Vanilla Cake with Caramel Buttercream

This homemade vanilla cake with caramel buttercream is a classic recipe with wonderful flavor!

We used our super moist Vanilla Buttermilk Cake for this recipe-it is tender, fluffy, and has the perfect amount of vanilla flavor.

Our Vanilla Velvet Cake, Yellow Birthday Cake, and our Caramel Cake would also pair perfectly with this frosting!

The Vanilla Buttermilk Cake layers are glazed with homemade caramel sauce and then frosted with our soft homemade Caramel Buttercream. Unlike traditional caramel frosting, this caramel frosting is softer and pipes beautifully.

How to Make Vanilla Cake with Caramel Buttercream

You can find our full cake recipe further down in this post, but here is a quick rundown of our steps!

• Preheat & Prepare the Pans- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, grease and flour three 8×2 inch round pans. We also like to line the bottom of the pans with circles of parchment paper.
• Flour Mixture-In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside

• Buttermilk Mixture-In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract.  Set aside.

• Butter and Sugar- In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy.

• Eggs- Add the room temperature eggs one at a time mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.

• Add Dry and Wet Ingredients Alternately- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid). Mix just until incorporated.

The photo below is from another day of making this recipe if you're wondering why the mixing bowl is glass now ;0)!

• Fill the Pans- Divide the cake batter between the three prepared cake pans.

• Time to Bake! Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached. Let cool 10 minutes and turn out. Baking times may vary.

For the Caramel Sauce

The caramel sauce is the real star of the show! It provides a delicious glaze for our vanilla cake layers and provides the caramel flavor for our frosting as well.

As you'll see below, we will reserve ½ cup of the finished caramel sauce for glazing. The remaining caramel sauce, (or at least most of it) will be used in the frosting.

You can find the full recipe further down in this post, but here is a quick look at our steps!

1. Using a medium size saucepan (deep enough to prevent boil over) melt the butter over medium heat.
2. When the butter has melted, add the brown sugar, milk, salt, vanilla extract, and light corn syrup. (The light corn syrup helps to prevent sugar crystals from forming, which can cause graininess.)
3. Once the mixture begins to boil, turn the heat to low and put a lid on the pot. Simmer 5 to 6 minutes. 

4. Check the saucepan now and then to make sure it will not boil over.  A lid on the saucepan steams the sugar crystals, preventing them from forming on the sides.
5. When the time is up, remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the caramel into a heat proof bowl.  We wanted to speed up the cool time and so we poured it into a long baking dish.

6. The caramel will look too thin but keep in mind that it will thicken as it cools.  You can refrigerate to speed up the process. 
7. This recipe makes approximately two cups of caramel sauce (amounts may vary slightly based on how long it simmers).
8. Reserve ½ cup caramel for spreading onto layers when assembling the cake.

For the Caramel Buttercream

We love this caramel buttercream frosting because it's a great alternative to the traditional caramel frostings which become firm very quickly and are difficult to decorate with.

This creamy caramel frosting is light, fluffy, and great for piping!

1. Add stick of softened unsalted butter to mixing bowl and mix until smooth.
2. Mixing on low speed, add about half of the powdered sugar and and mix until incorporated. Gradually add the 1 ½ cup caramel sauce, remaining powdered sugar, and ½ teaspoon of salt.

1. Increase to medium speed and mix for 3-4 minutes until frosting is well mixed, and has a light, creamy consistency. To reduce air bubbles, you can mix for an additional 1-2 minutes on the lowest setting as a final step.

Assembling the Cake

1. Place the first vanilla cake layer on the cake plate or pedestal.
2. I piped a dam of caramel buttercream around the edge of the cake layer using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.
3. Spread about ¼ cup of caramel within the dam on top of the cake layer (adjust amount to your liking).

4. Spread caramel frosting over the caramel glazed layer. I often pipe the buttercream onto the filling and spread it but if you'd rather, you can spread the next cake layer with frosting and apply it to the first cake layer frosting-side-down. Repeat for the other cake layers.

5. Fill any gaps between the cake layers with frosting (I used the same piping bag that I used for the dam for this step.)
6. Apply a thin layer/crumb coat to the cake. At this point, I like to chill the cake for 10-15 minutes or refrigerate for longer.
7. The chilling step firms everything up for the final coat of frosting so that you don't have to worry about the layers shifting as you decorate.
8. Add the final coat of frosting- I used a small offset spatula to create swirls in the buttercream. I finished things off with a buttercream shell border (using a medium sized star tip 21).

More Cakes with Caramel!

Love Caramel? We have more cake and frosting recipes for you to try! Some of the cakes have caramel cake layers, while others may simply have a caramel glaze, filling, or frosting.

Some of our most popular are our Caramel Vanilla Latte Cake, Homemade Caramel Cake, easy Banana Bundt Cake, and Chocolate Turtle Cake.

Enjoy the Recipe

Thanks so much for stopping by! Make sure to check out our full collection of Cake Recipes as well as Cake Decorating Tutorials!

If you are interested in cake design we have all sorts of tutorials from How to Make a Cake to creating elegant cakes, baby shower cakes, to fun birthday cake ideas and so many more!

Vanilla Cake with Caramel Buttrcream

BY Melissa and Bebe

This moist vanilla cake consists of super moist vanilla cake layers glazed with homemade caramel and frosted with caramel buttercream.

Prep Time: 25 minutes mins

Cook Time: 25 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 15

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 ½ sticks (170g) unsalted butter, softened ( holds it shape but dents when pressed)
• ▢ 2 cups (400g) sugar
• ▢ 4 large eggs, room temperature (place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes if in a hurry)
• ▢ 3 cups (342g) cake flour (spooned into measuring cup and leveled off)
• ▢ 2 teaspoons (8g) baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
• ▢ 1 ¼ cups (296g) buttermilk if you do not have buttermilk, see substitution below
• ▢ ¼ cup (54g) vegetable oil
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon (12g) vanilla extract

For the Caramel Sauce (used as glaze and in frosting)

• ▢ 1 stick (114g) unsalted butter (if using salted butter, leave out extra salt)
• ▢ 2 cups (234g) light or dark brown sugar packed into cup (we used light brown)
• ▢ 1 cup (242g) milk (you can use whole milk, 2 % milk or cream)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon (4g) salt
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon (5g) vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons (36g) light corn syrup (optional, it helps to prevent sugar crystals/graininess)

For the Caramel Buttercream Frosting

• ▢ 1 stick (114g) unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ 5 cups (585g) powdered sugar — measure then sift (set aside for later use)
• ▢ 1 ½ cups Homemade Caramel Sauce
• ▢ ½ teaspoon (3g) salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour three 8×2 inch round pans.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside
• In another bowl, add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla.  Set aside..
• In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
• Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid).
• Do not mix above medium speed or over mix the cake batter.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached. Let cool 10 minutes and turn out.
• For the Caramel Sauce
• Using a medium size saucepan (deep enough to prevent boil over) melt the butter over medium heat.
• When the butter has melted, add the brown sugar, milk, salt, vanilla and light corn syrup
• Stir slowly trying to keep the mixture off the sides of the pan. 
• Once the mixture begins to  boil, turn the heat to low and put a lid on the pot. Simmer 5 to 6 minutes. 
• Check the pot now and then to make sure it will not boil over.  A lid on the pot steams sugar crystals from sides of the pot.
• When the time is up, remove from the heat and pour into a heat proof bowl.  It will look too thin but keep in mind that the caramel thickens as it cools. Allow to cool before using in the frosting. You can refrigerate to speed up the process. Makes about 2 cups sauce.
• Reserve ½ cup caramel for spreading onto layers when assembling the cake

For the Caramel Buttercream

• Add stick of softened butter to mixing bowl and mix until smooth. Mixing on low speed, add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until incorporated.
• Gradually add the 1 ½ cup caramel sauce and remaining powdered sugar.
• Increase to medium speed and mix for 3-4 minutes until frosting is well mixed, and has a light, creamy consistency. To reduce air bubbles, you can mix for an additional 1-2 minutes on the lowest setting as a final step.

Assemble the Cake

• Place the first vanilla cake layer on the cake plate or pedestal.
• I piped a dam of caramel buttercream around the edge of the cake layer using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.
• Spread about ¼ cup of caramel within the dam on top of the cake layer (adjust amount to your liking).
• Spread caramel frosting over the caramel glazed layer. I often pipe the buttercream onto the filling and spread it but if you'd rather, you can spread the next cake layer with frosting and apply it to the first cake layer frosting-side-down. Repeat for the other cake layers.
• Fill any gaps between the cake layers with frosting (I used the same piping bag that I used for the dam for this step.)
• Apply a thin layer/crumb coat to the cake. At this point, I like to chill the cake for 10-15 minutes or refrigerate for longer.
• The chilling step firms everything up for the final coat of frosting so that you don't have to worry about the layers shifting as you decorate.
• Add the final coat of frosting- I used a small offset spatula to create swirls in the buttercream. I finished things off with a buttercream shell border (using a medium sized star tip 21).

Notes

Substitute for Buttermilk: 

No Buttermilk? Here is a substitution: To a measuring cup, add 1 Tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice. Add milk to the 1 ¼ mark, stir. Wait 5 minutes and it is ready to use.

Substitution for Cake Flour:

Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend

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