Calculate Exponents bit by bit

JavaScript (ES7), 55 bytes

f=(a,b,c=2)=>b>1?b%c?f(a,b,c+1):a+['^'+b,f(a**c,b/c)]:a

Uses , in place of = (2^15,8^5,32768).

Test cases

f=(a,b,c=2)=>b>1?b%c?f(a,b,c+1):a+['^'+b,f(Math.pow(a,c),b/c)]:a
g=(a,b)=>console.log(`f(${a}, ${b}):`,f(a,b))

g(4,8)
g(5,11)
g(2,15)

Note: the snippet uses Math.pow instead of ** for cross-browser compatibility.

05AB1E, 23 22 17 bytes

Saved 5 bytes by noticing the flexible output format.

Ò©gƒ²®N¹‚£P`Šm‚Rˆ

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Explanation

Example for 2^15

Ò©                 # calculate primefactors of exponent and store in register
                   # STACK: [3,5]
  g                # length
                   # STACK: 2
   ƒ               # for N in range[0 ... len(primefactors)] do
    ²              # push base
                   # STACK: 2
     ®             # push primefactors
                   # STACK: 2, [3,5]
      N¹‚£         # split into 2 parts where the first is N items long
                   # 1st, 2nd, 3rd iteration: [[], [3, 5]] / [[3], [5]] / [[3, 5], []]
          P        # reduce each by product
                   # STACK 1st iteration: 2, [1,15]
           `       # split list to items on stack
                   # STACK 1st iteration: 2, 1, 15
            Š      # move down the current exponent
                   # STACK 1st iteration: 15, 2, 1
             m     # raise base to the rest of the full exponent
                   # STACK 1st iteration: 15, 2
              ‚    # pair them up
                   # STACK 1st iteration: [15,2]
               R   # reverse the pair
                   # STACK 1st iteration: [2,15]
                ˆ  # store it in global list
                   # print global list at the end of execution

Jelly, 16 bytes

*Uż:Ṫ
ÆfṪ1;×\ç@€

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Input is a single list [base, exponent]. The return value of the lower monadic link is a list of lists, as a full program a representation of that list is printed, for example 2^15=8^5=32768^1 is printed as:

[[2, 15], [8, 5], [32768, 1]]

How?

ÆfṪ1;×\ç@€ - Main link: [base, exponent]            e.g.     [4,12]
Æf         - prime factorization array (vectorises)      [[2,2],[2,2,3]]
  Ṫ        - tail (tailing first costs bytes)                   [2,2,3]
   1;      - 1 concatenated with the result                   [1,2,2,3]
     ×\    - reduce with multiplication  (make factors)       [1,2,4,12]
       ç@€ - call last link (1) as a dyad for €ach with reversed @rguments
           - implicit print if running as a full program

*Uż:Ṫ - Link 1, an entry in the equality: [base, exponent], factor  e.g. [4, 12], 4
*     - exponentiate (vectorises) : [base ^ factor, exponent ^ factor]   [256, 20736]
 U    - upend                                                            [20736, 256]
   :  - integer division: [base // factor, exponent // factor]           [1, 3]
  ż   - zip                                                        [[20736, 1], [256, 3]]
    Ṫ - tail                                                                    [256, 3]
                                               ...i.e at a factor of 4: 4 ^ 12 = 256 ^ 3

It could be formatted as a grid for 2 bytes by a trailing µG, e.g.:

    2    15
    8     5
32768     1

...or fully formatted, including trimming off the ^1, for 9, with a trailing j€”^j”=ṖṖ, e.g.:

2^15=8^5=32768