Caramel Macchiato Coffee Cake: Should have thought of this years ago!

Caramel Macchiato Coffee Cake

Some people love candy. Not me. I’ll take a good piece of cake anytime. I’ll actually take a dry piece of cake. I love cake. Lately, I’m into caramel, vanilla, buttery flavors. A few days ago I woke up around 4 o’clock; couldn’t get back to sleep. And when I can’t sleep, I think about what is in my pantry and my fridge that I can combine to make something yummy and different. Yeah, that may not be normal, but it’s my normal. Anyway, all that thinking made me hungry. By 5:30 a.m. this cake was ready. It was still hot when I took that first slice out. Oh, it was SO good with that pot of strong coffee I had made.

Two things:  1) If you don’t want to make it from scratch, just get a “butter” yellow cake mix and add the cinnamon and praline liqueur. 2) You don’t have to use the praline liqueur, you could use butter flavoring, a nut flavoring, extra vanilla, or absolutely no extra flavoring at all. I just love my little bottle of praline liqueur and try to find any way I can to sneak it into a recipe. I honestly just like to smell it. If you get some, you will totally understand. I’m not crazy.

The first name I came up with was way too long, and later on I was at Starbucks drinking a Caramel Macchiato and it hit me...this kinda tastes like the glaze I made on my cake! So, thus, the cake is now named for my Starbucks obsession. Not very original, but it lets you know what flavors you will be enjoying.

Caramel Macchiato Coffee Cake

Oven:  350 degrees
Time:  40-45 minutes

The cake is a standard 1-2-3-4 Butter Cake recipe, older than any of us reading this blog. My additions are the cinnamon and praline liqueur. For those that are into the salted caramel craze, you could sprinkle  some coarse salt or sea salt on top for that flavor punch.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup butter, room temperature
2. 2 cups sugar
3. 3 cups all-purpose flour
4. 4 eggs
5. 3 tsp baking powder
6. 1 tsp cinnamon
7. 1 cup milk
8. 1 tsp vanilla
9. 1 TBS praline liqueur

Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating each in thoroughly.
3. Add dry ingredients, alternately with milk and flavorings.
4. Bake in greased/floured bundt pan, 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let set for a couple of minutes in bundt pan, then turn onto cake plate to cool while you mix up the glaze.

Caramel Macchiato Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1/2 box powdered sugar
• 2 heaping TBS of caramel sauce (like you use on ice cream)
• 1 TBS melted butter
• 1/4 cup strong coffee, set aside

Instructions:

1. In a medium size bowl, place powdered sugar, caramel sauce, melted butter.
2. Slowly add in coffee and mix well. Add more or less coffee until you achieve the thickness you desire of your glaze. If it gets too thin, just add a more powdered sugar.

Caramel Macchiato Coffee Cake

This cake is rich in flavor, moist and became an family favorite immediately! This would be perfect to take to a potluck or an early morning meeting at work to share. However, the three of us are content to keep this one all to ourselves.

I make most every cake in bundt form these days, just because it is easier for my family to access. You could definitely make this a two layer cake. You would just need to cut the cooking time down to 25-30 minutes and make a little more glaze....maybe make it thicker, more like an icing.

Note regarding the glaze:  My daughter and I like really strong coffee, so I have started buying a can of espresso grind coffee and mixing it with either French roast or Columbian roast (whichever happens to be on sale that week). So my coffee is really strong and you can easily taste that rich flavor in my glaze. If you don’t like a real coffee hit, then your regular strength coffee will give you a hint of that flavor.

I hope you give this cake a try and please send me a photo! Or send me one of your recipes to try!

As the mixing bowl turns,

Donna ; - )