Bake 52: Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Caramel and Cream Cheese Frosting

I had very good intentions of sticking to the recipe this week.  Really, I did.  It's just that this is what was on the page right next to our recipe:  Buttermilk-Caramel Cake

And the only thing I love as much as pumpkin + chocolate is pumpkin + caramel.  How could I do anything but what I did?  I did stick exactly to the recipe for the cake and cream cheese frosting except I halved them both (and baked the cake in an 8x8 pan) and then I made the caramel frosting.  I don't regret it for a minute.  The only thing I do regret is not having pecans.  I think some toasted pecans either in the caramel frosting or on top of the whole thing would have been nothing short of amazing.  

Isn't she pretty?

I let it sit for a few minutes to firm up a bit and then added the cream cheese frosting and finished with a drizzle of the rest of the caramel.  

 This cake was delicious and incredibly easy to make.  It's super moist and has a great texture.  I am sure it would have been good with the cream cheese frosting alone.  But the book was taunting me and I gave in.  While it was super delicious, it was pretty rich so I could only eat a small piece.  The cream cheese frosting recipe makes quite a bit, I only used about 2/3 of the recipe (that I halved) and it seemed like more than plenty.  Next time I am not sure if I would worry about taking the cake out of the pan I baked it in, it would be just as easy to leave it in.  This will be made again.

If you'd like the recipe for the cake and cream cheese frosting, you can get it at Betsy's blog.  She was our hostess this week.  Thanks for picking a great recipe Betsy!

Because I'm nice, I thought I'd include the caramel frosting recipe...I could probably just eat this plain, not that I did. ;)

Caramel Frosting

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 T corn syrup

1 T whipping cream

1 T milk

1 1/4-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Heat butter, corn syrup and brown sugar over med-high heat to boiling.  Whisk in milk and cream and return to just a boil.  Remove from heat whisk in vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth.  Let cool slightly before pouring/spreading over cake (should still be warm, but not hot).  Will frost an 8x8 cake.

Adapted from: The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book