Southern Caramel Cake Recipe
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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.
Thanks Robyn for the great recipe!
This cake is yummy! Am having trouble tho getting the cake itself to light brown. They always turn out just like white cake. Wondering if this is normal?
M
I made this cake and icing yesterday for our Christmas dinner. Both the cake and icing were delicious- the icing however did turn out a bit stiff and grainy (I have to work on that…). I have plenty of flour, sugar, eggs etc. so the plan is to experiment (and if need be give my neighbors not so pretty cake until I have it just right….
Also, after eating the grainy scraps and really enjoying them… I decided to add some good ole Georgia pecans and I made pralines. Can someone say simply “DELISH”. OMG- my boo boo turned into a wonderful treat that I put over ice cream.
Hi.. just wanted to know. If I have to resort to using AP Flour, how many Tablespoons of Baking Soda and Powder do I add??
Hi Leah. I’m getting ready to make this cake and was curious about this as well. Here is an answer from another website.
Substitutions: Can self rising flour be substituted for all-purpose flour?
No. Self rising flour contains baking powder and salt. However, if a recipe calls for self-rising flour and you have all purpose flour, you can easily make your own. For each cup of self rising flour needed, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour with 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Hi Robyn!
I absolutely loved this cake. I made it for my husband’s birthday to expose him to more of my southern roots. He loved it. The only problem was that the cake seemed a little dry. Any tips for making my cake a little more moist? Planning on making it this thanksgiving.
I just got done making this cake. It turned out just like the picture!! I am so proud! The icing took a good hour and a half to cook and cool to the right consistency to put on cake but so worth the time. Thank you Robyn for sharing your recipe!!
I made this cake and I am sorry to say it was a flop!!! I am a busy executive with a day off and would have apprecited more play by play instructions. The icing was clear and the cakes didn’t rise very much.I was so embarresed. My husband thought I didn’t know what I was doing. I am not betty crocker so can you please include cake baking 101?
Sandy,
Wow! You pull a free recipe off of a free site that many people have had success with and you attack the woman who shares it? Shame on you.
Sandy I’m sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you. Baking is an art, some people get it, while others don’t. The most important thing is to add dry to wet (always)! That’s where many fail. Adding the eggs one at a time is important as well. I would suggest you try a cake recipe with a step by step video. It may also be helpful to try a recipe where you can use Swan cake flour.
Hi Robyn,
My first attempt at baking a cake was with your caramel recipe.I followed your instructions to the letter and the results was a deliciously superb cake.For a novice baker i was deeply encouraged to try more recipes.
Thanks for sharing.
Happy baking.
I made this cake and frosting yesterday for my sons’ 16th birthday and I was very disappointed with it, to say the least. The cake is extremely dry and the frosting is too thick. And the consensus of my family is that this does not taste like a caramel cake, at least the one’s that we’ve tasted, in any way, shape or form. The frosting is not too bad, except for it being too thick in texture, but the cake has virtually no flavor and lacked the sweetness that a cake should have. I followed the recipe verbatim, so I don’t feel that it was anything that I did incorrectly. I do not like to give negative ratings on anything unless I feel very strongly about it, and this is exactly the way I feel about this recipe. I chose this recipe because of it’s five star rating, and I do not believe it deserves it.
To add to my earlier post, I shared this cake with my next door neighbor and she liked it, but also said that this cake did not taste like a caramel cake whatsoever.
Excellent recipe…Especially the frosting!!!! My 4 yr. old granddaughter licks the bowl every time I make it.
**It’s an absolute must to double the Caramel Icing recipe..You’ll need the small extra for all of the fingers that go into tasting it 🙂
I made this cake today for my sister’s 39th birthday with the help of my nearly 5 year old daughter. We have a tradition that everyone in the family (regardless of age) gets a birthday cake – and my sister and I have been obsessed with caramel since we were old enough to make chocolate caramel slice. That’s going back a while now…. so when I found your recipe it seemed perfect. We had a ball making the cake – the more eggs to crack the better! And having never made frosting like this I was dubious when I looked at the ingredients in the pot. But some swirling later and wow! What a cake ! The frosting was fantatstic and fudge-y, the cake moist and delicious and both stood up well to the inferno of candles on the top. I just used butter instead of
Crisco. I have a feeling that this will become a family favourite – and Wellington, New Zealand may be as far south as the Southern Caramel Cake has ventured.