Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Help--Caramel Cake

This post is to my foodie friends. A few weeks ago, I blogged about one of my all-time favorite books--The Help. Throughout the book it referenced a caramel cake that Minnie made, a southern prize-winning cake. (Except that Minnie put the "Terrible Awful" in it.) Now does that make you want to read the book or what?

Anyway, I was intrigued by the cake. I had never heard of caramel cake prior to reading The Help. So I did what any foodie does--I Googled the recipe. I made it for our last book club. It was delicious. A bit labor intensive, but if you like caramel you'll like this cake. The frosting is more like homemade carmel candy than a regular buttercream frosting. Here's the recipe. Happy Baking!

http://southernfood.about.com/od/cakerecipes/r/r81130k.htm


6 comments:

Barbara's blog said...

Back in the old days when I could eat sugar and flour, my favorite cake was called burnt sugar. It was labor intensive, too, and when I made it I wished no one else would eat it so I could have it all to myself. I imagine I would love the caramel cake since that flavor is, or was, my favorite.

Judy said...

I chose The Help for our book club a couple months ago and we all loved the book! I think I will try the caramel cake.

planterswife said...

I think she put the "terrible awful" in her chocolate pie...but I'm excited about using this recipe for our book club next week! Thank you!

Caroline R Reutter said...

Susanne, We have shipped out so many of our Caramel Cakes for book groups who have read The Help. My Caramel Cake is 7 layers and made with old fashioned caramel icing, which uses no corn syrup or powdered sugar. It is indeed a difficult recipe to make. I would love for you to visit my website:
www.carolinescakes.com and see my 7-layer Caramel Cake.

Lynne said...

Thanks for the recipe - I can't wait to try it!

One thought though, Minny didn't put the "Terrible. Awful." in the cake, she put it in the chocolate pie - I've never cheered so much out loud reading a book!! Great book and a wonderful testament to the wonderful women who were so influential in so many Southern Family lives!! Thank you Kathryn for a wonderful story!!

fyshgrll said...

@Caroline - so disappointing. I've been searching out and comparing caramel cake recipes since listening to "The Help" on DVD (having already read it in one long reading gorge this January while staying with my mother in New Orleans after her double'knee replacement surgery). I went to your site as you suggested, saw your fabulous cakes but...no recipe. I didn't realize your post was a tickler to get folks to *buy* their caramel cake. Since I can't tolerate sugar and flour anymore the *creation* part of baking is what it's all about for me. :(