This recipe turns butter, brown sugar, salt, milk, and confectioners' sugar into a good and creamy caramel frosting.
Submitter calls this "A good creamy caramel frosting." That's an understatement. This is a beauty. I knew it would be before I even added the powdered sugar and thought to myself that I'd like to pour some of that caramel sauce over ice cream or a piece of apple pie or apple cake. But I needed it for my "Spice Cupcakes," so I restrained myself. Submitter said you may need to add more milk - in my case, since I piped rather than spread the frosting, I had to add a tad more powdered sugar. It's easy enough to adjust one way or the other to suit your needs. This is a smooth, silky, caramel-y good frosting. Sweet, yes, as frosting is supposed to be, and perfect with the spice cupcakes which were only mildly sweet. It's a gorgeous looking frosting too and made my cupcakes almost look regal. Most important, it TASTES good. Tastes good, looks good - at the risk of being cliche, "it's a keeper."
Read More Submitter calls this "A good creamy caramel frosting." That's an understatement. This is a beauty. I knew it would be before I even added the powdered sugar and thought to myself that I'd like to pour some of that caramel sauce over ice cream or a piece of apple pie or apple cake. But I needed it for my "Spice Cupcakes," so I restrained myself. Submitter said you may need to add more milk - in my case, since I piped rather than spread the frosting, I had to add a tad more powdered sugar. It's easy enough to adjust one way or the other to suit your needs. This is a smooth, silky, caramel-y good frosting. Sweet, yes, as frosting is supposed to be, and perfect with the spice cupcakes which were only mildly sweet. It's a gorgeous looking frosting too and made my cupcakes almost look regal. Most important, it TASTES good. Tastes good, looks good - at the risk of being cliche, "it's a keeper."
Positively delightful, and a little goes a long way. Very sweet, which can be your friend or your enemy depending on how you want to use this. I've found that if you boil it a little longer than two minutes after you get the brown sugar in, you get a much stronger caramel flavor. The longer you boil, the stronger the flavor is.
Perfect. Exactly what my mom used to make...and easy! I use this to top the "Daddy's Dang Banana Cake" on this site and it is SOOO good.
This frosting is awesome! It was very easy to make. The only thing I did different was added about 1/2 c. more confectioner sugar to make it a little thicker. The taste was great. I will definitely use this recipe again.
THis is very similar to a recipe I use. I want to add that using dark brown sugar instead of light brown makes a much tastier frosting. This is wonderful on yellow cake.
So yummy! I added 1 tsp. of real vanilla after the cooking and cooling. Best on spice cake! Also, I think I figured out why some people got a grainy texture. You need to be sure that the brown sugar and butter come to a rolling boil before timing and also a rolling boil again after adding milk. Also, pour the caramel into your mixing bowl and then add the powdered sugar. Don't vigourously scrape the saucepan. If you do all this, you should get smooth results.
This is an absolutely delicious caramel frosting! I used it to frost a homemade caramel cake, and it was wonderful. I was in a hurry, so I cooled the butter/brown sugar/milk mixture by placing the bowl into another bowl full of ice water. This cooled the mixture down in less than 10 minutes, and the frosting turned out great! Thanks for sharing, this is definitely a keeper!
I thought this was an excellent recipe. I added 1 tablespoon milk when beating together and the frosting turned out very smooth - very easy to spread. I put the frosting on some yellow cupcakes and they were scrumptious!
Excellent. Be flexible enough to add more or less milk or 10X sugar to get the right consistency depending on your use. I use a little more milk and use this as a heavy glaze for cinnamon buns.
This recipe is delicious and simple. I used others helpful hints and made some adjustments myself. One, constant stirring is a must! Sifting the confectioners sugar will also help avoid grittiness. I melted butter just below medium heat, then added brown sugar and adjusted heat to medium to bring to a boil. I mixed a combination of dark and light brown sugars together to get more "caramely" flavor. I also used half n half instead of milk. I spread this over a banana cream cake and got RAVE reviews. Mmm.
5 stars for taste. 3-4 for the texture. Caramel was looking good until I added the milk. I put in the 6 T as directed then mixed it together only to find that the sugar or something has separated and I ended up with little white clumps. Maybe I should have mixed it WHILE adding in the milk. So I boiled for a while over the heat hoping the clumps will melt off and some did. I ended up having to strain the sauce...which worked. I let it coo then added in the sugar one cup at a time. I only needed 2 cups...or could have even done less because it was quite thick. The first few cupcakes I frosted turned out pretty (I just spread them with a butter knife) but the cupcakes at the end ended up with clumpy looking frosting...sigh...maybe I should have reheated the frosting? This frosting is worth taking a second stab at it.
This is a wonderful Carmel Frosting, however I think 1/4 tsp. of salt is a little to much. I made this frosting twice. The first time I used salted butter and forgot to add the salt and it was wonderful. The second time I used salted butter and used the 1/4 tsp. of salt and it was just a tiny bit to salty for me, but still good. In my opinion the 1/4 tsp. of salt would be okay if unsalted butter was used. I will continue to use this recipe because even with the salty sweet taste it is the best carmel I've ever made for my cakes.
Yum! I followed the recipe exactly and it came out perfectly. I had two layer cakes and used half the warm frosting for one cake then set the remaining frosting aside. By the time I was ready to use it the next day, it had cooled and it was impossible to work with. Fortunately, I didn't need a pretty cake so I just smooshed the frosting on the cake and we ate and enjoyed it like that. For future reference I know to use all the frosting at once, though!
I didn't care for the frosting. It is way too heavy, grainy and sugary for my taste however, the caramel sauce is divine! It was smooth, buttery and the perfect consistency to drizzle over ice cream or a slice of warm apple pie. I'll make the sauce again but not the frosting
OMG! This recipe is to die for! I made this and piped it on spice cupcakes and they were delicious. It is sweet and rich, so a little goes a long way. Someone else suggested using this as a sauce (minus the confectioners sugar) and I totally agree! I have a cheesecake planned for the near future and the sauce will definitely be on top of it.
Absolutely yummy although it takes a little time. But it was worth it for me and my guests - everybody loved it on the Banana Cake X from this site. Thanks!
This is really good! I only used 1/2 of the confectioners sugar and that was plenty for my tastes and it was still a nice consistency. I used it on vanilla cupcakes. Thanks for sharing!
Great recipe, not too sweet and plenty of caramel flavor. Try to spread while it's still warm so you can put on a thin, even layer.
I made this for the first time yesterday, i followed it to the letter, it was very tasty but it was way too stiff i almost had to sculpt it on my cake, i will make it again but i will add way more milk as i'm beating the icing sugar into it, the taste was superb and it was like eating fugde, it went nicely on my never fail chocolate cake recipe!
I made this as directed with one exception-I used about 3/4 tsp vanilla added in with the powdered sugar. This is a great frosting, but if I made this again I might use a dark brown sugar and boil it longer. It did not have a rich, caramel flavor like I thought it might. Either that or make it without the powdered sugar and use it as a sauce for bread pudding.
Used dark brown sugar, reduced powdered sugar to 2 cups. Used this to frost the Jewish Apple Cake from this site, then sprinkled flaked sea salt over the top of the frosting. Amazing! The salt really makes the caramel pop!
This recipe was super easy and delicious!!!! Better than my ......mother-in-laws.
This is perhaps the best frosting I've ever tasted! I followed the recipe exactly, don't improvise. I frosted my apple spice cupcakes with it, so yummy!
omg...that's maybe the whole review haha I love this frosting. The only thing I wasn't sure of was how hot to boil the sugar and butter. I guessed right so I'll pass it along - I cooked it at just below medium to melt the butter and sugar together, then turned it up to medium to get a light boil going through it. I held the boil for about a minute and it held together very well - no graininess as others mentioned. Without the powdered sugar addition, this would be an insane ice cream topping - it has the most amazing caramel flavor. I plan to use it over a spice cake bundt without the powdered sugar. I made it with the powdered sugar as well and it made a very spreadable icing with a great caramel flavor. It tasted just a tad off when I first mixed it up so I added about a half teaspoon of vanilla and it smoothed it out really well. Can't say enough good things about this one - thank you for it!
This frosting came out good but, in my opinion, way too sweet to frost an entire cake with. I used it for just the filling in a dark chocolate layer cake (Black Magic Cake from this site). I sprinkled chopped pecans on the filling, which made it taste like praline filling, and I frosted the cake with French Silk Frosting (also from this site). It tasted like a turtle cake....delicious!
Followed all the directions, and while the flavor was fine...the texture was grainy.
This was absolutely delicious on my applesauce cupcakes. Thank You for this wonderful recipe!
Put this over apple pie. Hubby said it was the best pie he's ever eaten in his life. :0)
This is very similar to a recipe I lost - so happy to have it again!!! I actually used a little less of the confectioners sugar which probably had something to do with allowing the liquid ingredients to cool a little longer. I frosted Paula Deen's "Mama's Pound Cake" and it was perfect! Thank you Glenda!
I love this frosting! This is the second time I have made it. The first time I used it as a filling for a chocolate layer cake, the second time I used it to frost chocolate cupcakes (Simple 'N' Delicious Chocolate Cake from this site). I found that 2/3 of a recipe was just right to frost 12 cupcakes.
I followed this recipe as written and I can tell you it is delicious! I used it on an apple cake and my family devoured it!
WAY too thick. I would not make this without modifications unless you have a really tough cake that will stand up to a super stiff frosting. Taste was really good, I tripled the salt to make "salted caramel" which had a terrific flavor - but my cake couldn't stand up to the thickness of this frosting.
SO SO wonderful! Its not a good consistency to pipe with an icing tip because it doesnt really hold its shape but it tastes OH SO GOOD! I LOVE this recipe and I'll be using it again and again!
I loooove this caramel frosting. My grandma always has used this recipe and I think of her everytime I make it. This frosting on top a yellow butter cake is a staple at church functions. I usually do 1 1/2 recipes though because I like is really thick. No frosting skimper here! ha
Wow, great frosting!!! I rarely review recipes online, but I had to let everyone know this is delicious. Decadent, creamy and layers of flavor. This will be my go to caramel frosting! The caramel flavor had more depth than any of it's kind I've ever had. Must try!!!!
I used soy milk instead, and it turned out fabulous! I'll definitely use this recipe when I need a caramel frosting!
This was just what I was hoping for. It is rich and creamy. I used a little less powdered sugar and added a dab of milk to make it fluffier and creamier. And I sprinkled a little rock sea salt on them for salty caramel frosting on chocolate cupcakes. It was a hit!
It was perfect on my chocolate cupcakes and I added some chocolate shavings to top it off! HEAVEN!
This is THE tastiest frosting of all time. Anything I frost this with gets rave reviews. My favorite use for this frosting is on pumpkin cookies. When I use it as a frosting for cookies I replace the milk with water and it works just as well and sets up nicely.
Really, really tasty! Great caramel flavor. It's tough to get this the right consistency for decorating though - I'd recommend a different recipe for that. I reserved a little of the caramel before adding the powdered sugar to drizzle on the finished product. Tasted AND looked amazing!
I have made this twice, but cut the recipe in half so it would ice a bundt cake. I had to use a few extra tsp. of milk to make it a drizzling consistency but it was still absolutely good.
Tried a few caramel frostings but this is what I was looking for. Just like the bakery's.
Was very easy to make, not too much beating as I try to use my muscles when baking! Put the frosting on top of chocolate cupcakes, I think I should have made a double batch! Thanks for the recipe!
A week ago a moving van filled our new home. My husband loves spice cake and caramel. His birthday is Aug. 4th. Wading through a sea of boxes I was able to make a cake – 4 days late. This frosting has been worth his wait! I used dark brown sugar and took the advice of one of the reviews to cook it longer to get more caramel flavor. I cooked the first round maybe 4 minutes – after adding milk let it boil almost 2 minutes – while cooling I sifted three cups of powdered sugar – sifting made much more than I needed. For 9x13 spice cake I had maybe ½ cup more than needed. It is a lot like caramel fudge. Next time I’ll play around using a mixer and more milk to see if I can get any ‘fluff’ into this frosting. I am also thinking about finding a use for the 1st caramel phase- as it tastes better than the final frosting. When I unpack my spices I’ll make a spice cake from scratch with little or no sugar in it – and let this incredibly sweet frosting meet more than enough sweetness. My husband is happy. But I look forward to finding some use for the caramel phase of this – it taste is – ooohhh so good.
To echo what everyone else has said, before adding the confectioner's sugar, you have a great caramel topping for ice cream, etc. The frosting is very good and will be made again and again in our household. I did add 1 tsp. of vanilla also.
The recipe is amazing. It tasted more like caramel fudge. I used it on a spiced banana cake with toasted coconut as a garnish and it was amazing. Thanks!
This was good, I had to add milk to get it to a spreadable consistency after adding the powdered sugar. I may decrease the amt of the sugar, as my hubby was scraping it off his piece of cake because it was too sweet for his taste. Will make again with adjustments.
Excellent flavor. I do think it needs to be spread on the cake right away because it was getting too thick to spread after abut ten minutes.
Far, far too sweet and tastes too much of powdered sugar. Not something I would make again.
This is wayyyyyyy... too sweet! I even paired it with a not-very sweet espresso cupcake and it was still too much. Like a previous reviewer mentioned though, the caramel part would be great over ice cream! Despite the too sweetness of it I think the taste is good and very caramelly. Perhaps if used as a VERY thin layer in the center of a layer cake it might be good, as long as the frosting on the outside is not overly sweet.
Delicious! I also used dark brown sugar, with tasty results. I ran out of powdered sugar at 2 1/2 cups. Next time I'll stop at 2 for better shine and spreadability without diluting the flavor. The caramel cooled quickly out on the porch in October, so I was able to make it in about 20 min total. Was fantastic with old Joy of Cooking recipe for banana cake.
As the recipe is written, only 4 stars. I had to keep adding and adding milk (cream actually). The end result was great, creamy and very spreadable, and I will likely make it again.
This frosting was delightful and very easy to make. I plan to make a caramel cake for Thanksgiving. So, i decided to do a trial run, and it turned out great. I used fat free half & half and added vanilla extract.
Good caramel flavor bur it's very sweet frosting. I'd recommend to frost the cake right away after making it since it gets very stiff quickly.
Made twice!! Great as written, but I did add more powdered sugar. Great on a simple butter recipe box cake!
Very good! I cut back on the sugar by substituting corn starch for some of the powdered sugar.
This has great caramel flavor. It was thick so I added more milk and 1 t. of butter flavoring, but so delicious and it sets up really well. It is hot and I love a frosting that can hold in the heat.
Super yummy! I omitted about 3/4 cup powdered sugar because it was thick enough for my cake.
This is wonderful. It didn't taste to much like Carmel till I learned when you boil the brown sugar longer then two mins, it really makes it taste like Carmel,.also a little makes alot. I drizzle it over Apple cinnamon rolls, makes the prefect Carmel apple cinnamon rolls. Thanks for the recipe.
This recipe was amazing. I used it on a Duncan Hines butter cake, and only made 2 small changes to the recipe as written. I used half and half instead of milk and I only added 2 cups of confectioners sugar since it seemed sweet enough with just that much. Using one less cup of confectioners sugar gave it a very soft texture, but I just poured all of it onto the top of my cake and smoothed it down the sides. A definite keeper, very rich but perfect for special occasions.
This was so delicious! And surprisingly easy to make. I can't wait to make this again!!
Mmmm this frosting is delicious! I just made it today and have to keep myself from eating it by the spoonful before I frost my cake! I followed the directions exactly and it came out perfect. Thanks for the great recipe!
This is absolutely wonderful!! I cooked the brown sugar and butter longer and after I added the milk I also cooked that longer, gave it a good strong caramel flavor! Put it on banana cake -delicious! You can eat this right out of the bowl like candy! I will only use this recipe when making caramel frosting!! Thanks so much!!
I fixed as listed but added 1 tsp. vanilla. I used all 3 cups of sifted XXX sugar, but this was WAY too sweet. I have an extreme sweet tooth, but it was too much for even me. I would cut the XXX down by at least a cup if not a cup and a half. It did not spread like I would want so if you want more of a frosting, you might need to work on the consistency of it. The frosting started to get hard on me about 2/3 of the way through. It has a great taste, but is really sweet.
I used this frosting on a white cake and it was amazing. I poured it on while it was still warm and smoothed it with a wet spatula for an almost "fondant-like" finish. it was awesome! The only thing I would do differently would be to add a touch of brown food color, I found the natural color a little off-putting, but the flavor was great! Thanks so much :D
this was a delicious frosting , easy and creamy . i was just a little too sweet. i will add more butter and less brown sugar next time, and make up the difference with confectioners sugar see if it isn' soo sweet next time. i also needed a little more milk. i got raves over it at the party. thanks
The caramel sauce part is outrageous! I took out about 1/3c of it. Poked little holes all over my cake and spread the sauce on it. I made frosting with the rest but just added the powdered sugar til it was good to spread. When the sauce on the cake was dry I put the frosting on. Frosting tasted great also. I did boil the sauce for 3min then boiled with the milk for 1min. Added a touch of salt to balance out the sweetness. Will be using this alot come fall cooking time. Oh, added 1 tsp vanilla too.
Had a request from a friend for yellow cake (used David's yellow cake) and caramel frosting. Was deliciously caramel. Definitely for a sweet tooth! I know this is odd, but the recipe paired very well with beer (yuengling)...give it a try!
This is the frosting of all frostings!!! I had to substitute heavy whipping for the milk. The final product was pure sweet caramel happiness.
This was very good! I burned my brother's birthday cake. So I told his friends (at the party) that they could just eat the icing off the leftover cake if they wanted to.. And they did!
I took a reviewer's advice to let the sugar cook a little longer for more caramel flavor. Loved the taste, and how easy it is to make!
I did not care for this recipe. I tasted it before I added the powdered sugar, and I didn't see how it could possibly get better so I didn't bother wasting three cups of powdered sugar.
EXCELLENT! Put it on cupcakes made with Trader Joe's vanilla cake! So easy and delicious! the frosting is a great texture for spreading on thick! This recipe was good for 25 cupcakes :)
I wasn't sure how well this was going to come together and how it would work for my purpose (topping brownie bites) but it piped beautifully and tasted caramely and delicious! I would say it's a bit too sweet for my personal tastes... I think it has it's place as a frosting for cakes (or other desserts) that aren't already very sweet!
the texture was the only reason i'm giving this 3 stars. the taste was only of powder sugar NO CARMEL flavor. and yea the other reviewers were right it's too sweet.
I gave this 5 stars because of the taste. To top my Caramel layer cake with fudge frosting filling, I made the recipe exactly as it was written. But, I found that the frosting was way too stiff. I thought it was spreading consistency until I started frosting the cake. I ended up taking the stuff off as most as I could and it just rolled off...so I put what I could get back off the cake back into the bowl and re- beat it while adding some milk...fixed. Since the too stiff frosting messed up a part of my cake, I frosted it, topped it with pecans and took some leftover chocolate fudge frosting, put it in the microwave until runny and drizzled it all over to hide the problem. Just an idea for you if you have this problem too. I think the problem was the 2 minutes to boil...make sure it is just under or 2 minutes only, not any longer than that. I think I went over 2 minutes by about 20 seconds or so and that is what made it too thick. Great frosting taste overall and what I was looking form.
This was wonderful!! I was looking for something I remembered from my childhood and this was dead on! I followed the recipe exactly - except I could not wait patiently for it to cool, so I put it in an ice water bath and got it cooled in no time. Everyone loved it on top of the spice cake. Will make this again!
I made this recipe from a recipe book I have, the only thing different I did, was it called for 2 cups of the sugar, and to speed up cooling time,it suggested putting the pot in cold water until lukewarm. I did this and it speeds it up quite qickly, but it does taste great!
Very good! I only use about one cup of powdered sugar when I make it. We like ours more caramelly, than a thicker frosting. This is recipe is a keeper!
I cannot believe how good this frosting is! I wasn't so sure after I removed it from the heat the first time because it got a bit lumpy, but after adding the milk and reheating, it smoothed right out. I was very excited to find out that this turned out great even though I substituted the original recipe with soy milk. My hubby's lactose intolerant, so when he said he loved it, I knew I had a keeper. This tastes heavenly spread over the Applesauce Cake VI, found here on this site!
OMG - this is just the best. My husband loves spice cake and I used to buy a canned carmel frosting, but they stopped making it. I have been looking for a substitute forever. Now, my husband just tells me to forget the cake; just give him a bowl of the icing. This is soooo easy to make and is just delicious. If there were more than 5 stars, I'd give all of them. Yummmmmmm
This frosting is absolutely wonderful. It was exactly what I have been looking for. I made it to go on a chocolate cake that I baked and it turned out perfect. I made the recipe as stated, and it came out like a frosting should be. This is a great recipe and thanks so much for posting it Glenda.
