Best of all, it can be made the night before for an effortless breakfast come morning!

Table of Contents

• The Story Behind the Recipe
• Why You’ll Love Overnight Caramel Baked French Toast
• Ingredients
• Adaptations/Variations
• How to Make Caramel French Toast
• Tips for Success
• More French Toast Recipes

• Jump to the Full, Printable Recipe
• Read Comments & Reviews

The Story Behind the Recipe

This one is perfect for a holiday morning when time is tight and something special is in order. Put it together the night before, then just pull it out of the fridge and bake up a sinfully delicious breakfast while you’re off taking care of other things.

We’ve also plopped a bit of vanilla ice cream on the top of leftover slices for a quick, almost bread-pudding-like dessert.

I first published this recipe back in 2009, and it’s been a family favorite ever since! My nephew, when he was little, even used to called it “Aunt Karen’s famous French toast,” because it was on the internet and all. I thought that was pretty awesome!

Why You’ll Love Overnight Caramel Baked French Toast

This caramel French toast is super special-occasion worthy. I love that it can be assembled the day before, then the next morning, you can just pop it in the oven to bake. It’s especially great for holiday mornings when things are hectic yet you want something special.

Plus, it tastes amazing! Everyone loves this baked French toast recipe … the bread is lightly custardy and chewy, and the caramel is so rich and buttery. The crunch of pecans go perfectly and totally elevates it from plain old French toast.

Ingredients

• Brown sugar – You can use either light or dark brown sugar, your preference. The difference is in the amount of molasses, so if you want a richer, more deeply molasses flavored French toast, go for the dark brown sugar.
• Light corn syrup – A small amount of corn syrup helps create the caramel sauce and ensures success.
• Butter – If you use unsalted, be sure to add an extra pinch of salt to the batter.
• Heavy whipping cream – For the thick, rich caramel sauce.
• Vanilla extract – Use pure vanilla extract for a sweet touch of vanilla flavor.
• Pecans – Go for raw pecans and chop them finely.
• French bread – You’ll want to slice them thick, about 3/4-inches.
• Milk – For the French toast batter. I use 2% or whole milk.
• Eggs – You’ll need three of them.
• Salt – Just a pinch (or, again, two if you are using unsalted butter).
• Cinnamon – I love the added flavor that a bit of ground cinnamon brings.

Adaptations/Variations

• Go nut-free – This caramel French toast is excellent without the pecans, too.
• Caramel apple French toast – I haven’t tried this yet, but I think that diced apples in lieu or (or in addition to) the pecans would be glorious. Or, you could just serve it up with some easy sautéed apples on the side.

How to Make Caramel French Toast

Prepare a 9×13 pan and set it aside, then make your caramel sauce in your saucepan.

Pour the caramel sauce into your baking dish.

And then add the pecans, dunk the bread into the batter, and add the bread.

Cover it up and let it sit overnight. In the morning, bake it!

Tips for Success

• Don’t allow the caramel sauce to boil. That’ll result in hard caramel once the French toast is baked. Keep the heat on low and just stir until the butter is melted and the ingredients are smooth.
• Grease your pan first. With butter or non-stick spray – this will help make clean-up easy.

I really hope you love this overnight caramel baked French toast as much as we all do! If it ends up being a family fave, will you please do me a favor and come back and leave a review? Thank you! Happy breakfasting!

More French Toast Recipes

• How to Make the Best French Toast
• Coconut French Toast
• Overnight Blueberry French Toast Casserole
• Silver Dollar French Toast

Print

Overnight Caramel Pecan French Toast Recipe

Thick slices of bread are dredged into an egg batter and nestled into a thick, rich caramel sauce, then baked up to ooey, gooey perfection!

Keyword baked french toast, caramel french toast, caramel pecan french toast, overnight caramel french toast, overnight french toast, overnight french toast casserole

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6 servings

Calories 590kcal

Author Kare

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup pecans chopped
• 6 – 7 slices French bread about 3/4 inches thick
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

• Grease a 9" x 13" pan with a light layer of butter or non-stick spray.
• Over low heat, combine the brown sugar, light corn syrup, butter, and whipping cream in a medium saucepan.
• Keeping the heat on low (letting it get too hot is bad – and don’t let it boil!), stir constantly until the butter is melted and the ingredients are smooth.
• Remove from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla.
• Pour the warm caramel mixture into a 9″ x 13″ pan.
• Sprinkle the pecans over the top.
• In a large bowl, beat together the milk, eggs, salt, the other 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, and cinnamon.
• Dip the bread into the egg mixture, making sure each piece is well-coated. You want to soak up all of the mixture with your six or seven slices of bread.
• Lay the bread in the pan, over the caramel and pecan mixture.
• Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• It’s morning! Ready for some breakfast? Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
• Remove the cover from the pan and bake for 20 minutes, until the bottom is bubbling and the toast is golden brown.
• Let stand for a couple of minutes, then invert onto a platter.
• Eat right away!

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 590kcal | Carbohydrates: 73g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 129mg | Sodium: 1691mg | Potassium: 253mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 703IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 124mg | Iron: 3mg

The post Overnight Caramel Baked French Toast Recipe appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

It started with a poor lonely pear, just sitting there in the fruit bowl, neglected. “I outta bake something with that pear,” I said to myself. Except when I talk to myself, I don’t think I use the word “outta.” But then again, I don’t pay all that much attention to myself and exactly what I’m saying.

So I thought about a chocolate pear cake… then I thought about gingerbread… then I thought about pears and gingerbread, then I thought about gingerbread pear muffins, then I thought about an upside down pear gingerbread cake. And it was good. In my head, that is.

Of course, it seems there’s rarely, if ever, a truly original idea these days, and so when I googled “upside down pear gingerbread cake,” whammo – those Epicurious jerkheads had already done it!

So I used their (awesome) recipe, with a couple minor adaptations (like dark molasses and light corn syrup in place of the light molasses). Oh yes. It was good.

The intensity of the dark molasses and spices balance perfectly with the sweetness of the caramelized pear. And it’s awesomely moist. And accompanied with some whipping cream or vanilla bean ice cream? Totally divine, and perfect fall fare.

Here’s the recipe!

Gingerbread Pear Upside Down Cake

Print

Gingerbread Pear Upside Down Cake Recipe

Warm gingerbread cake is baked in a skillet on top of a sweet mixture of caramelized pears, then flipped over for a beautiful and delicious presentation!

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 8 servings

Author Kare

Ingredients

Bottom (which will ultimately be the top)

• 2 pears – can be somewhat ripe to pretty darn ripe
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

Cake

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup boiling water

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350. Use a 10-inch cast iron skillet, or according to Epicurious, you can use a 12-inch non-stick skillet if you wrap the handle in a double layer of foil.
• Peel pears and cut into quarters. Remove the core portion, and slice each quarter lengthwise into four slices.
• Heat the skillet to medium on the stove top and melt 1/4 cup butter. Cook butter until the foam on top of the butter starts to go away.
• Reduce heat to low, and sprinkle the 3/4 cup packed brown sugar onto the butter. Let the brown sugar sit in the butter, without stirring, for three minutes.
• Carefully lay the pears into a circle in the sugar mixture.
• Leave the pears in the skillet (don’t stir), still over low heat, for a couple more minutes, then remove from heat.
• Time to make the cake batter! Beat the 1/2 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and egg in a large bowl.
• Boil the water, and stir in the corn syrup and molasses. Remove from heat.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt over the butter, egg, and sugar mixture, and mix on slow speed just until it begins to blend together.
• Slowly pour the molasses, corn syrup, and water mixture into the batter, while mixing on low speed, just until well blended.
• Pour the cake batter into the skillet, over all that pear and brown sugar goodness. The batter should be runny enough where it evens out naturally, but if it doesn’t, just spread it out evenly.
• Place the skillet in your preheated (350 degrees) oven, and bake 40 to 50 minutes. Insert a toothpick (or actual cake tester if you’re way cooler than me – I use a toothpick or, in especially desperate times, a raw spaghetti noodle, what can I say) into the center. When it comes out clean (no cake batter), it’s done!
• Cool the cake on a rack for 5 minutes. Slip a knive around the edges to loosen for the flipping, and invert onto a cake plate.

The post Gingerbread Pear Upside Down Cake Recipe appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.