Caramel glazed cake croutons. Yes! CAKE. CROUTONS. You read that correctly. They are also covered in an addictive crunchy toffee! Gasp.
These lightly crunchy, cake croutons are delicious on top of ice cream, toppled onto pudding, or just popped in your watering mouth.
Caramel covered pound cake
Pound cake is just rich and sturdy enough to hold up under the pressure of a caramel coating. I say that because I would feel under pressure if I were coated with caramel. I don't know if I'd do as well as these little cubes of cake. Would you?
Cake cubes covered with caramel make a perfect ice cream topping. Crunchy, sweet and crackly!
Making caramel
Now let's talk some more about this caramel. If you've never caramelized sugar, at home, by yourself...don't worry one bit! The most important thing is washing the sides of the pan with a brush and water. Let me explain:
Once the sugar dissolves in the water, if any of the little granules remain anywhere near the liquid (meaning on the sides of the pan, the stirring spoon, etc.) they will cause the entire batch to crystallize. The easy fix is to have a little dish of water, and a clean pastry brush handy.
All you have to master to make Caramel Glazed Cake Croutons is cooking a little sugar and water to make caramel!
Wash down the sides of the pan to prevent crystals
Once you've stirred the sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved, remove the spoon, and start brushing the insides of the pan with water. The water will wash down the sides, clearing any granules and moving them into the mixture to dissolve along with their friends.
You don't need to be excessive. Just a few rounds of washing and you're done. Then let your mixture bubble. The water is evaporating. You want this to happen. Once the water is evaporated the sugar can begin to caramelize. This is the same method I use for homemade caramel sauces like my Gingerbread Caramel Sauce.
Now, this goes fast! Watch, and swirl the pan so the mixture caramelizes evenly. Take it off the heat when you are happy with the color of the caramel. Use a CLEAN spoon or spatula to scrape any of the caramel out of the pan. You're done. You're a superstar!
The next step is to make caramel glazed cake croutons by coating every inch of the cake cubes with the delicious stuff. I use two forks, or a clean silicone spatula to separate them. They cool to crunchy goodness on the parchment. Try them with any of these delicious ice cream flavors.
Caramel-Glazed Cake Croutons
Ingredients
- 1 Frozen or fresh pound cake cut into ½-inch cubes (about 5½ cups total)
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Cut pound cake into ½-inch cubes. Toast in oven on a baking sheet, turning once, until just golden around the edges, about 15 min.
- Line another baking sheet with parchment; set aside. In a pot over medium-high heat, combine sugar, water and unsalted butter to make caramel. Stir until sugar dissolves and mixture reaches a boil. (Brush inside of pot with a wet pastry brush to remove stray sugar crystals.) Boil gently without stirring until caramel is medium amber, about 8 minutes.
- Remove from heat and immediately add cake cubes to pot; stir very gently to coat. Quickly pour cubes on parchment and separate. I use two forks or spatulas to separate them. Let cool.
Notes
Nutrition
I think you'll also like my Chocolate Covered Pretzel Pie. It's all the flavors of your favorite chocolate-covered pretzel snack, whipped into a creamy pie!
If you love toffee and caramel and everything nice, you will dig my Pumpkin Cake Roll with Toffee Cream Cheese Filling. It's also one of the most beautiful cakes you'll ever make!
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About Tara Teaspoon
I’ve been in the food publishing business for over 20 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television & advertising. Order my new cookbook & stick around for amazing things to eat.
Recipe by Tara Teaspoon. Photographer Antonis AchilleosOriginally published LHJ July 09.
Mary Bench says
Well I've tried these and they are divine!
Brittany Smart says
Who knew croutons could be even more delicious!
Anne Marie Miller says
So delicious! 10/10 would recommend it to everyone!
Shelley says
I have never, ever heard of cake croutons, and now I just can't figure out how they've been missing from my life all this time! What a brilliant, absolutely wonderful (and yet so very simple) recipe idea! So creative, and I can think of loads of uses for them! I'm in love!
Candice says
I never want to have ice cream without these croutons ever again! Sug a great idea to make croutons out of pound cake, and they are absolutely delicious. Highly recommend!
Amanda says
These glazed cake croutons are brilliant! What a fun and creative way to dress up ice cream. They turned out delicious.
Paula Montenegro says
This is the best idea ever to use those pieces of cake from the top and the last piece that dried out! I love this idea and will put it into practice asap!
Kathryn Donangelo says
What a GENIUS idea! Pound cake makes the best croutons and is my new favorite topping. SO glad I tried this recipe! Thank you!
Citra's Home Diary says
Such a great idea to use mu left over frozen cake as delicious topping! thank you for sharing the idea.
Lori | The Kitchen Whisperer says
What the what?!!! This is BRILLIANT!!! I'm in love with this so much!!!
Leslie says
This is probably the best thing you could add to ice cream! These look amazing!
Debbie says
These Caramel Glazed Cake Croutons are just pure genius ! What a wonderful topping for ice cream that everyone needs to try!
Veronika says
OMG! I've never saw these caramelized cake croutons before! Such a great idea, I definitely need to try it!