Southern Caramel Sheet Cake....step by step.

Southern Caramel Cake, a light tender butter cake topped with dulce de leche and salted peanuts. A neat twist to the classic traditional Southern caramel cake. A very rich cake; dieters this is not for you!!

What I love about this cake is its airy and soft texture; traditionally this cake is a three layer cake topped with boiled caramel icing. If you are a regular here, you would know that I am a sucker for sheet cakes, like all sheet cakes....this one is perfect to feed a crowd...perfect for parties and birthdays.

I used half  can of dulce de leche in the cake batter and the other half as icing. Adding the dulce de leche into the batter made the cake very caramel and rich. One thing I omitted from the original recipe is vanilla essence, I don't want anything vanilla in a caramel cake; feel free to use it if you prefer. And lastly, I sprinkled salted peanuts on top of the thinly spread dulce de leche....and that made all the difference!!

Overall, the cake is moist, airy, tender, and rich....perfect for those who don't want to make a three layer cake (personally I do not have that much patience) and for those who want an easy icing; though the original burnt sugar icing gives a more traditional punch to the cake. This cake is for those who like an easy cake minus all the elaborate icing and layering.....but want a rich and traditional cake...to satisfy the caramel lover in you!!

The cake batter is very dense and creamy, please use a bigger bowl for mixing the cake batter. Dulce de leche is not available at this part of the world, so I made it with condensed milk in my pressure cooker. If you can have dulce de leche, use it and save the trouble of making it from scratch!! Also, if you are making dulce de leche from scratch, pls be cautious.

Now if you are not a dulce de leche fan or caramel fan, omit it and make the cake......it sure will make you happy!!

Inspired from: deepsouthdish.com
Ingredients:
Self rising flour: 3 cups (to make-1 cup; 1 cup flour+1 tsp baking powder+1/4 tsp salt.
Butter, unsalted: 2 sticks/1 cup. (if using salted, omit salt)
Granulated sugar: 2 cups.
Eggs: 4.
Buttermilk: 1 cup (to make-into one cup of milk, add 1 tsp of vinegar, stir, and leave it to curdle, buttermilk substitute is ready)
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp (optional, I did not use).
Dulce de leche: 1 can.
Salted peanuts: A large handful.

Method:

Since dulce de leche is not available here in Kerala, I made it using my pressure cooker. First let me warn you that, though it is easy to make at home you have to be very CAREFUL!. One tin condensed milk is immersed in water in a pressure cooker and when the steam comes put the weight on and after the 1st whistle simmer the fire for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes switch off the flame and let it come to room temperature. Now we have a hot unopened can in the cooker which might be still hot. DO NOT OPEN it until it comes to room temperature. If you open it while still hot the can will burst because of the pressure inside. So please be careful while making this and please do not let your children handle it while still warm or hot. Open only when the can comes to room temperature....I made this at night, and left the pressure cooker on the stove top....until morning to be on the safe side. In the morning, I got this luscious creamy caramel or dulce de leche. 

Have you heard of miracle pan release??? if not its time you should have...when it comes to greasing cake pan, I use miracle pan release; I am a bit impatient with butter paper/ parchment paper; I mean cutting them into the shape of cake pan etc etc....I do not have that patience....even for icing birthday cake; I use miracle pan release. Okay, here you go, 1 tbsp of flour, shortening, and vegetable oil....mix it with a spoon without any lumps....this can be made in advance and stored, but since it is not much of a work...I stick to the 1 tbsp measure.

Spread the miracle pan release....into the baking sheet....with a spoon, your hands, or brush....whichever suits you.

So this is how my "miracle" pan looks like.....baked cake will come off...smooth and clean...and that is why this is called Miracle Pan Release...or so it seems!! keep aside!!

Okay, lets now talk about cake. Rule of the thumb is to bring all the ingredients to room temperature. Preheat oven to 180 degree C. First we need to make self rising flour; into 3 cups of plain flour, add 3 tsp baking powder, and 3/4 tsp salt...(if using salted butter, omit salt). Mix them up.

Cream butter on medium speed with hand mixer, until smooth and creamy.

Then add the sugar, cream again....till they are nice and creamy....about 5-7 minutes.

Add in the eggs one at a time and cream after each addition.

Creamy enough??

Add in the flour....

Alternating with buttermilk...beginning and ending with flour.

An now the best part, add in half of the luscious dulce de leche.

Cream away to glory.

Pour into our "miracle" greased pan.

And bake at 180 degree C for about 30-35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean, shifting the pan halfway through.

Once the cake is baked (do not over cook the cake, or else it will be dry) allow it to cool down  and then spread the rest of the dulce de leche on top....just a light coat.

Sprinkle lightly toasted and salted peanuts on top.

And oh yeah!! Just see how our miracle pan release did its job, the cake has released from the sides....the cake will release if you turn it over...but since I like the cake to be sitting pretty on my sheet pan...I left it sitting nice and cosy there!!

How about a piece for you!! Salted peanuts, dulce de leche....Oh my!!

My Notes: 
The texture of the cake is very light, moist, airy...I hope my picture does justice to the cake.
If you are not a fan of dulce de leche, omit it and use vanilla essence instead....
The cake can be made in three pans, and iced into three tiers....
Use a larger bowl for mixing, this is relatively a big cake

I would like mention that, Cooking Is Easy has been nominated for the Indiblogger Awards in the food section. If you enjoy my recipes and want to show some support and foodie love, please hop over there and support me through a comment. Your encouragement and love means a lot to me...thanks!!

My Favorite Sheet Cakes:
Vanilla Sheet Cake.
Chocolate Poke Cake
Marble Sheet Cake


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