Why did my caramel crystallize?

Hello! So this was definitely the best pineapple upside down cake I’ve ever made and eaten. So good! However, my caramel topping crystallized big time! Like none of it came out of the skillet when I turned it over 😂. So I did the most Julia Child thing I could think of and made a caramel sauce and drizzled it on the top. Yep, it was wonderful.

So here’s my question: why did that happen? I did increase the recipe by half bc I made it in a 12” skillet. So was my butter to brown sugar ratio off? Orrrr…should I have actually melted the sugar and butter all the way (instead of what the recipe said)? All thoughts and feedback is welcomed.

Erinm
  • Posted by: Erinm
  • June 20, 2021
  • 4068 views
  • 2 Comments
My Mom's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Recipe question for: My Mom's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

2 Comments

aargersi
aargersi June 22, 2021
Agree with Dr Babs … sugar needs fat to stay in liquid (gooey delicious) form so it sounds like some of your sugar didn’t meet up with the necessary butterfat.
 
drbabs
drbabs June 21, 2021
I love this cake, too, and thanks for the reminder because I haven’t made it in a while. This is obviously just a guess, but I think it’s possible that the caramel crystallized because the ratio of butter and sugar were off, or because they weren’t thoroughly blended together, and there were unmelted pieces of sugar clinging to the pan. Sugar wants to be in crystal form, and will recrystallize pretty easily. Sounds like you figured out an elegant solution,
 
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