Brown Sugar Cake with Caramel Butter Cream Frosting

The other day I got the urge to make a cake.  There really wasn't anything in particular to celebrate, I just felt like creating something beautiful and that tasted even better.  I had the day to myself, which meant flour and butter scattered over the counters and the hum of the mixer going pretty much going non-stop.  I wanted to bake a cake that had a fall look and feel, so I settled on Martha Stewart's Brown-Sugar Layer Cake with Caramel Buttercream Frosting.  Typically when it comes to cake I love chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, but I felt like baking a cake that was more reminiscent of fall, and this proved to be the perfect match. The cake was moist and had a subtle caramel taste (thanks to the dark brown sugar) and the butter cream icing had the perfect infusion of caramel goodness, not too sweet like traditional butter cream frostings.  

A Few Things: This cake took a good five hours to prepare from start to finish, but I think it was well-worth it.  The majority of the time was spent using a mixer. If you have a few hours to spare go for it, I don't think you will be disappointed.   

*All photographs by Alison