
Every week we’ll post a recipe that we both made. This week’s recipe was Salted Caramel Sour Cream Cake. Printable recipe can be found at the bottom of this post. The original recipe can be found over at Oh, Bite It!.
Robyn’s Take:
I don’t remember exactly how this recipe came to my attention, but in my notes I’ve mentioned Connie and Kelly. What I THINK happened is that months and months ago, Connie or Kelly posted the link to the recipe on Facebook with a suggestion that we give it a try, and then Kelly or Connie seconded that motion. So I added it to the list and now we’re finally getting around to it.
Amanda will extra love this recipe because it starts with a boxed cake mix and includes a jar of caramel sauce and frosting from a container.
Your ingredients:
White cake mix, caramel sauce, white frosting, sour cream, and salt.
Step one, make the cake following the directions on the back, and then add in 1/2 cup of sour cream.
Step two, eat some damn batter as you’re pouring it into your 9×13 baking pan. What would be the point of making a cake if you can’t eat some of the batter?
Bake the cake according to the directions on the box.
“I just keep this bag warm ’til the cake is ready.”
When the cake is done, let it cool. Then, using a fork, poke some holes in the cake. First I tried using a regular fork, but the cake kept apart where I’d poked the holes. So then I tried using a serving fork, and same thing. Finally, I decided that “fuck it” was the order of the day (“fuck it” is pretty much ALWAYS the order of the day around here), so I jabbed a bunch of holes in the cake and called it good enough.
Dump half the jar of caramel sauce on top of the cake, and spread it evenly-ish across the top. Then let it sit for 5 minutes, to let the sauce sink in. Meanwhile, prepare your frosting.
To prepare your frosting, dump the frosting into a bowl and mix it with the remaining caramel sauce.
Frost the cake.
Sprinkle your salt evenly over the top of the cake. The original recipe really didn’t give any guidance on this, but I can tell you that I used about 1/4 teaspoon of salt over the whole cake.
Take a terrible picture of the cake.
(Confession: that picture was actually taken after I’d put the cake in the fridge overnight. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been nearly as neatly cut. It’s a really soft cake, so if you’re insistent on getting pretty, neatly cut pieces of cake, you’re going to need to refrigerate that bad boy.)
The verdict? A resounding “meh.” I like caramel, and I REALLY like salted caramel, but this just didn’t do it for me. Fred rated it a “meh” as well, and I’m not going to make it again.
I do think that if I’d made a buttercream frosting from scratch and used that instead of that nasty canned shit (I’m a frosting snob, I admit it!), it would have been much improved. But I’m not going to bother experimenting, because life’s too short to fiddle around with a recipe that didn’t blow you away.
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Nance’s Take:
“This is my favorite cooking blog, because y’all hate what you make a good percentage of the time, and I like that. Well, that and I’ve been following you two on the internet since the days of coal-burning web browsers.” – Patrick
Ohhh, you don’t even want to know how pissed I am because I really wanted to prove to him that we don’t hate everything and now I’m screwed. I hated this GOD DAMN CAKE so bad that there are not enough swear words on Urban Dictionary.com to describe it.
Let’s start with this hot mess first. Why do I need to use motherfucking parchment paper? That shit is expensive and I try to save it for jelly rolls and certain cookies. Trying to press this into a cake pan was a freaking pain in my ass. And yes, I used the grease the pan first method. Still a pain in my ass.
Cat was very interested. I did not care because I was still mad about that parchment paper.
Julie decided it wasn’t worth her time and by the end of this hot mess I was wishing I followed her lead.
I didn’t even bother with a mixer because my time is precious.
I decided to use a big fork because I could and also because I wanted to make sure the holes were big enough for the caramel to go through.
Action shot.
Rick loves caramel better than chocolate so he was all about this cake. I was dubious because cake, caramel, and frosting are all so full of sugar that I thought this might be some serious goddamn overkill.
I don’t know, man. I just don’t know.
You could smell the fucking sugar.
Artistic shot of the salted shit storm.
Robyn’s going to shit, but I’m about to blow this motherfucker up. This is exactly what I dislike about some food blogs. The enticing description, food styling and photography dazzle all of us so much that nobody ever thinks of the reality. The ingredients and photographs, combined with the blog entry, make for a beautiful looking dessert that everybody wants to make. But the reality is that it’s so fucking sweet it makes your teeth hurt. The ingredients blend with one another so that all you have is a fork full of sugar mixed with a sugar syrup. Absolutely disgusting.
Everyone tried it, nobody would finish their piece, and the entire cake ended up in the garbage can. Total waste of food, money and time. There are times when people are selling you a dream that you need to wake the fuck up and realize that it’s bullshit. Bullshit, coated with more bullshit, and wrapped up in a pretty bullshit picture.
Beware of bullshit.
- 1 box of White Cake mix
- 1 - 12 oz. jar of caramel sauce (ice cream topping)
- 1 - 16 oz container of vanilla frosting
- ½ c. sour cream
- salt for sprinkling (1/4 - ½ tsp)
- Following the directions on the back of the cake mix, mix the batter and then stir in ½ c. sour cream. In a greased 9x13 baking dish, pour the batter and bake according to the directions.
- Let cake cool and then poke holes in it with a fork.
- Spread half of the caramel sauce evenly over the top of the cake. Let sit for 5 minutes while preparing frosting.
- In a medium bowl, mix frosting and the rest of the caramel sauce until well combined.
- Frost cake evenly with frosting, and then sprinkle about ¼ tsp of salt over the top.
- *This is a soft cake, so won't cut in neat slices - if neat slices are important to you (you weirdo), refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.
I just noticed that you and I have the same bowls. Did you got out and buy those bowls, copycat?
No, I’ve had that set for longer than I’ve had internet. They’re awesome, aren’t they?
They are freaking fabulous. Why didn’t you ever tell me about them? Asshole.
Oh, please. I have 3,000 different bowls in my kitchen. I’m not going to detail every one of them like Bubba from Forrest Gump. Fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, baked shrimp…
I have never watched Forrest Gump so your incredible knowledge of that movie does not impress me.
well so much for that LOL
Ugh, it was freaking awful. So awful. I can’t believe Robyn was only “meh” about it.
The best thing about it was the fact that it kind of smelled like a donut shop when I walked past it. I can only guess it was all the sugar.
And don’t get me wrong…I LIKE sugar and sweets, I just don’t like ridiculous shit.
If I’d taken more than a couple of bites I might have been filled with hatred too, but a few bites told me that I wasn’t gonna like it!
I had exactly one bite. Your mouth lied to you in that moment. It’s a lying whore, that mouth.
LOL
It did put me into a sugar coma. I had to take a nap afterward. Heh.
I say Kelly suggested it.. yup, I’m going with that..
You’re bad, Connie. I can honestly say that I usually don’t even notice who sends the recipes and in all fairness, I end up having Robyn email them to me because I can’t find them. Therefore, I cannot hate anybody who sends in a recipe. Unless their name is Amanda. And it has to be “that” Amanda. lol
I may be late to the party, but I specifically remember YOU posting this to Robyn’s wall. All I did was ask if it counted for a submission or if someone needed to e-mail it to her because salted caramel and cake rock. Apparently they don’t rock quite as hard as I thought they would.
Shame on you. Your nose is growing and your pants are aflame. Heeheeheeheeheeheehee
OK, fine, I’m going to admit it was me.. but only because I just found the original source of the recipe in my email..
Wowza, it sure sounded good on parchment paper. I was excited about it. Maybe with chocolate cake. Mmmmm salted carmel chocolate cake. Maybe with some bacon bits inside.
We made those Twix Brownies and you could probably salt the caramel. http://www.dinosaurscanteatpizza.com/twix-brownies-nance-and-robyn-make-the-same-recipe/
Is it sad that I said “We made Twix Brownies?!” and had to go read the post to see what we thought of them?
You suck.
I said A GOOD PERCENTAGE OF THE TIME! Just enough to make things fun. It’s just more fun when you’re angry at fried green beans or feeding things to the chickens.
You bloggers are all SO TOUCHY!
(Also, I feel like I’m totally famous for getting a quote smack dab in the middle of your recipe.)
Dude, I wasn’t mad. I just thought it would have been funny (and truthful) if I could have said that we don’t hate everything…see, we LOVE CAKE! But then the freaking cake had to be a huge destroyer of dreams and OMG, I HATED THAT FREAKING CAKE.
Nah, we’re not touchy and we love everyone (accept that whore Amanda). And you are famous! Besides who wouldn’t want to be quoted on the filthiest food blog in town? 😉
Patrick I read that quote to dear hubby and he LoL’d for real. Always like your comments. I took it as a badge of honor to get your quote up top. Amanda never made it.
Fred and I say “I like string” to each other every now and then. So you get quoted in real life, too!
I’m confused about “I like string” – who said that and in what context? Why am I always out of the freaking loop?
Many, many years ago I met two online diarists who were talking about Proust and interpretive dance and physics (I could be blurry about the details here) and I felt really stupid, so I said my addition to the conversation was, “I like string.” I don’t know why that caught on with the diary-writing community (other than there were about 11 of us at the time), but that’s pretty much what I’m known for.
That’s absolutely perfect! And I don’t know how I missed it unless it was one of those times I was avoiding the entire journaling community because it could just be too much sometimes.
Parchment paper fun fact….you can run it under water and squeeze it together like a paper towel and use it to line any size or shape of pan and it still works!!!
Get the hell out – I would have never thought to do that! And now I know – and hopefully I’ll remember so there won’t be so much bitching next time.
Great tip. never knew that was doable.
Holy crap, I had NO idea. Now I’m dying to make something that requires parchment paper and I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHINGGGGGGGGGGGG.
Does it harden when it dries like paper-mache? Cause we could build a volcano in the middle of one of thse molten lava chocolate cakes and really have fun. 🙂
The parchment paper stays soft, it doesn’t harden as it dries during cooking. I have to credit Jamie Oliver for passing on that little tip during one of his cooking shows because I didn’t know it either but now I use this process when I make banana bread because I’m not keen on that spray stuff.
This cake is indeed a destroyer of dreams — and it sounded so sublime on (parchment) paper. I’m going to go with the notion that you must have a far less sugary batter, followed by the notion that that’s what bakeries are for.
I think you’re right and maybe a lighter, less sweet frosting. It just pisses me off that that recipe is even around for people to try. It’s one thing for us to fuck up a recipe because we’re stupid, but this is a whole other ballgame. Humph. I’m still pissed.
Hmmm, it did sound good on paper. I’m thinking use chocolate cake mix and forget the frosting, just pour the caramel.
Nance, that photo of Julie cracks me up. When she and my Bruiser were babies I thought they looked exactly alike (I even sent you a photo), but now that they’re old ladies their faces are different, except for those wonderful murderous eyes.
The murderous eyes are what makes them, maxie!
P.S. I just went to the site with the original recipe and if I’d seen that first, I’d have passed on that mess!
By the way, I was reading this last night on my Droid, and I could not for the life of me get to/find the comments, which made me very sad because I knew they would be hi-lar-i-ous!!!
Is this one of the things I need to be patient about, or did silly PICNIC me (“problem in chair, not in computer” that’s how the office IT folks refer to me) just not look in the right place?
Adding sour cream to a boxed cake mix really helps it stay moist but the rest of that with the caramel and frosting, eek!