Ooey Gooey Salted Caramel Cake #FoodieExtravaganza

The theme for this month's Foodie Extravaganza is Caramel.  All the members of the group made a recipe featuring caramel and are sharing it with our readers today.  You will find links to all the recipes at the bottom of this post.  You can learn more about the group at our Facebook page.

This month's party is being hosted by Kathleen of Fearlessly Creative Mammas.  She went over to The Nibble where she found out all about the foods that Americans celebrate during the month of April.  Today,  April 5th, is National Caramel Day.  Woohooooo.  And tomorrow?  Tomorrow is National Caramel Popcorn Day.  So there you have it folks.  Time to break out the caramel!!

Our German son, Max, was home for a few days.  He was able to squeeze in a short visit between a training session in New York and returning to Berlin.  Since he only had a few days we hosted a party so that everyone could come to him instead of his trying to be everywhere at once.

I made up a roaster full of stew, a big tossed salad, a fruit salad, biscuits, brownies and this absolutely amazing cake that I adapted from this recipe found at BettyCrocker.com.

Starting with a boxed cake mix, heath bar crumbles and salted caramel ice cream topping made this cake come together in minutes.

A quick bake in the oven, top it with more salted caramel and toffee candy pieces and it is ready to be set aside while you complete your other chores before guests arrive.

When ready to serve, just whip up some heavy cream and drizzle with some more caramel and you have a treat sure to please any caramel lover in your midst.

Make sure you continue after my recipe to see all the other Caramel Creations!

Ooey Gooey Salted Caramel Cake

adapted from Betty Crocker

1 box yellow cake mix

1/3 c. flour

1 c. water

1/3 c. canola oil

3 eggs

1 (8 oz) bag chocolate coated toffee bits

1 (15 oz) jar salted caramel ice cream topping

1 (8 oz) carton heavy cream

Additional caramel topping, if desired

Place cake mix, flour, water, oil and eggs in large bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on low for 30 seconds, increase speed to medium and beat for a minute or two.  Stir in 1/2 cup of the toffee bits.

Pour into a 9x13" pan that has been treated with baking spray. Reserve 1/2 cup of the salted caramel. Drop by spoonfuls the remaining salted caramel in dollops on top of the batter.  Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 35-40 minutes, until a skewer inserted removes cleanly.

Cool cake for 5 minutes.  Place the reserved salted caramel in the microwave on high heat for 10 seconds then pour over the still warm cake and spread it evenly.  Sprinkle with remaining toffee bits.

Just before serving, place the heavy cream in a chilled bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Begin beating on low until slightly thickened. Increase the speed and beat until light and fluffy.  No need to add any sweetener to this cream.  This cake is plenty sweet.  

Place a piece of cake on a plate.  Add a dollop of the whipped cream and drizzle with additional caramel sauce.  Print Recipe

More Caramel Creations!

• Gooey Caramel Cake - Fearlessly Creative Mammas 
• Easter Coconut Bird's Egg Nests - Palatable Pastime 
• Ooey Gooey Salted Caramel Cake - A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Caramel Apple Granola - Hardly a Goddess 
• Caramel Apple Dip - Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Banana Chia Pudding with Date Caramel - Caroline's Cooking 
• Affogato - Vanilla Ice Cream With Espresso, Caramel Sauce And Salted Almonds - Sneha's Recipes
• Fa'ausi (Samoan Coconut Caramel Bread) - Tara's Multicultural Table

Foodie Extravaganza is a monthly party where bloggers come together to create recipes using the same ingredient. The host, this month it's Kathleen from Fearlessly Creative Mammas, picks an ingredient from the website The Nibble. If you're a blogger and would like to join in the fun, you can request to join on this Facebook page. Posting day is alway the first Wednesday of the month. If you'd like to see past recipes, you can follow our Pinterest board too.

Saying Hello to Halo~~Product Review

I was approached by Halo Top Creamery and offered a coupon for a complimentary pint of ice cream in return for posting an honest opinion on this blog and posting a photo and link to this review on Instagram.  I received no monetary compensation nor did I receive any further instructions or requirements regarding my post.  This review is 100% mine and 100% true.

Halo Top describes their ice cream as "low-calorie, high-protein, and low-sugar, we use only the best, all-natural ingredients to craft our ice cream so that it tastes just like regular ice cream."

I was skeptical, especially since this entire pint of Sea Salt Caramel ice cream only contains 320 calories.  Especially considering that a 1/2 cup serving of Hagen Daz Salted Caramel ice cream contains 240 calorie.  That is a huge difference.  Huge.....160 calories, huge.  That means you could eat 3 servings of this ice cream for the same calories as 1 serving of regular ice cream.

This is great unless the low calorie, high protein and low sugar ice cream tastes like pooder dooder. Pooder Dooder is a technical term adopted from my nephew when he was being potty trained.  He is 40 now and our entire family still says pooder dooder.

So I scooped myself a serving of ice cream and added no adornments of any kind.  No hot fudge, no whipped cream, no cherry.  Just plain old unadorned Salted Caramel flavored Halo Top Ice Cream.

It is rich, smooth and creamy.  Had I been served this ice cream in a blind taste test I would have never guessed in a million years that it was low fat and low sugar.  It was delicious and I will be indulging in other flavors, guilt free (or at least with less guilt) from now on.

I was slightly disappointed by the salted caramel flavor. It was good but, to me, it tasted more like butterscotch.  Now, I know, that some people believe that caramel and butterscotch are the same thing.  I know that sometimes the terms are used interchangeably.  

I, however, do not think they are the same thing.  I think they are two very distinctive flavors.  I like butterscotch, hence I enjoyed this bowl of ice cream.  However I was expecting and looking forward to caramel.  This is a slight little disappointment that perhaps nobody else would even mention.  I am looking forward to trying some of their other flavors. Next up?  Peanut Butter Cup......YUM!!!