I read the reviews, I made this last year for the fall weather.  It is a perfect recipe when you follow the directions.  It is like a twist on carrot cake for the Holidays.  Who doesn't know vanilla beans are that costly? 

October 27, 2008

I've baked two cakes, but hesitate to make the frosting after reading all the reviews.  I think that I'll stick to cream cheese frosting with a touch of vanilla...but certainly not the $15.50 vanilla bean (for two) that I checked out at the grocery store.  I'm surprised that no one mentioned the fact that it is so costly.  I'm looking forward to having a slice for Christmas dessert.

December 20, 2007

I really enjoyed this cake.  I do agree with some of the reviews that the frosting directions were not correct. I took me about 15-16 minutes to get the caramel to an amber color. I feared if I went any longer than that I would have burnt caramel. But minus that issue, the cake had wonderful dense texture and the frosting was excellent.

Be patient with the caramel and let the frosting chill for at least 6 hours before frosting the cake. 

December 4, 2007

I had the same problem with the frosting until I turned up the heat. I'm an experienced cook and prefer to weigh my ingredients.  With light and dark brown sugar the weight is from 5 oz to 8 oz per cup.  I would appreciate being given the ingredient weights, because it can make a huge difference.  Also, when I bake I always under time.  It's a good thing I did this time. The cake took less than 25 minutes. I'm a little concerned it will be dry. LM

December 2, 2007

I thought the cake was good, but it was just like the other folks said - the icing did not come out!  Some directions on what moderate heat consists of would be nice.  On the other hand, the icing even without the caramel was fantastic!  It was nice and creamy with a tang, and super tasty.  The cake itself was really dense, and it almost looked like it wasn't fully cooked when it was done, but it really was.  Overall very tasty, I just missed the caramel part! 

November 23, 2007

I just made this and its fabulous! The cake is just enough sweetness to be a cake while the frosting makes it perfect complex combination of textures and flavors.

Note to others, it takes longer then 9 minutes to get the caramel color, but if you have the patience, you will be rewarded.

I also did a double batch of the frosting, I always find it useful. 

November 21, 2007

Sorry - I tried to rate the recipe three stars, not one star.  Not sure why it didn't work.

November 21, 2007

The cake itself is lovely, easy to make and not too sweet, but I agree with other reviewers that the frosting recipe as written doesn't work.  After 9 minutes of "moderate heat" the sugar didn't have even a hint of color, never mind a "medium-dark amber."  I let mine cook a full 20 minutes, but even then it wasn't dark enough to color or flavor the finished product.  The frosting is edible, certainly, but is nowhere close to the "super-caramelly" that the recipe description advertised.

November 21, 2007

Does Food & Wine not test these recipes? I too had a failed mass of yellow goo after following the frosting recipe. However, if you substitute brown sugar for the white sugar -- THEN you get caramel. On this second try, I followed the rest of the recipe. I got a nice vanilla cream cheese frosting, but all that butter and cream completely diluted the caramel -- this recipe needs some serious help. And I haven't even tried making the cake yet because I can't help but wonder if there are mistakes in that recipe too! Quite disappointing.

November 21, 2007

Frosting did not come out for me!  Tried a couple times. Went out and bought caramel frosting and cream cheese and blending together. :)

November 11, 2007

I had a really difficult time with the frosting (I'm not a very experienced baker!), and would LOVE to find out if I was doing something wrong...

 Cake was really tasty, but wasn't thrilled with the way the frosting came out.

October 31, 2007