I missed last month's Cake Slice Bakers cake bake and was determined to make this awesome Vanilla Sponge Cake with Pineapple Filling and Caramel Frosting. It's from Little Everyday Cakes by Candace Floyd and her photo in the book looks terrific.
I originally posted the recipe without photos because I had to, uhm, clean up the mess I made (I wasn't prepared - my fault) of this beautiful cake. Candace's instructions are excellent. Susan following the instructions - not so great. Read on!
The sponge of this cake is light because of the different process of hand-folding the flour into the batter. That keeps the cake lighter and less dense. The tiny little cake bakes up beautifully, it tastes great, and the caramel icing is fantastic.
Here's a couple of hints to consider while making this cake. Don't go blow dry your hair while the caramel icing is being beaten in your stand mixer. It will look like brown sugar when you get back. Don't add too much cream to try to fix it or you get caramel sauce instead of frosting. (Thus, the "cleaning up the mess" I referred to.)
Don't put too much pineapple in the filling thinking the more, the better. Pineapple, no matter how well drained, still has liquid. This liquid makes things slidey.
After refrigerating for awhile, the frosting thickened up and I finished frosting this wonderful cake. Here's another photo I finally got of the cake with a puddle of frosting at the base. That's not a bad thing, though.
To me, this Vanilla Sponge Cake with Pineapple Filling and Caramel Frosting is kind of like a pineapple upside-down cake, except the pineapple is in the filling. That's a good thing. I'll definitely be making this tasty little cake again.
And, ooooh, that caramel frosting...
Be sure and visit the other Cake Slice Bakers' cakes listed below. I promise they'll be prettier!
Vanilla Sponge Cake with Pineapple Filling and Caramel Frosting
Terrific vanilla cake with pineapple filling and an outstanding caramel frosting.
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- ¾ C sugar
- ½ C whole milk
- ¼ C unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 C all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ C canned crushed pineapple, juice drained and reserved
- Caramel Frosting:
- 2 ½ C sugar, divided
- 3 tablespoon butter
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 C heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°. Spray two 6" round cake pans and line with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper also, then dust the pans with flour, tapping out the excess flour.
- Place a mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water (not a double-boiler, as you will be using the mixing bowl to finish the batter). Add the eggs and sugar into the bowl and whisk until blended. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture reaches 115F°.
- Remove the mixing bowl from the boiling water. With a hand-mixer or stand-mixer, beat the egg mixture until it has increased in volume about five times, 6 or 7 minutes. When you raise the beater from the mixture, it should fall back into the bowl and form a ribbon that sits on top for a few seconds.
- Place the milk and butter into a large glass measuring cup or medium glass bowl and heat in the microwave on high until the butter melts and the mixture is just about to boil (about 1 minute). Stir in the vanilla.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over the egg mixture and fold together gently. Remove about a cup of the mixture to a separate bowl and stir in the hot milk mixture. Add back to the remaining batter and whisk until blended. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans.
- Bake the cakes for 18 to 20 minutes, until a tester inserted comes out clean and the cake releases easily from the sides when pulled gently with your fingertips. Place the pans on a wire rack and let the cakes cool 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans, and return them to the rack to cool completely. While the cakes are cooling, brush the tops with the reserved pineapple juice.
- For the Caramel Frosting: Combine 2 cups of the sugar with the butter, baking soda, and heavy cream into a saucepan. Heat over medium until the mixture comes to a low boil. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.
- Place the remaining ½ cup of sugar into a medium nonstock skillet. Heat over medium-high heat until the sugar melts, stirring frequently. Continue to cook the sugar until it turns dark amber, stirring constantly.
- Reduce the heat to low, and slowly pour the cream mixture into the skillet. The caramel will bubble up quite a bit. Cook while stirring until the mixture reaches 240°. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
- Pour the caramel into a mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the frosting until it reaches a spreadable consistency, about 5 minutes. Beat in the salt.
- If the frosting becomes too hard or thick to spread easily, heat a few tablespoons of heavy cream in the microwave and stir the cream into the frosting a teaspoon at a time until it reaches spreadable consistency..
- Place the bottom layer of cake on your cake plate and spread about one-third of the caramel frosting on top, then layer with the crushed pineapple. Place the second layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake.
Notes
When preparing the first layer, I put the frosting down first, as the pineapple is slippery and the frosting wouldn't smooth on top of it very well.
Don't leave the frosting while it's beating. It goes from liquid to brown sugar quickly.
The cake would frost best if you do a crumb layer (one thin layer of frosting all over the cake), let it refrigerate for 15 or 20 minutes, then finish frosting.
If frosting is too thick, only put a teaspoon of cream in at a time to thin it out, then beat and check the consistency. Add a touch more cream if needed, but not too much!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 400Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 145mgSodium: 563mgCarbohydrates: 138gFiber: 1gSugar: 121gProtein: 6g
Nutrition Values are Approximate
Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Little Everyday Cakes by Candace Floyd. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!
Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.
The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.
Blackberry-Almond Upside Down Cake
- All That's Left Are The Crumbs
- Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Camille Cooks
- A Little Bit of All Right
- Sweet Sensations
Vanilla Sponge with Pineapple Filling and Caramel Frosting
Fudge Cake with Cherries & Pecans
I've had my fair share of "slidey" cakes and they are no fun and thanks for the tips. I could face plant into that caramel frosting!
Oh my goodness....I think we have all been there at one time. I hope it tastes wonderful.
Lol. Can't wait to see your final photos! Sponge cake always gives me trouble!
Thanks Karen. Slidey cake is no fun to try to frost, definitely!!