Kahlua Chocolate Cake with Caramel Brown Butter Frosting

I totally Sandra Lee'd this one. This recipe starts with a cake mix. That's OK. It's still good. It's good to be back.

I still had a bit of the caramel syrup left from the Daring Bakers challenge a while back and that frosting was really good so I decided to make it again, or at least something like it. But I figure you should probably have something under the frosting. This time I opted for something a bit darker and less sweet to compliment the frosting. Also, it meant I could make the frosting sweeter (if that's possible) and use more of the caramel syrup. Oh and I used salted butter rather than adding salt.






1 box chocolate cake mix (the kind that says add 3 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1-1/3 cup water)
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup kahlua
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs

2 sticks butter
about 1/4 cup caramel syrup (left from the November Daring Bakers challenge), to taste
a sprinkling of confectioners sugar, to taste

Mix the eggs, milk, kahlua and oil together in a bowl.
Mix in the cake mix. Do not overmix.
Bake according to the package directions.
Allow to cool completely.

Melt butter in a pan over medium low heat.
Allow to cook until brown, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
Strain the butter to remove the large brown bits. The small ones can stay and will give the frosting a nice brown color.
Cool the butter so that it firms up.
Stir in the caramel syrup and sugar gradually. Add each to taste.
Frost the cooled cake.