Better Than Sex Cake

This week was my birthday and I turned a ripe 36 years old.  Every year for my birthday I make this Better Than Sex Cake because it’s my favorite sheet cake!

Also, my Mom used to make a version of this cake for me when I was a kid and yes she still called it the same name. I had many questions, I’m sure, but I never questioned the deliciousness of this cake!

Of course, the irony is that I wouldn’t find out for a good many years that this cake is not, in fact, better than sex.  Some of my high school friends still might not get it…

Anyway, it’s a very delicious cake and one that will be a show-stopper at any party you take it to. I will always call it my Better Than Sex Cake. You could call it a Better Than Anything Cake if you want, but no matter what you call it, it must be made!

Caramel Sauce for Better Than Sex Cake

Ok. So the original recipe for this Better than Sex Cake just used an entire jar of the store-bought caramel sauce.  You can definitely just use one of those if you want, but you know I’m a sucker for homemade.

Making this sauce is actually pretty easy as long as you can avoid burning your sugar (something that I almost did).

Just start it off by adding the sugar, corn syrup, and water into a large 2 quart pot.  It might seem like a ridiculously huge pot for that much stuff, but it bubbles up a lot so you need the room.

Melt all this stuff together over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is all dissolved.  Once it starts simmer, turn your heat down to medium-low and then just let it cook down.  There’s no need to even stir it. In fact, if you do stir it, it’ll all stick to your spoon!

When your sugar is an amber color, it’s done.

Immediately take it off the heat and slowly stir in the warm cream.  This is kind of a crazy step because it will bubble like mad, but just stir it and it will eventually calm down and smooth out.

Next, fold your butter into the sauce.  There should be enough residual heat to melt it.

Then add in the salt and vanilla and you should have a very smooth sauce.  If there are any lumps in the sauce, just put it back over low heat and cook it slowly, stirring constantly, until the lumps cook out.

When the caramel is cooled, go ahead and stir in the sweetened condensed milk and set it aside for later.

This is some addictively sweet and delicious sauce!

How to Make Better Than Sex Cake

I’m pretty positive that my mom used boxed German chocolate cake mix for my childhood version of this Better than Sex Cake.  And trust me… that works.  It’s easy and very delicious.

I decided to go with a great chocolate sheet cake recipe that I’ve been meaning to try for a while.

Start by mixing the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.

Then in a small pot, melt the butter and cocoa powder until the mixture is very smooth.  Then stir in the boiling water.  I was skeptical of this step, but it worked!

Then pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients.  This will cool down the wet ingredients.  Mix it all together, but, as with any cake, try not to over-mix it.

Then in a separate bowl, stir together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda.

Next, fold the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture.

Pour this into your baking pan and you’re all set.

Normally, for cakes, I recommend coating the pan really well in butter and then dusting it with flour, but for a chocolate cake, use cocoa powder instead of flour or you’ll have a weird white ring around the edge of your cake.

• Need a fast dessert? Try these Pumpkin Milkshakes!

The Secret Step to Better Than Sex Cake

Bake the cake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.  A tester should come out clean from the center of the cake.

Now for the fun part!

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke a bunch of holes in it while it’s still warm.  I used a chopstick or the end of a mixer blade for this, but anything round will work really.

Then take your caramel sauce mixture and pour it all over the cake!

Use a spatula to kind of smooth it around so it seeps evenly into the cake.

Let it sit for about 10 minutes and all of the caramel mixture will disappear into the cake!

As you might imagine, this makes the center of the cake a bit on the gooey side which is just delicious.

Frosting the Better Than Sex Cake

Before you top this cake, chill it for at least an hour in the fridge.  You just don’t want to add fresh whipped cream to a hot cake or it’ll melt all over the place.

Speaking of fresh whipped cream, just whip together the cream with the sugar and vanilla until it forms stiff peaks.  You could use a mixer for this, but I prefer to rock it out by hand.

Then just spread this all over the cake!

I really like using the whipped cream as a frosting because it’s really light when the rest of the cake is pretty rich and heavy.

I topped mine with some crumbled Heath bars or Chocolate chips.

It might look like a normal cake, but trust me, it’s magical.

You can kind of see it in a cross-section piece of cake, but there are these veins of caramel all through the cake that are surprising and wonderful.

So I’m not sure that this Better than Sex Cake is actually better than sex, but I can promise you that it’s very, very good!

Here are a few other great cake recipes!

• Ricotta Raspberry Pound Cake
• Blueberry Yogurt Cake for Kids
• Black Forest Sheet Cake
• Red Velvet Bundt Cake from Recipe Girl