Southern Caramel Cake Recipe
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This Southern Caramel Cake Recipe is a traditional caramel cake made from an heirloom family recipe. It’s delicious topped with homemade caramel icing!
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.
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.
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 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
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) butter, room temperature
- 2 cups (396 g) sugar
- 4 large (200 g) eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups (360 g) self-rising flour
- 1 cup (227 g) buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (9.4 g) vanilla extract
- Southern Caramel Icing Recipe, double the recipe
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
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If I use cake flour what are the exact amount of ingredients for baking powder,baking soda and salt.please email the answer.Thanks
Hi Pam,
I don’t use cake flour for this recipe. It calls for self-rising flour instead.
Thank you so much for posting tho wonderful recipe! I made it for my friends’ birthday (she grew up in Arkansas) and she loved it!
This recipe sounds good, but it would be nice if you had also posted the Caramel Icing recipe. Or, maybe you did but it did not show up on my page, which doesn’t make much sense.
Hi Victoria,
The link to the caramel icing is the last item in the ingredients list. When you click it, it takes you straight to the recipe. Hope that helps!
There is no link on my end. Thanks.
Thanks so much for telling me, Faith! I’ve reattached the link to the cake recipe. It’s also listed under Southern Caramel Icing if you ever need to find it on it’s own sometime too. I hope you enjoy it! It’s definitely a cake my family loves!!! xo
I haven’t tried this cake but I may, I am more a pie baker but my comment is about a few of the others comments. It reminds me of being the “fastest gun in the west” some people always try to “shoot you down” ha. When people say to me, “you make the best pie crust ever” I cringe, knowing someone out there is gunning for me. Not that I care a great deal, I just find it amusing. I love your recipes and will try some but rest assured if they flop, you wont hear about it because it will be something I did wrong
I made this cake again for the second time tonight. It is so wonderful! I have never had a problem with the icing like some of the posts. I think using a candy thermometer is key and doing the cold water test. After I get it to that point, I let it cool for about 5 minutes and then mix it with my KitchenAid mixer for about 10-15 minutes and then ice the cake. One thing I have found when Icing the cake, if it starts pulling up the cake, I dip my knife in hot water to get it warm so it spreads easier. This cake is just as good, if not better than the cake I bought from Caroline’s Cakes, the Caramel Cake.
You didn’t include the amount of cream. How much?
Hello, I made this cake tonight and it was certainly a hit. However I do feel that it could be improved, and maybe the problem I’m having is due to higher altitude. I live at 7500 feet. My cake turned out very dry and crumbly. Great flavor, but I would have expected it to be more moist and spongy. Anything I can add or adjust to get a more moist consistency?
are you suppose to double the icing recipe to have enough for the cake?
Hi Robyn,
You are such a trooper to take the time to respond to these comments. I commend you. I just concluded my ‘test run’ baking of your Southern Carmel Cake and it was a great experience. Several lessons learned for me along in the process and your commentaries helped to avoid a few pitfalls.
The cakes were a snap to make. Given there were three cakes to bake in the oven, they didn’t cook evenly. So I will cook two and then cook the third separately. Then, I did a dumb thing . . . I removed one of the cakes from the pan right after I took it from the oven. Well – it fell apart. I should know better.
Making the icing was easy and it turned out perfectly. If you have any more advice as to how to spread it before it stiffens, I would welcome a response. I didn’t quite get around completely to all sides of the cake.
Thank you again for the recipe and your kind responses.
Hi Mark,
I’m so glad you love the caramel cake! It is absolutely one of my favorite family cake recipes! To get the cake iced, I do have a couple of tricks. One is to work quickly. I mean QUICKLY to get the icing on the cake before it stiffens. The other is to keep a glass of really hot water beside the icing so that I can dip my offset spatula or knife into the water when it does stiffen as you mentioned. Another trick that my aunt uses is to keep icing over a double boiler as she ices her cake. She say it works like a charm!
I have tried this recipe twice now. The second was a little better than the first, but I am still not happy at all with the results. The case is dry and the icing is grainy. I followed the instructions exactly (or so I thought). I did stir the frosting constantly while cooking. Was this a mistake? I got it to softball stage and removed from heat and let cool for about 1/2 hour before beating with electric mixer. I had to beat it for about 30 minutes for it to get thick enough to frost the cake.
Any suggestions on why this didn’t work??
Hey Marcia,
This caramel cake recipe is one that we love and fuss about all in the same breath. While it has been a in the family for generations, it is still one that we have a love/ hate relationship. I know that isn’t at all comforting, but just to tell you that it a cake that I have practiced making for years and years and still have off times. But, with all that said, here are a few things that would’ve made your icing grainy: you should swirl the icing or if you have to touch it at all with a spoon, you use a wooden spoon. You don’t make the caramel icing when it is rainy or the humidity is high outside as it just won’t “do right” as my grandmother would say. It always seems to turn out grainy if the humidity is high. You might find that you like this version of caramel frosting. I hope that helps!