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.
Hi Robyn, when you say one cup, do you mean a cup with a capacity of 250ml? I really really want to try this cake, seems so delicious but I don’t want to give it a go and ruin it because of the measurements. Keep baking and cooking the way you do, I’m already a fan!
Hello, Robyn, it’s my first time on your site and I’m afraid it is for bad news. I recently followed a facebook recipe page and there is currently a lot of drama saying the owner of the page isn’t crediting people for the recipes she is posting… She claims she is. Now, someone has accused her Southern Caramel Cake to be a copy of yours, I am afraid it is… At the very least the cake part is almost word for word from your blog… [link removed]
I’m sure if you contact facebook authorities something can be dome about this, at the very least you can be credited, since at the moment the owner of the page is maintaining that this was her mother’s recipe.
Compliments on your recipe, I hope to be making it very soon.
Thanks so much, Marilyn. I do hope you enjoy the cake! xoxo
I would LOVE to make this for a funeral I’m attending in a couple days along with my made from scratch Red Velvet Cake. Was just wondering if instead of using the 3 round pans what size rectangle cake pan could be used?? Would 9×13 be big enough? And would I still double the frosting recipe?
Hello Robyn,
Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing such a beautiful Caramel Cake recipe with me so that I could make it for my family. I started baking (about 7 or 8) different homemade cookie recipes last year at Christmas time as gifts to give and send to members of my family. I wanted to give something thoughtful, special and full of love. I really got into it with decorations from cookie bags with wraps to attaching small Christmas ornaments (bulbs) to the cookie bags with my signature written on them. I loved every minute of it. I found myself in a very happy zone, a different space, when I was baking. You could say that I got the “baking bug”. So I didn’t stop there; I wanted to start baking homemade cakes just like my mother, grandmother and great grandmother and great aunts did.
Now I have baked other homemade cakes before, and I know that you have to pay close attention when following directions of recipes, homemade especially, because any small mishap will mess it all up. It seemed like it was quite a challenge, so out of fear, I have never even attempted to make a caramel cake.
Your caramel cake recipe is a “Southern Jewel”. I made the caramel cake and the icing on yesterday. My cake turned out beautiful:) When the cake layers came out perfect, I was jumping up and down:) The icing was perfect as well. My icing was smooth, but it may have been just a tad bit grainy, and I mean just a tad bit to the point where it was hardly noticeable and I jumped up and down:) The icing had a nice, buttery, caramel flavor. It put me in the mind of caramel popcorn or caramel apples. This caramel cake was one of the best desserts that I have ever put in my mouth, and I was so proud of myself because I made this cake. I was sending pictures to my family members and everybody wanted some. Now I refuse to buy cookies and cakes at the stores anymore because I know that I can do it myself at home.
I did not have the cast iron dutch oven or the wooden spoon on hand. I used one of my heavy boilers to prepare the icing. I have to get a wooden spoon. I used a big size regular spoon and it worked out. I will work on smoothing out every grain in the icing to bring it to an even creamier consistency the next time. My family loves it. I love you and thank you for giving me this gift of a beautiful recipe that I can share with others. Thank you and God bless you and your family.
Yay, Andrea! I’m so glad you loved the caramel cake! It is definitely a labor of love to make, but so very worth it! Believe it or not, so much can contribute to a bit of a grainy texture to the icing. Using a wooden spoon is one of the best ways to eliminate it, as well as not making it when it is humid or rainy. I really appreciate your sweet comment and can’t wait to hear what else you make! Bless you and yours as well. xoxo
I made cupcakes with this recipe and they were good. However, I would like to have the caramel flavor throughout the cake. If I substitute half the sugar with brown sugar will it change the outcome of the cake?
Hi, just wondering what is the height of the finished cake, and could this be cooked in just one tin?
I have made this cake several times and it always gets rave reviews. However, I am not sure what I’ve done wrong with the frosting as mine is never spreadable after I beat with the mixer. As a result, I’ve been pouring the frosting on the cakes after it cools and thickens some, but then it all doesn’t stay on the cake. My frosting also gets granular as it starts cooling. It still tastes AMAZING and there is never any left, but I want it to be pretty like the picture. Any ideas?
When I took the icing off the heat initially and beat it with my mixer it did have the consistency of melted caramel but, the key is you have to let it cool a bit and beat it on a high speed to get the fluffy consistency. Don’t get nervous that the coloring is a bit darker when you first take it off the heat…when it cools and you beat it on a high speed it turns into a light color.
Slounds to me like you’re cooking your icing to a higher temperature than is recommended, ;and/or overbeating the frosting after cooking it. the granular part comes form cooking at too high a heat or overcooking it. the sugar re-granulated.
I have just one question. How are you going to say to prepare the caramel icing for the cake and you don’t submit the recipe? I know that everyone has there own style to do things. I would like to see your recipe for this cake.
Jennifer, NC
Hi! The link to the icing recipe is included in the recipe
Hi Robyn – I don’t see a link.
I have another question or two that aren’t real clear on the instructions. What temperature do you cook the icing on? And once it reaches the soft ball stage, do you then convert it into the mixer to whip?
Hi Chrissy,
I cook my caramel over medium-low heat, adjusting as needed so that it doesn’t cook too rapidly, etc. Yes, you can either use a wooden spoon for the icing or the whip attachment of your mixer as explained in this post – https://addapinch.com/cooking/2012/09/05/salted-caramel-buttercream-frosting-recipe/. I would caution that it is easy to overwork the traditional caramel icing with a mixer, so pay really, really close attention to it if you go that route. Good luck!
I made your cake a couple of times this Christmas and liked it so much, I am now using the cake part for my 10-layer chocolate cake. I will attempt to do a 10-layer caramel with this recipe soon, as it was requested. Thanks for sharing!