Recipe: Caramel Frosting

BridgetDela, If you search this site for caramel frostings, you will find dozens to choose from. As for the cake, if your FIL is used to box cakes, he's likely to find a from-scratch cake dense. On the other hand, from-scratch cakes taste fresher. If you are not an experienced baker, this might not be the best time to experiment with scratch recipes.

Here's a caramel frosting recipe to get you started:

CARAMEL FROSTING

1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
3 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine margarine and sugar in a large saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture turns a light brown.

Remove from heat. Stir in milk; carefully bring mixture to boiling; lower heat. Put candy thermometer in mixture.

Cook, stirring gently, to 238 degrees (soft ball stage). Remove from heat; add vanilla; cool to 110 degrees.

Beat with spoon until mixture loses its gloss. This will take about 5 minutes.

Fill and frost cake quickly before mixture stiffens.