Layer Cake With Caramel Frosting

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 35 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 16
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (crisco)
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar or 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, i prefer dark
• 1/3-1/2 cup milk, start with lesser amount
• 1 lb powdered sugar (10x)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Recipe

• 1 for cake, cream together shortening and softened butter and sugar until very light and fluffy.
• 2 add eggs and beat well.
• 3 combine flour, baking powder and salt, and add dry ingredients alternately with milk (3 additions of dry, 2 of milk).
• 4 beat only until well blended but do not overbeat.
• 5 fold in vanilla extract.
• 6 pour into two well greased and floured 10 inch layer pans (or 3 9 inch pans) and bake in a preheated 350 degree (fahrenheit) oven for about 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
• 7 remove from oven, turn cake pans upside down on counter on waxed paper.
• 8 in a few minutes, remove pans from cake layers and let them cool completely before making the frosting.
• 9 when cake layers have cooled, make frosting. melt butter in a heavy pan over medium heat.
• 10 add brown sugar and continue cooking until it melts, stirring and watching carefully.
• 11 after sugar is melted, add 1/3 cup milk and stir in well.
• 12 turn burner to medium high, and bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. boil for at least one minute, but not more than two minutes.
• 13 remove from heat and pour over powdered sugar in a metal or heat proof bowl.
• 14 beat well for about 10 minutes, adding more milk as needed if mixture is too thick (it will set up and get thicker as it cools).
• 15 mix in vanilla extract.
• 16 fill and frost layers immediately before frosting sets and becomes very hard to spread.