Copious Caramel, November's Daring Bakers Challenge

I anxiously awaited November's Daring Bakers Challenge pretty much as soon as I had finished October's. I was over the moon when I saw it involved an abundance of caramel. I have been obsessed with salted caramels for a while now... so this was right up my alley - Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting. There was also an option of making Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels. Our hosts for this month brought us back to the sweet side of baking, after having a few savoury challenges. Dolores of Culinary Curiosity hosted November's challenge, and was assisted by Alex, the Brownie of the Blondie Brownie duo, and Jenny of Foray into Food. For those of you with a gluten allergy (KK this one's for you!), check out Natalie at Gluten a GoGo who assisted the hosts in creating a gluten free version of our challenge.

I completed this challenge quite early since I was bringing Avery to work for a visit and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to unload some of the excess sweets tempting me at home. The challenge didn't allow for much variation, but I decided to make cupcakes instead of one cake (for ease of sharing with my co-workers). The cake was quite easy to make and turned out ridiculously moist. Because the cake teetered on the edge of being too sweet, I added quite a bit of salt to the icing and topped each cupcake with some more fleur de sel just for good measure!



The Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting recipe came courtesy of Shuna from Eggbeater (it's her signature cake!) as published on Bay Area Bites. You'll find the recipe here. While it may look like a lot of steps, it really is a breeze to do. Best of all, you can spread the preparation over a few days.

The recipe for Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels was taken from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich. Something to note for the caramels is that I found cooking them to anything higher than 250°F resulted in more of a toffee than a caramel. I made Fleur de Sel Caramels and Cinnamon Caramels as a variation on the original recipe. Both turned out beautifully. I plan to make lavender, chipotle and cardamom versions for my Christmas care packages. YUM! On to the next challenge!



GOLDEN VANILLA BEAN CARAMELS
- makes eighty-one 1-inch caramels -

Ingredients
1 cup golden syrup
2 cups sugar
3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinders, or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened

Equipment
A 9-inch square baking pan
Candy thermometer

Procedure

Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the golden syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F. Meanwhile, combine the cream and ground vanilla beans (not the extract) in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot.

When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 260°f for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F; for firmer chewy caramels.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm.

Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.