This caramel frosting is delicious. I have had this recipe for over 30 years. Cream may be substituted for the milk to add richness.
A really great frosting. I used half and half and it was excellent. I had to keep adding half and half to make it spreadable, but since it was so delicious, I didn't mind. :&)
Read MoreNot enough liquid added 2 tablespoons more milk (I used evaporated milk) for added richness, found the texture to be grainy and not nearly enough to frost a cake, would have to triple this to have enough for a full size cake. Because of this am only rating 3 stars, I never change a recipe I make it like it says the first time to truly give a honest rating otherwise why not just submit your own recipe??
Read MoreA really great frosting. I used half and half and it was excellent. I had to keep adding half and half to make it spreadable, but since it was so delicious, I didn't mind. :&)
I recently had a request from my boyfriend's step father to make him the kind of devil's food cake with caramel frosting his grandma used to make. I had absolutely NO IDEA where to start. I found a dfc recipe in Bon Appetit, and used this frosting. I doubled the recipe for a double layer cake. RAVE reviews. Thanks so much! I made one modification, however. It didn't taste "caramelly" enough to me initially - just sugary from all of the powdered sugar. So I tripled the butter/brown sugar/milk portion of the recipe. Turned out fabulous. True to everyone's word it stiffens up very quickly. But nothing a few seconds in the micro didn't fix.
This is an excellent frosting recipe. I like a frosting this is a little creamier, so I added appx. 3 tbsps. of marshmallow creme after all the ingredients were combined. To use the frosting on a bundt cake, I added a little more cream to make it of a consistency that it could be poured on the cake.
I can't say how this would be as a frosting for a layer or sheet cake, because I didn't use it that way. What I can say, however, is if you use about half the powdered sugar called for, and a little extra cream till desired consistency, this works beautifully as a glaze. I used it as a caramel glaze for apple muffins (1/2 recipe was just right for 12) and it was perfect--exactly what I was looking for! When hubs came home from work I had him taste a little dab of it for his opinion and he instantly knew it was caramel and thought it was very good! Smooth, not grainy, with a beautiful caramel color. I'll remember to use this again in just the same way for a great caramel icing for muffins or coffeecakes. It does, however, dry hard, so I'm not so sure I would like it as a cake frosting...
This was so easy to make! I used it as a filling in a layer cake. When mixing in the powdered sugar, I put it on the burner that was still hot when it seemed like it would stiffen up before I had the chance to incorporate all the powdered sugar. It is a hard frosting- not a creamy one. If you want creamy, try another recipe!
I have made this several time for my Great Aunt and she has given it her 2 thumbs up and even wanted to use my thumbs for a 4 thumbs up. Grant you I made the same mistake as other when I first made it (not reading the yield area). It plainly states " Original recipe yield: 1 - 8 or 9 inch layer" And that is what I got was one layer worth. With that said tho it was my fault and not the submitters. I now triple it for a 3 layer cake. I did not have any of the other problem as stated by others. It was not runny not did it crack on me, but all that has to do with timing tho. You must vigorotsly boil this to have a good turn out. It does ser quickly therefor it is to be poured and not spread on.
I was never a huge fan of Carmel cake until I tried this recipe. The cooling of the cake and the making of the frosting must be timed perfectly. ***YOU HAVE TO BE REALLY QUICK SPREADING THIS ICING WHILE WHILE IT'S HOT. ICING DRIES VERY FAST**
Excellent! Very easy to make and it tastes sooooo good. I wanted to make a pourable frosting so I only added the first 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. I also had to add some extra milk because after it cooled a bit it turned into a big glob. I put it on a apple bundt cake, a perfect combination. Thanks for the recipe. I definately will be using this again on many different things.
fabulous, fabulous! This is an absolutely perfect recipe to frost a bundt cake. It makes enough frosting to liberally glaze but without all the leftover. Followed the recipe except used evaporated milk I had left over. I also browned the butter first to give it a deeper caramel flavor and color. There was no graininess. yes it is sweet...it is frosting. The flavor was very rich with a beautiful sheen. Used this to frost 'Hummingbird Cake I' from this site. I think it will compliment the bananas, nuts, and spice that are in the cake very nicely. (and a big thanks to Ronaville for a great representation of what the frosting looks like)
Not enough liquid added 2 tablespoons more milk (I used evaporated milk) for added richness, found the texture to be grainy and not nearly enough to frost a cake, would have to triple this to have enough for a full size cake. Because of this am only rating 3 stars, I never change a recipe I make it like it says the first time to truly give a honest rating otherwise why not just submit your own recipe??
I made this icing to replace the icing in the recipe "Caramel Pound Cake" here on allrecipes. It was delicious. I did triple the butter, milk and brown sugar as another reviewer did and it really brought out the caramel flavor. If you want to add a little more confectioners sugar it's fine (I added a little), but you may want to taste test as you are adding a little at a time because if you start to add too much the confectioners sugar flavor will come out more and mask the caramel flavor. Delicious!
Great frosting. I used skim milk and it was still wonderful. Drizzled over 'Apple Cake VII'. I like the way it hardens very pretty on the cake. I would make this again.
Excellent recipe! I did add 1/2 cup more brown sugar to make it a little more caramel-like...as someone previously suggested (I think she actually suggested an entire cup, but I only had 1/2 cup dark brown sugar and it turned out great) but I thought the consistency was excellent. Have actually made this twice now...once to drizzle over a spice bundt cake (added a little more cream to thin it down) and once to frost a walnut apple cake. Really easy, and really tasty. Not sure how much adding the extra 1/2 cup brown sugar added, but I think without it, it would not have been as caramel tasting. Very good recipe you can tweak to your liking. Thank you for sharing.
I made this recipe exactly as written. I used this to frost cupcakes and it really good although it certainly isn't a light, fluffy frosting. It's more of an icing. It seemed a little grainy at first when it was done, but adding in a little milk and stirring it a little more helped that. It is sweeter than many traditional cake-type frostings, but the flavor is very good and it's very easy to make. This recipe was the perfect amount to frost 6 cupcakes, which was exactly what I needed.
Great flavor. I used on an 9 x 13 apple cake and it was perfect for that. But, I think it's more of an icing than frosting. It gets hard very quickly and it isn't really enough to spread on an 8-9 inch layer cake as the recipe states.
This was a super easy recipe to make. As previous posters have stated though it does get stiff after sitting and cooling. I used this on applesauce cupcakes and it turned out great. I used the frosting as a glaze though and I found that when frosting them if I kept the sauce pan on very low heat and kept stirring every few minutes it kept the frosting smooth enough to spread. I'll definitely use this recipe again!
This was so good, I used it to top brown sugar brownie, I was a little heavy on the butter and I subbed 2 tbsp sour cream and 1 tbsp french vanilla coffee creamer for the milk (I was out) and it became a beautiful spreading consistancy that did not harden as many have had trouble with.
This was simply superb. I browned the butter like a previous reviewer suggested. Added a bit less than 1 cup of the powdered sugar. I poured it over some banana nut chiffon cake and sprinkled toasted pecans on top. Heavenly!
Easy, simple. This is a definite game changer for easy home made frosting. I used 1/4 cup of Almond Milk and it came out beautifully. Frosted a 10 x 15 pan of bars, no problem. An oops on my part also, I dumped the butter, brown sugar and almond milk in all at once, melted and then boiled for 1 1/2 minutes-perfect. Sometimes the oldies are the good ones. Thanks MaryKaye!
This was so delicious! I used it as a glaze on the Apple Cake VII by Jill Hatch. It was amazing poured over it! I followed another's suggestions to triple the butter, milk, and brown sugar, and I am glad I did. It was perfect to use over the cake and I had no problems with the glaze cracking. Very yummy!
Followed the recipe exactly & it turned out excellent. Didn't make enough to frost a 9 x 13 cake though. Next time I'll make at least 1.5 times the recipe. Used it to frost a banana cake, also from this site.
I loved this recipe. It was easy to follow and turned out just like my granny used to make, taking up only half the time. I'd recommend it to anyone. Best wjen poured over cake rather than spreading. Using a plastic spreading spoon to smooth it on to the sides.
To make it non-dairy/parve i used margerine in place of the butter and soy milk in place of the milk. Nice, smooth and satiny!
This was an excellent frosting! My 5 yr old son requested chocolate cake with caramel and vanilla icing for his birthday cake! I made Black Magic Cake from here along with this frosting and Vanilla-Chocolate Powdered Sugar Frosting and they made a great combo! Just fyi, the amount of icing this makes 'barely' coated a 9x13 sheet cake and it does set up VERY quickly! Everyone loved it :)
Oh man, I just made this and took a taste and it is absolutely delicious! I used dark brown sugar. The color is lovely. Put it on a poppy seed 9x13 cake and I just know everyone is going to love it!!
Beautiful consistency - firm, yet creamy. I poured it on a rhubarb sour cream coffee cake, and the super-sweet frosting balanced nicely against the tart rhubarb. The amount was perfect to pour over a cake baked in a 10" tube pan.
Was so easy to make!! If you want to use pastry bag to decorate put in fridge for 30+ mins. Works great and looks like a pro!
I didn't like this frosting at all. It just tasted like powdered sugar to me. A lot of people seemed to like this recipe though. What did I do wrong? If you know, let me know!
Good taste, but the texture was a bit chalky. Is there a special technique to prevent this from happening? I had the same problem with my Texas sheet cake frosting.
i used this on a chocolate bunt cake as a glaze. it was sinful. i took the advice of others and lessened the powdered sugar while doubling the other ingredients. thanks!
This was fantastic. Very easy to make and was a wonderful topping for the Apple Cake I put it on. Yumm and easy
Used this to top applesauce cupcakes and they were delicious. I followed the directions exactly and thought that this was going to be more of a spreading frosting than a piping frosting. But it set up great and was very easy to pipe on the cupcakes.
This recipe tasted just like caramel, and it got just hard enough on the outside when it cooled. It was delicious, but even my high school students told me it was "too sweet".
Very yummy frosting! Although I've learned you need to frost the cake before the frosting cools down too much - I had to make a second batch because it started to set lol! (The double icing was awesome, though!!)
Wow!!! I'm only 14, and I wanted to make my Mom a b-day cake and the frosting all by myself. I tried this recipe and not only was it good, but quick, it only took my about 10 minutes. This recipe is good espically on a yellow cake.
This recipe was wonderful on a banana bundt cake. It does set up fast, so I poured it straight onto the warm cake. Delicious!
Turned out great..used my electric mixer due to arthritis and it was nice and creamy. Doubled the recipe for a 9 x 13 cake as this is hubby's favorite frosting. Does set up fast so make sure your cake is cooled somewhat before you even begin making this frosting. The taste is wonderful!
Great recipe and it tastes delicious on banana cake. I didn't have enough to frost the sides of my 10"x13" cake though. In the future I'll double the frosting recipe.
As mentioned by other reviewers, this is an icing and not a frosting. I thought it tasted good but was very sweet and a bit grainy.
This was really good and easy, but too sweet. I usually cut down on sugar in recipes, but couldn't with this one because it was way too thin before I added more powdered sugar. I poured this over Best Brownies and that combo is great! (But rich!). It does get hard really fast, so frost your cake (or whatever) very quickly. My brownies were still slightly warm, which really helped.
I followed the recipe to the letter but my result was not quite like what the other reviews said. It's delicious but did not, at all, tasted like caramel. Sorry. =(
Love this recipe. Frosting is like eating a praline if you add pecans to it. My husband has requested a caramel cake for the past three weeks. I made a layer cake and had to triple the recipe to make enough. As shown recipe is only enough to drizzle over a bundt cake.
This icing is awesome and so easy to make. I put it on a chocolate cake and it was great. I will next try it on a prune cake recipe. My Grandmother always made me a prune cake with caramel icing for my birthday. This tastes very much like what she made. Thanks for the memories!!
Very Good. a little too sweet and I had to triple the recipe to cover a two layer cake. I took the advice of another reviewer and added more milk, brown sugar, butter to make it more caramelly. it was my first time ever trying to make caramel and I was happy with this recipe. i got to keep my good name as a great baker. only problem I had was it was a little too sweet and the sugar doesn't dissovle all the way, it not smooth like caramel candies are.
followed the recipe exactly and used it as filling on a butter pecan cake. It was DIVINE!!! The icing did get hard pretty quick, so I microwaved it a few seconds and it was spreadable. It only made enough to fill one layer though.
This was excellent! It's pretty thick once it cools - I might use it as the cream filling in a sandwich cookie.
I poured the hot mixture in my mixing bowl & beat at frosting setting. Worked wonderfully. Did have to add just a tiny bit of liquid after adding the final powdered sugar.
I was a bit nervous about making this after reading the reviews about how quickly it set. Anyway it must have made me work superfast as I managed to ice the birthday cake for my friend before it set. Thanks she really enjoyed it caramel is her fave.
It was very good, but a little too sweet and very hard to spread. Maybe I did something wrong.
Super easy and delicious. I doubled the recipe like most and I also added an extra cup of powdered sugar to make it thicker spreading consistency. I frosted a homeade chocolate cake..yumm yumm!
super good i did brown the butter at the suggestion of another rater yummy
excellent icing! I used rice milk and margarine for a vegan version and this was very tasty and perfect. I drizzled it over the spice cake: moist-tender-spice-cake. it was a big hit at my 11 year old's birthday party!!
tasty and easy but very sweet!
I used this recipe as my inspiration for the frosting I used on a sheet cake. I used 1 stick butter and doubled everything else to cook the mixture. I used dark brown sugar and added 1 Tbsp of dark corn syrup to add some smoothness and gloss while cooking the mixture. I added a tsp of dark rum with the vanilla in doubling the flavoring. I beat in the powdered sugar while the caramel was warm and it got a little too stiff so I beat in a couple more Tbsp's of softened butter and that smoothed it out nicely. Spread it while it was still warm. It firms up when cool, but it is still soft enough that it doesn't crack when cutting.
Very good and very easy! As a glaze for a bundt cake, I think you could half this recipe.
I poured this over a chocolate cake recipe on this website and it truly was the "icing on the cake." Fab!!!!!!
Easy, delicious recipe. I used cream initially, but had to add a little milk to make it thin enough to spread. Yum!
This frosting is delicious...but you have to work quick, otherwise, it hardens up and becomes impossible to spread nicely. I used half and half in the recipe for extra yummy calories. I used the recipe to ice cupcakes (made with the Black Magic cake recipe found on this site), which were a hit!
smells delicious, and this icing will get hard after it cools a bit. SOOOO good for Thanksgiving/Christmas!!!
Sweet! I was looking for a glaze\forsting for some cinnamon buns, and this is DELICIOUS. I made it in the microwave (just microwave on high for 1 min instead of boiling!!) and I used evaporated milk. It turned out really great, but I recommend sifting the sugar to avoid any lumps.
I love this. I have actually made it a few times. This last time it did turn out a little hard, but I think that is due to the fact that I accidentally added all of the powdered sugar at once instead of in increments. But it still tasted good. I love putting it between the layers of chocolate cake. MMMMM! Thanks for such an easy and delicious frosting. :)
so easy and delicious! I used this over "Green tomato cake" from this site. A huge hit. You don't even have to wait for the cake to completely cool before icing if it is in a sheet pan. The warm cake actually helped to spread the icing. This reminded me of the brown sugar fudge that my mom used to make when I was young.
I used this on a spice cake for my daughter's birthday, and everyone loved it. I followed the recipe exactly as written. After reading reviews stating that it sets quickly, I just dumped it on top of a 9x13 cake, still in the pan, and spread it around. I had no trouble working with it. I loved the firm, crisp surface texture after it sets. It is sweet, as others noted, but I didn't think it was overwhelming. This is definitely a keeper!
Excellent! I made a double batch, using half and half in place of milk, and frosted the Colonial Pumpkin Bars (from AR) with it.
I used this recipe to frost a loaf of Caramel Apple bread. It was super easy to make and just the right consistency for frosting. Both the bread and frosting got rave reviews. One friend said the Caramel frosting was "to die for"!! I agree and have made it several times since to use for ice cream topping and caramel milk shakes...
very good! Must use immediately so it doesn't harden.
Just made this for a fresh blackberry cake and the only bad thing was I loved the frosting more than the cake. My cake was baked in a 13 x 9 inch pan and I should have made one and half times the recipe. This is more like icing and delicious enough to eat by itself. THANKS
Easy enough to make but sets too quickly. After adding a touch more milk it was runny then turned into a blob. Very sweet but not the carmel taste I'm looking for. Probably won't use this one again. I'll stick with my own carmel frosting...a little more work but worth it.
I thought this frosting was delicious & my family loved it too. It was very easily made. Thanks!
this is AMAZING! i have made it a few times now and it goes good several different cakes. i love that i can add more milk to make it pourable, and it thickens right back up. DH LOVES it, says it really reminds him of a maple bar frosting.
This frosting is perfect and easy to make. I frosted 3 layers of a french vanilla cake mix, then I poured a melted chocolate chip and cream mixture over the top. I think I may have over did it because the cake was way too sweet. I will definately make this frosting again but next time I will frost a sponge cake and servr it with whip cream.
Very sweet, very hard to spread. I even added some Marshmallow creme, as suggested by another user, and it was still difficult to work with. I added it to white cupcakes and the combo was over the top with sweetness. I think I'll try to make this with more milk and less sugar next time.
While this was effective for what I needed it for, I would never use this to frost a cake. Painfully sweet and lacking the richness of caramel. Very gritty. I had to thin it for how I was using it, and I don't think it would have ever been a suitable consistency for frosting. I doubt the quantity produced would be adequate to ice a cake.
Not only did this frosting setup entirely too fast it scarcely tasted like caramel. If you are looking for a soft, manageable caramel frosting look somewhere else!
This turned out great just as it is written. Perfect amount to drizzle over a bundt cake without having too much frosting left on the plate.
I would recommend sifting your powdered sugar to avoid little lumps. I doubled this recipe, cutting back to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and while mixing in the powdered sugar I added a can of L LECHERA Dulce de Leche Milk. Which is condescend sweetened milk that has been caramelized. It really brought in the caramel flavor and made the frosting more spreadable.
This was YUMMY!!! I did what someone else recommended and doubled the butter and brown sugar. I made a chocolate cake and dripped this all over instead of trying to spread it, etc... It didn't get too hard, but was PERFECT!! Didn't look fantastic, but made it for the family and they scarfed it down!! I poured it on while it was still hot so it made the cake moist and some of it soaked in... SUPERB!!!
Super easy and great on chocolate cake,. I used 1/2 and 1/2 because I had it in the fridge. Will definetly make it again!
The other posts are right, it does set up quickly. I wonder if it would set up so fast if it didn't boil so hard. At any rate, it is so sweet we couldn't eat it, and set up so quickly I had to blob it over the cake.
very creamy and the texture is great, i'm really a meat and potatoes type of guy but let me tell you, what a treat!!!!!!!
This was quick and easy. Everyone loved it! It thickens quickly. It is very thick even though it will not appear that way. Trust me, you may want to add more milk. So wonderfully good!- Pam
The folks who said this is too sweet are apparently Northerners. We Southerners know that Caramel Cake is like cake with a thin layer of fudge on top. Yummy! Especially with vanilla ice cream or a big glass of cold milk. I chose this recipe of all the caramel frosting recipies because it looked easy and I had all the ingredients. It has a very good flavor but I agree that I couldn't get it to look good on a white bundt cake. I tried the drizzle-by-spoon method and it just didn't work out. You can't spread caramel frosting; I knew that already. I think I will do this in a sheet pan and just pour it over the top. Maybe not pretty enough for Thanksgiving but great for the family.
This recipe tastes great, but it was on the runny side for those, who wish to 'spread' it over cookies or the like. I just drizzled mine over a cake in the dish/ pan and let it cool, so it didn't really matter to me that it was runny. Still you'll love the tastes... tastes like a caramel ice cream sauce!
I tripled the recipe like previously stated. I used heavy whipping cream and real butter as well. I used about 3/4 of a cup of confectioners sugar to thicken. I put the frosting on 13 x 9 french vanilla cake - it was delicious! I don't know how the original recipe tastes but made this way, it had a rich, deep, Carmel flavor. Will definitely make again!!
My family loved this frosting. I made it for a 9 x 13 cake, the only complaint I got was, "You should have doubled the frosting." Needless to say, I will double the next time.
Could eat this frosting all by itself as a candy it's so yummy! I only used half the amount of confectioner sugar and it frosted (easy spreadable consistancy) a 9 inch cake perfectly. Thanks for the recipe!
Wowzers! What a good recipe! :-D I'm vegan...so the milk and butter were substituted with Earth Balance margarine & full-fat coconut milk. I also added ~1/8 tsp salt (5 turns on my salt grinder...) to the recipe, and I'm glad I did, as it's very sweet, and the salt helped to balance it. I spooned it over a vegan vanilla-coconut bundt cake & it was truly amazing!! I'm making three desserts for Christmas, and this will be one of them! *thumbs up*
Yummy and simple. Very sweet, but good caramel flavor. Don't heat butter too much and throw in milk without stirring or it will separate. Slow down and be ready with ingredients and whisk and it's fine. It DOES get very thick, but MEASURE extra milk in slowly!
This tastes great! I iced the top of a layer cake with it. I had some trouble with it setting (warning: IT HARDENS VERY QUICKLY!), so it's not as pretty as it could have been, but the taste is wonderful. Very much a caramel frosting.
This was perfect on banana cake with walnuts on top. True to everyone's posts it firms up very quickly, so I poured it on the cooled cake after stirring for a few minutes to cool slightly. Great!!
