Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake
Apparently, God did not intend for me to make caramel in this lifetime. Started making the caramel and that's when the real trouble began. I had several things going on in the kitchen at once. I had the caramel on the stove and it was cooking very nicely all by itself. It was taking a while to turn amber however. So I turned my back just for like two minutes to the sink to put a pan in to soak, and hubs yelled and said, whoa this stuff is turning brown! By the time I stepped the three feet back to the stove, there was a horrible burnt smell coming from my precious caramel. I was so disappointed. I left it in the pan while I finished cooking my dinner and then the caramel had hardened in my pan and I thought I would never be able to dig all that hard gunk out! A soak in the sink worked pretty well though.
If at first you don't succeed, start over! New pan and new ingredients. This time I watched the caramel boil in the pan for over ten minutes and it never turned amber. Since I was gun shy this time, I probably took it off the stove a bit soon. It tasted delicious right after making it, but a day later it looks like it turned back to sugar. Next time, I think I'll depend on dear old Kraft caramels to bail me out.
I did give it to my BFF, but the cake itself was just not good. Thank goodness I had card and gifts in hand as well. The cake was dry and the caramel too sugary. I wanted to love this cake so much, that I am going to try it again and again and again until I get it right! Happy Birthday to friend. You deserve so much better!
Hear ye, hear ye. Newsflash! Hubs and I have decided to re-do a bit of our kitchen in order to gain more countertop. So here's the drill. I need your help in choosing the granite for my countertops. I have bisque colored cabinets and taupe tiled backsplash and taupe floors. I have black accents. So I'm thinking black countertops for drama, right? Then I see this slab of a sort of chocolate color at the granite store with black flecks in it and I thought, hmmm. . . .maybe this would be better than the black. Let me know what you think. Here are my samples. The first is Ubatuba and the second is Tropic Taz.
Comments
re: brownie cake. Your cake looks yummy, I'm sorry it didn't work out.
Granite: I love the 2nd choice. I would love to have black, but that other one is so warm and inviting. Good luck! I am SO jealous!
My caramel turned out to be about the same colour as yours.
As for your cake,. I know how frustrating it can be when you try for perfection. But your positive attitude trumps the cake. Thanks for sharing!
Way to see it through though.
I like the lighter countertop.
Watch out for water stains on dark countertops. We have it in our bathroom, and I hate it.
Ok, on to the caramel - mine took about 20 minutes. As soon as it was amber I took it off the stove and added the cream and butter which I had together in a measure glass. I was happy that I took it off the stove as it continued to deepen in colour.
I had been building up to this and watching chefs make caramel on tv.
I would give it another try one day - when you have nothing else on the go. You will feel proud when you master it, I guarantee.
:)
I like the dramatic black - and I'm jealous (for the record); I have tiled countertops and I can't wait to replace them! Tired of seams in my piecrusts!! Enjoy your new kitchen upgrade!