Famous Caramel Cake

I call this the "famous" caramel cake because it really is a famous dessert in our family. The recipe is from my grandmother's cookbook, but Hannah is the one that would make the cake. "Sugar" is my grandmother. My brother was the first grandchild, and she would call him "sugar" as a little child name. He turned it around and started calling her "Sugar." Needless to say, this name stuck, and that's what her name is now.

Hannah is a God-send. Sugar and Papa have 6 children (one of which is my mom), and Hannah helped practically raise them. She's not around much

anymore since her health is declining, but she's been a part of our family for around 50 years. This is Hannah and me icing the cakes to the right....

Hannah is the best cook I've ever met, and it was such a treat learning how to cook this caramel cake straight from the pro.

My sister (Catherine) and I drove to Sugar and Papa's house this past weekend to learn how to make this cake. We brought Riley (our nephew) with us so he could visit while we cooked. He obviously loved the icing as you can see in the pictures below.

Sugar watched us cook while Papa played with Riley. Papa usually gets a nap after lunch, but not that day. Riley had too much curiosity, and Papa was just the one to take him around the house and outside.

So now I leave you with the recipe for the famous caramel cake. You can make it layered if you like or just one big rectangle. I'm looking forward to making cupcakes out of this recipe once I get comfortable with it. I do have a slight obsession with cupcakes.

Ingredients:
Cake
1 box 18 oz. Duncan Hines Butter Golden cake mix

1 carton 8 oz. dairy sour cream

1/2 c. Crisco oil

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1/4 c. water

4 eggs

Icing (makes enough to cover 2 rectangular cakes, as shown)

3 cups sugar, divided

2 sticks butter

1 c. evaporated milk

1 TBSP vanilla


Directions:

Cake (you can make 2 of these so you don't have a bunch of icing left over... or not)

Mix together cake ingredients and bake according to directions on back of cake mix.

Icing

Fill sink with ice.
In a large, heavy pot/saucepan, pour 2 and 1/2 cups sugar, butter, and milk and bring to a rolling boil.
In the meantime, continually stir 1/2 cup sugar in small iron skillet until caramelized (be careful not to burn).
Once the sugar/butter/milk mixture has come to a rolling boil, pour caramel into the mixture while stirring continually.

**Note: (If the sugar caramelizes before the milk mixture comes to a boil, take caramel off heat so it doesn't burn. You can always set it back on the heat to loosen it back up.)
Let temperature climb to soft ball stage (235-240 degrees F on a candy termometer), then add the vanilla. Put large pot in sink over the ice. Beat mixture with a wooden spoon back and forth (do not stir) until it's the right consistency for icing (beat for about 10 minutes... it works your muscles).
**Note: (If the caramel is too thick, you can add the remainder of the milk in the can. If the caramel is too runny, you can add some confectioner's sugar to help thicken it.)
Spread the caramel icing on the cakes. If the caramel drips off too much, you can use a knife or spatula to pick up icing and place it back on the cake.