sweetness. I'm afraid I burned it?

 

[joe]

You may have. Is it an amber color or has it become dark red-brown? It happens very quickly

I always use the safer and more tedious system of adding water to the sugar, (1/3 cup water to 1 cup sugar) boiling covered until dissolved, and then boiling uncovered and undisturbed until all the water boils off and it caramelizes. That way the syrup heats evenly and caramelizes all at the same time. (You would then add the water in the recipe to make a syrup) If takes longer, but with Maya's method you can have some scorched parts.

If it's only "kind of" bitter you could still use it in the cake--there are so many other ingredients.

 

[cheezz]

VERY dark...I just didn't want to risk it, so I did it all over. I usually use your method

Guess I should just stick with that, but was trying to stick exactly to the recipe for the first go round. Thanks smileys/smile.gif

 

[joe]

I think everyone develops their own knack for caramelizing sugar and should stick to what works

I always use the same pan so I can gauge the color with confidence. But I think it's noble of you to try the recipe exactly as written the first time.

 

[cheezz]

As Traca says, this is a very sweet cake. DH says it reminds him of sweet cornbread

The caramel flavor is very slight. I made 4 recipes of it for a layered 12x15 cake and will work on frosting tomorrow.

 

[cheezz]

Update: it was a big hit with the ladies. I ended up using a basic frosting

And whipped a little dulce de leche into it for color. For the filling, I whipped cream to soft peaks, then whipped about 1/4 cup more dulce de leche into that. The cake itself is a little heavier/denser than most and it all came out very nice, but sweet. Goes nice with plain tea or black coffee smileys/smile.gif