Those old-timers know their baked goods

Have you ever heard of a burnt sugar cake? Before last week, I know I hadn't. My 94-year-old yahtzee buddy told me about this cake that her sister used to make, describing it as "out of this world." I knew that was a lot to live up to, but I still planned to surprise my buddy by making a burnt sugar cake for her birthday this week.

So, the internet searches  began. I found a few different recipes and finally settled on this one... mostly because it had pictures and the blogger thoroughly described each step. I didn't want to screw this up.

Old-Time Burnt Sugar Cake

Ok... you've seen the picture. Need I say more?

This may be one of the moistest, flavorful cakes I have ever had. It is nice and dense like a home made banana cake, but with a flavor and richness that is all its own. The frosting that the recipe calls for actually didn't work out for me. It had a nice caramel flavor after it sat a bit, but I think it just had way too much powdered sugar for my taste. Some might like it just fine, but I really thought I could do better. So I did.

Caramel Frosting II Recipe

This frosting was outstanding. I didn't want to stop eating it. There are a million different ways of making caramel frosting, and I actually picked this one because it seemed like one of the simplest recipes and had a lot of good reviews. I've only made my own frosting a handful of times, but this was the closest to what I was used to. I guess I knew I really couldn't go wrong when it started by melting a stick of butter with a cup of brown sugar.

So, if you'd like to try your hand at this unique cake, I have two suggestions:

1. Reduce the amount of burnt sugar you make in the recipe (you only use 1/2 cup for the actual cake, the rest is reserved for the frosting) and make the caramel frosting instead.
2. Work quickly when spreading the caramel frosting. It sets up pretty fast and I just barely finished frosting the cake before it was really starting to harden and clump on me.

I know this cake doesn't win any points for being "light," but it certainly gets a 5/5 review from me for sweetness, texture, and flavor. Hey, if you're gonna splurge, might as well make it worth it!

Oh, and my yahtzee buddy? She loved it!