Sugar Season

Sugaring Maple Tree version for the girls (with rolled and cutout Starburst Candy leaves!)

It's the weekend after Thanksgiving, official start to Christmas shopping and Sugar Season. It's the time of year that I pick up 5 pounds of sugar or a liter of corn syrup every time I'm at the grocery...with no particular use in mind...yet. Apparently, the Daring Bakers were feeling the call of sugar this month too.
This month's challenge was Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting, as created by Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater with an optional challenge of Alice Medrich's Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels. The challenge was hosted by Delores of Culinary Curiosity, Jenny of Foray into Food and Alex of Blondie and Brownie.
As usual, I attempted the challenge twice. The first time through, I tried the original recipe with the optional caramels to share with neighbors and friends. The second time through, I adapted it for my allergic kid. Of the two recipes, I think we actually liked the egg and dairy-free version a bit more. It may have been the extremely low expectation I had for it, followed by my surprise at how great it turned out....but even my husband agreed the kid's version was better.
A few words on this cake...it is dense...dense like a pound cake. The sheer heft of the cake when I removed it from the pan was what made me sure the cake was a disaster, if you made cupcakes with this...it probably would be a disaster of hockey pucks. The heft comes from using a true butter-cake technique of creaming butter and sugar together, then alternating additions of flour and milk....rather than the usual "quick bread" technique in vegan baking of mixing wet ingredients carefully into dry ingredients (more like muffins than true cake).
The thing that really makes this cake work is the caramel syrup. It gives the whole thing a subtle, rich, buttery flavor. For the kid's frosting version, I didn't attempt to caramelize the margarine...browned soy just didn't sound like a good idea.

Caramel Cake with Caramel Buttercream

(Dairy and Egg-Free Adaptation on Shuna's Recipe)

10 tablespoons dairy-free margarine ( I used Fleishman's Unsalted Margerine)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup Caramel Syrup (recipe below)
2 Ener-G egg replacers whipped until thick (I use an immersion blender)
Splash of vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup plain soymilk thickened with 1 T. cider vinegar


Preheat oven to 350F
Line two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans with a parchment round and spray well with oil.

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream margarine until smooth.
2. Add sugar and salt, cream until light and fluffy. This takes forever, I'm not kidding.
3. Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl.
4. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add egg replacers and vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.
5. Sift flour and baking powder together.
6. Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the flour mixture.
7. When incorporated, add half of the soymilk, a little at a time.
8. Add another third of the flour, then the other half of the soymilk and finish with the flour. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}
9. Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform.

Divide batter among the two pans. Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Remove from pan to a cooling rack as soon as you can, if it sits in the pan for too long, it gets really soggy. Cool cake completely before frosting.

Caramel Syrup

Sugar and water...this stuff is simply magical

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water 1 cup water for "stopping"

1. In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand.
2. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush.
3. Turn on heat to highest flame.
4. Cook until rich amber. You can test the color by dabbing a bit on a white plate.
5. When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and prepared to step back.
6. Whisk over medium heat until it the sugar is dissolved and the syrup has reduced slightly. It should be the sticky thickness of maple syrup or warm honey. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Caramel Buttercream

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup dairy-free margarine
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 T. Caramel Syrup (recipe above)
1 t. vanilla
2-4 T. soymilk


Cream shortening and margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add syrup and vanilla. Add enough soymilk to make a thick frosting.

The Adult Cake, a nice way to celebrate the start of Sugar Season.