This Southern Caramel Cake Recipe is a traditional caramel cake made from an heirloom family recipe. It’s delicious topped with homemade caramel icing!

Caramel cake on a white cake stand on a dark wooden table.

Southern Caramel Cake is one of those desserts that is a true labor of love. So rich and decadent, it’s a cake that surely takes any special occasion to a whole new level and is by far one of my family’s favorite cakes.

We celebrated two birthdays in my family this past weekend – Mama’s and my husband’s. I asked each of them what kind of cake they would like for their birthday and both of them replied, “Caramel Cake!” Any cake that is requested by multiple people in a family the size of mine for their birthday is definitely a cake to make sure you get just right.

It’s a cake to take pride in, even though mine is a far cry from decorator-perfect. Right down to the smudges on the rim of the cake plate. You can surely tell it’s homemade, can’t you?

How to Make Southern Caramel Cake

Ingredients

Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.

Ingredients used to make southern caramel cake on a marble counter.

For the caramel cake, you’ll need butter, sugar, eggs, self-rising flour, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and a double recipe of my family’s Southern Caramel Icing.

Room Temperature Ingredients

Make sure your ingredients, especially butter, eggs, and buttermilk, are all at room temperature. This allows them to mix more fully into the cake batter.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Prep. Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare three cake pans with butter and flour. Set aside.

Make the cake batter. Cream together the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined after each egg. Add the flour and buttermilk, alternating between the two and beginning and ending with the flour.

Caramel cake batter in cake pans ready to be baked.

Bake the cake. Divide the cake batter between the three prepared cake pans and bake until the center springs back to a light touch and the sides of the cake begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. You may enjoy reading all of my tips for how to tell when your cake is done.

Cake layers cooling on a wire rack.

Cool the layers. Remove the cake layers from the oven. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Make your caramel icing. This is when you’ll have time to make your caramel icing. I’ve previously posted the recipe for Southern Caramel Icing that I use.

Make this cake soon for someone you love, to celebrate something special, or just because. You won’t be sorry.

Southern Caramel Cake Recipe

4.91 from 50 votes
This Southern Caramel Cake Recipe is a traditional caramel cake made from an heirloom family recipe. It's delicious topped with homemade caramel icing!
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 24

Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • Prep. Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare three cake pans with butter and flour. Set aside.
  • Make the cake batter. Cream together the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined after each egg. Add the flour and buttermilk, alternating between the two and beginning and ending with the flour.
  • Bake the cake. Divide the cake batter between the three prepared cake pans and bake until the center springs back to a light touch and the sides of the cake begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. You may enjoy reading all of my tips for how to tell when your cake is done.
  • Cool the layers. Remove the cake layers from the oven. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely.
  • Make the icing. Make double the original recipe for Southern Caramel Icing to have ample icing for this three layer cake.

Notes

The nutritional information is for the cake only without frosting. 

Nutrition

Calories: 207kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 49mg | Sodium: 82mg | Potassium: 43mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 292IU | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Welcome to Add A Pinch

About Robyn

Robyn Stone is a cookbook author, wife, mom, and passionate home cook. Her tested and trusted recipes give readers the confidence to cook recipes the whole family will love. Robyn has been featured on Food Network, People, Southern Living, and more.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Review




296 Comments

  1. It sounds like you had fun making it! I haven’t been up long and I could eat a huge piece of this for breakfast.

  2. Hi
    I made this cake tonight. I am always layer cake challenged, this was no exception. With the “help” of the frostings consistency, I was able to glue it all together again and make it look like a decent cake! I didn’t have enough white sugar so I used half brown sugar. My frosting is much darker in color, but tastes pretty darn good.
    I had trouble remembering about the “soft ball” test method. It cooked on the stove for much longer than I expected, and I don’t have a candy thermometer so it was a guess. When I dropped the caramel into cold water, it did ball. When pouring off the water, the caramel on the bottom seemed the right consistency, so I took it off the stove.
    We are having the kids over for a “pinterst dinner” tonight, we shall see what they all think.
    The entree will be the Bruschetta Chicken Bake Wish me luck.

    Also, do you store this cake at room temperature overnight? or in the fridge ? Thanks

    1. Hi Judi, I’m so glad you loved my cake! It sounds like you had fun making it! I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we always do! I store at room temperature on a covered cake plate!

  3. I made this yesterday. I didnt scroll down about whipping the icing so I did it by hand the best I could. same tasty outcome….thanks for the recipe.

  4. My grandmother always had a caramel cake waiting on us when we visited. I was so excited to see this recipe, and can’t wait to make it!

  5. This caramel cake looks just like the ones my grandmother used to make. I was always intimidated by the cooked caramel icing but I’ve got to try it.

  6. I don’t think you need cake decorating classes your cake looks both SUPER YUMMY and GORGEOUS! 🙂
    I want to dip my finger into that caramel icing! 🙂