It's not about the cake but the frosting!

This is all about the frosting and this frosting is too  good to not pass  along.  Some of you may be like, duh, Ingrid where have you been and others, hopefully one, will be like, hey, thanks!  :-) I found this  caramel frosting recipe on Erin's Food Files.  (Check out her candy coated marshmallow heart pops.)

I had a layer of banana cake in the freezer that needed to be used from when I made this cake.  When I froze that sucker and even before tasting it I knew I wanted something caramel-y. 

Don't make the cake but do make the frosting. It was actually pretty easy and just a little time consuming.  You make your own caramel sauce (yay,me) and use it in the frosting which is a cream cheese buttercream concoction.  Did I mention it's goooood? No? I'm talking GOOD!  I thought I didn't like caramel growing up then I started blogging and realized, oh, what I don't like is that yuckiness they put into jars and label caramel sauce.  After making my own it's been confirmed I LOVE homemade caramel sauce and Julia, you're right this is even better than those caramels you unwrap and melt down with cream or whatever.  I know better now.

I  "frosted" the middle layer with caramel sauce then once it set up I added the caramel cream cheese buttercream. For top I  drizzled caramel sauce on it.  Everyone who had a slice only talked about the frosting an even my nonfrosting loving son said that it was great.  Yeah, make the frosting forget the cake!

On a side note I just finished the book Emma & Me by Elizabeth Flock.  I really enjoyed it.  Lately I haven't had much luck at the book store.  I can't seem to find anything that makes me want to stop what I'm doing and read!  Emma & Me was really good and I didn't even guess the end until the end which I really liked.  It's tiresome when midway through a book and you already have it all worked out.  I'm moving on to Wally Lamb's  She Comes Undone my friend, Wendy suggested it to me. Anybody else read it? Recommend it? Or anything else? 

Okay, just one more thing.  A few people have asked where did I purchase my cake stand.  I purchased it at Target on clearance for 5 or 6 dollars. 

That first photo is courtesy of Miss Karolyn.

Technorati Tags: caramel,cream cheese,frosting,buttercream,books

Cheater Snicker Brownies

Yup, I did it again I cheated and used a boxed brownie mix.  Yes, they probably would have tasted a bit better if I had made the brownies by scratch AND a whole lot better if I  had made homemade caramel sauce but I needed a quick something for the Twins to take to baseball practice this is what I came up with.  I'll be honest I was initially going to make Dianne's Peanut Butter Mousse Bars but I ran out of time as I had already made another dessert, a tropical pound cake (a la The Crepes of Wrath).  That one was for the kids could take to school for lunch. 

It starts with one box of brownie mix whichever you prefer.  Follow the directions as written on the back.  Once poured into the pan I topped it with chopped up pieces of snickers bars.  I then baked it as called for on the box.  Once the brownies were baked I noticed that the snicker pieces had sunk and left (interesting) holes in my brownies so I chopped up more snickers bars to plop in the holes once the brownies had cooled completely.  After filling the holes I nuked some caramel bits with cream and drizzled it over the brownies.  I also melted some semisweet chocolate chips and shortening and drizzled it over the brownies.  (I'd love to give you exact numbers but it was after 11:30 & I was TIRED so I kinda winged it) 

I personally didn't care for the brownies  but the Twins, their teammates, and the other parents ate them up without complaint so I'll take that as they were at least edible.  Actually there wasn't even a piece of fallen off snickers bar left in the pan. The butterscotch marshmallow brownies with butterscotch ganache was waaaaaaaaaaaay better.  As a matter of fact I made them again last night.

*On a non-baking note: 

Baseball season kicks off this weekend for the Twins.....GO STING!  They have moved up to the "big" fields.  Should be fun, wish us luck!  

Can I take a moment to brag a bit on one of the twins?  Devon is receiving an academic award from Mid Florida Pop Warner on the 28th of Feb.   At that time he'll find out if he's also been selected to receive a scholarship!  (I don't know all the details.) It's not going to pay for school but I'm thinking maybe books?! Still that's not too bad for 12 yrs old! (Jalen, I  LOVE and am proud of you as well!  You just don't play football! { I have to say this otherwise the one thinks I favor the other one which means I love one twin more than the other one. To answer you question, yes!})

I also wanted let you know that I've been reading a terrific book called The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan.  The book is both touching and funny.  I definitely suggest reading  it if you haven't.  I've also found quite a few clips of Kelly reading excerpts from the book.  I guarantee it will have you laughing out loud and tearing up!

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