Caramel Icing

To have someone invite you into their home and share a family recipe is mighty special. That is how i got my hands on this recipe for Caramel icing from Jeanne Yerger. The topic of caramel icing has always terrified me. The stories I have heard from my friends that bake has made me skeptical that I would be able to be successful.

In Jeanne’s kitchen she took me step by step through the recipe and it was relief to know that I could do this on my own. The end result was exactly what my tastebuds were expecting.

Ingredients for caramel:

1 tsp Crisco

½ cup sugar

Directions for caramel:

In an 8” blk iron skillet, rub with Crisco and pour in ½ cup sugar. On med high heat let sugar melt until it is a caramel color. You may swirl the pan but do not stir. When ALL the sugar is melted pour into the pet milk mixture that is boiling on the stove as you make this.

To make the icing

1 Tbl butter.               ½ stick butter

2 cups sugar             1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup pet milk

Directions:

In a 1.5-quart saucepan combine 1 Tbl butter, 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup pet milk and bring to a boil and then turn down to a soft boil. Keep this at a soft boil until the sugar in the blk iron skillet is caramelized and the sugar is finished melting. Pour the sugar caramel from the blk iron skillet into the pet milk mixture. Continue to boil and manage the heat. If it starts spattering all over turn down the heat.

Test the mixture as a soft boil method in a water to see if the caramel balls up. A digital thermometer read 233 degrees. The soft boil water test worked. (soft boil temp is 238 degrees) we did not let it go that far on digital therm. We went by the soft ball-water method.

Take off the heat add ½ cup butter and vanilla. Stir, stir and stir until the butter belts. It looks like it wants to separate but keep stirring until it comes together.

Let cool on counter for 10 minutes. Then beat with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until it thickens and when you can see ribbons as it folds back into itself. Approx. 15 minutes - Just depending. Pour over 9 x 13 cake- do not use a spatula- pour icing over cake and let cool.