What I love about food is not just the taste, but its ability to connect to a memory. My mom was famous among her friends and family for making caramel cakes at Christmas- a talent she passed along to me before she passed away in 2004. In a very special moment shared our last Christmas together, I remember she and I standing over the oven with pot and spoon in hand with what little energy she had left from her battle with cancer, passing along the secrets to this tradition to me and making those cakes for her friends and family. To this day, I still have the wooden spoon and special caramel icing pot she used when making her cakes which I now use for mine. One word of caution for those willing to try a caramel icing. It is harder than it looks. While I have shared the recipe, there are some tricks that just have to be taught in person or learned along the way to reach the right consistency. Sometimes it might be too runny, too hard, too sticky and just not right. But when you nail it, you know! So be patient with yourself and enjoy playing with it to find what works for you. (Oh, and if you are wondering why I have not shared the recipe to the cake, the secret recipe is this, go to the grocery store and buy the Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix. People will rave about it!)

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups sugar
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup milk

Directions

Brown butter and sugar together until light brown in color, stirring enough to keep from burning; then add milk. (Mixture will begin to steam & boil). Keep stirring and let cook until it is at soft ball stage (soft ball will form when mixture is dropped into cold water.) Beat mixture until thick enough.