Caramel Frosting

Today we are sharing our favorite recipe for Caramel Frosting!

This caramel frosting is easy to make, tastes fantastic, and pipes perfectly (as seen in our caramel cupcakes below). If you've been searching for a great go-to caramel frosting recipe, this is the one.

Closeup photo of cupcakes frosted with caramel frosting.

Table of Contents

Why we Love It

There are many reasons to love this caramel frosting. Here are just a few!

Easy to make with simple ingredients.
Caramel tastes fantastic with so many recipes (from caramel cake to apple cake, chocolate cake, spice cake, and more!)
Has amazing flavor from homemade caramel sauce.
Makes a great filling or frosting and is perfect for piping!

How to Make Caramel Frosting

This delicious caramel frosting recipe combines rich homemade caramel sauce with confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt.

You can find the full, printable frosting recipe card further down in this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!

In a saucepan, heat butter, brown sugar (we used dark brown sugar), and light corn syrup over medium to medium-high heat, stirring constantly. *The light corn syrup helps to prevent sugar crystals from forming/grainiess.
Bring the mixture to a boil and continue cooking for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Try to keep mixture off sides of pan.

Add the cream and salt and continue stirring until it begins to boil. Remove from heat, add the vanilla extract, and cool for 15 minutes or so.

Pouring cream into saucepan of boiling caramel sauce.

Pour the homemade caramel sauce into the bowl of your mixer if it is metal or a heat proof bowl. You can also use a hand mixer. Pour carefully as this is very hot.

Pouring Caramel Sauce into mixing bowl to make frosting.

Add the confectioners sugar to the hot mixture bit by bit, mixing at medium speed until smooth.
The mixture will thicken as the powdered sugar is added.

Add a small amount of very hot water (one teaspoon or tablespoon at a time) as needed until the frosting reaches a good consistency for spreading.
Makes about 4-4.5 cups of frosting. When not using the frosting, place plastic wrap over the bowl.

Consistency of Caramel Frosting

We used this frosting to pipe rosettes onto our Caramel Cupcakes. You will find this frosting so easy to work with.

If it sets up too much or is a bit thicker than you like, simply mix in hot water in very small increments until you've reached the desired creamy consistency.

Caramel Frosting FAQs

This frosting is fine at room temperature for a couple of days. After that, we like to move it to the refrigerator (or freezer) for freshness.

Keep in mind that this frosting firms up when refrigerated. If you refrigerate this frosting, (or cakes frosted with this frosting), allow it to sit at room temperature for a couple of hours so that it can warm and soften.

Yes, this caramel frosting can be frozen in an airtight container for up to three months.

This frosting does develop a light "crust" as it sits out. Keep the bowl of caramel frosting covered with plastic wrap.

If you need to soften up the frosting, mix in a bit of hot water a little at a time until you've reached the desired consistency.

There are so many cakes that taste great with caramel frosting! We mentioned some of them earlier in this post (including caramel cake and chocolate cake).

Banana Cakes, Pumpkin Cakes, and Carrot Cakes are also great options.

We used dark brown sugar for this frosting recipe but light brown would be delicious as well! Dark brown sugar contains more molasses and has a richer flavor.

More Caramel Cakes

If you love caramel cake recipes, we have made so many over the years! Some of our most popular are Chocolate Caramel Cake, Caramel Italian Cream Cake, Sweet Potato Bundt Cake, and Snickerdoodle Cake.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Don't miss our full collection of delicious cake recipes as well as frostings and glazes!

If you are interested in cake decorating as well, we have so many tutorials to share with you.

You'll find everything from how to frost a cake to making elegant cakes, baby shower cakes, and all sorts of fun birthday cake designs!

Caramel Frosting

BY Melissa and Bebe

This flavorful Caramel Frosting is easy to make and tastes wonderful on caramel cakes and cupcakes (as well as apple cakes, chocolate cakes, spice cakes, and more!)

Course: Dessert

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Ingredients

▢ 1 ½ sticks (170g) unsalted butter
▢ 1 ½ cups (326g) firmly packed dark brown sugar (Light brown is fine also!)
▢ 1 (18g) tablespoon light corn syrup
▢ ⅓ cup (72g) whipping cream (half and half or whole milk works also)
▢ 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
▢ ½ teaspoon (3g) salt (add additional to your liking)
▢ 4 cups (460g) confectioners sugar (measure then sift)

Instructions

In a rather deep saucepan, heat butter, brown sugar, and light corn syrup over medium to medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue cooking for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Try to keep mixture off sides of pan.
Add the cream and salt and continue stirring until it begins to boil. Remove from heat, add the vanilla, and cool for 15 minutes or so.
Pour into the bowl of your mixer if it is metal or a heat proof bowl. You can also use a hand mixer. Pour carefully as this is very hot.
Add the confectioners sugar to the hot mixture bit by bit, mixing at medium speed until smooth.
The mixture will thicken as the powdered sugar is added.
Add a small amount of very hot water (one teaspoon or tablespoon at a time) as needed until the frosting reaches a good consistency for spreading. Makes about 4-4.5 cups of frosting. When not using the frosting, place plastic wrap over the bowl.

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2 Comments

Diana says:

January 25, 2024 at 5:11 pm

easiest receipe out there never thought about using light corn syrup to keep grannies from sugar down LOVE THIS RECEIPE

1. Melissa Diamond says:
  
  January 25, 2024 at 7:32 pm
  
  Thank you so much for your review, Diana! We're so happy that you love the recipe.