This caramel frosting has all the flavor of the caramel frosting on an old-fashioned caramel cake but in a light, fluffy, and workable texture.
It is delicious on yellow or chocolate cake, and it would also be spectacular on an apple cake or spice cake.
Add this tasty recipe to your frosting repertoire whenever you need something other than vanilla or chocolate.
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Watch my caramel frosting web story here.
Don’t You Already Have a Caramel Frosting on the Site?
Why, yes, I do. I developed my burnt caramel buttercream specifically to pair with the chocolate stout cake we used to serve at the restaurant.
That buttercream is richer and less sweet than this one. While it is a perfect foil to the moist and deeply chocolatey cake, it’s not really made to be eaten off a finger. I mean a spoon.
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Why You Need to Make This Caramel Frosting
This caramel frosting contains no eggs, less butter, and more sugar than its more mysterious buttercream cousin, so it’s much more accessible.
You can absolutely make it to pair with the stout cake, but it will also be fantastic on yellow cake, white cake, devil’s food, pumpkin cake, spice cake, etc.
Any kind of cake you want to give a bit of an “autumnal” twist to, this is your frosting, friends.
As an added bonus, since it has been very difficult for me to find heavy cream these days, I formulated it to use evaporated milk instead.
Chances are, you have a can or three of evaporated milk hiding in a cupboard or cabinet somewhere. It’s a sign!
How To Make Caramel Frosting
Ingredients and Substitutions
- sugar: Provides rich caramel flavor as well as sweetness and texture. Use plain granulated sugar. You could also use an organic sugar that still has a bit of molasses in it for richer flavor.
- salt: Brings out all the flavor in the butter and caramel, plus it counteracts most of the bitterness if you take your caramel super dark
- evaporated milk: stops the cooking process and provides some caramelized dairy notes. You can substitute heavy cream. It has been hard for me to find heavy cream recently, so I developed this frosting to work with evaporated milk instead. Sub heavy cream, 1:1 for the evaporated milk. I have not tried to make this with plant-based milks, although I expect full-fat coconut milk, well-stirred, would work well
- vanilla extract: Rounds out the flavors and provides a hint of woody and floral notes to the frosting
- butter: Used in two places. First, some gets added to the finished caramel before cooling to help thicken the texture for whipping. The rest gets added, a bit at a time, while whipping, much like you’d make a European-style buttercream. Substitute plant-based butter in stick form if you like. Your final product may be slightly softer than if you use cow’s milk butter
- powdered sugar: Provides additional sweetness to the caramel base before whipping in the butter.
Procedure
This is not a super hard frosting to make.
If you have caramelized sugar before, you will have zero problems. And if you have not, I will talk you through it so you will also have zero problems.
In a nutshell, here’s what you do:
- Caramelize sugar.
- Stop the cooking with evaporated milk (or heavy cream)
- Add vanilla and butter.
- Chill for about 2 hours.
- Whip in powdered sugar.
- Add softened butter, a bit at a time, whipping all the while.
Visual How-To
If you have never caramelized sugar before, here’s what I do.
- Add sugar and salt to a pan that is much larger than you think you will need.
- Pour in enough water to get the sugar wet.
- Stir gently over high heat until it comes to a boil. Then stop stirring.
- Once the sugar starts to change color to pale honey, swirl the pan so the sugar caramelizes evenly
- When it is a medium-to-dark amber color, remove from heat and immediately stir in the evaporated milk all at once.
- It will boil up shockingly–way more than with heavy cream, so be prepared.
- Stir until smooth.
Note that in the short video clip, that is the color of the sugar literally about 1 second before I added the evaporated milk. That’s the color you want, and it can go from perfect to too dark in an instant, so be ready!
Once your caramel is made, pour it into the bowl of your
Add 1 stick of butter and the vanilla to the bowl, and whisk/stir until the butter is completely melted. Then refrigerate until cool room temperature, around 2 hours (since it is super hot to start with).
Once cooled, put the bowl on your mixer fitted with the whip attachment and whip for a moment to lighten the texture a bit.
Whisk in the powdered sugar. Start on low speed so it doesn’t poof all over the world.
Once that’s all incorporated, scrape the bowl well, mix for another moment, and then begin adding the rest of the softened-but-not-greasy butter, about 1-2 tablespoons at a time.
Whip really well in between additions, and scrape the bowl occasionally.
Once all the butter is whipped in, you’re done and ready to fill and frost your 1234 cake, your chocolate stout cake, or whatever you desire!
Look how beautifully it goes on a cake:
Equipment You May Need
You can make caramel frosting with a hand mixer, but if you have a
This is my pick for the best mixer for home bakers. Many people will recommend a bowl-lift mixer, and I have one myself, but for ease of adding ingredients, tilt head is the way to go. The Artisan looks great, comes in a bunch of colors, and is a workhorse for people who bake every day. It's more than sufficient for the occasional baker, and it should last you for years and years.
You’ll also want to make sure you’re using a 3-quart pan for making the caramel.
That sounds like overkill, but in my first attempt, I used a 2-quart pan, and it bubbled up so alarmingly that I had to pull the pan off the heat. Fortunately, only a tiny bit boiled over, but if I had been any slower, I’d have had a real mess to deal with.
Of course, I recommend using a kitchen scale for accurate ingredient measurements.
For swoopy piping, I love a nice, big star tip. And for an old-fashioned look to your cake and cupcakes, use a medium or small offset spatula to apply the frosting.
If you set this tip down and press while rotating your wrist, you can make tiny drop flowers. But if you press and move the tip in a swirling motion, then you get beautiful piping with ruffled edges for dramatically topping cupcakes with frosting or piping pyramids of cream onto desserts.
I trust the Ateco brand. Grab a set and they will last you almost forever. Three sizes come in handy for different-sized jobs.
If you’d like, you can also check out my list of tools for serious bakers to see my recommendations for frequently used and not-too-expensive kitchen tools.
Variations
If you’re a coffee fan, I think this would be fantastic with some espresso powder or instant coffee whipped in.
If using instant coffee, grind it to a powder in a mortar and pestle so it blends easily into your frosting.
Cinnamon would be a great addition, and I think that would make it really sing on a spice cake, for an unexpected frosting for carrot cake. or as an option for filling and topping my dried apple cake recipe.
For a caramel cream cheese frosting, replace 4 oz (1 stick) of butter with 4 oz (1/2 block) of softened cream cheese, whipping it in a bit at a time.
Tips for Success
Make sure you have your evaporated milk measured out and convenient to the stove so you can immediately stop the cooking process once the caramel is the perfect color.
Use a 3 quart saucepan to make the caramel. It will boil up a LOT, and you don’t want it boiling over making a mess and potentially burning you.
Caramel Frosting Q & A
You absolutely could use it on caramel cake, but the traditional frosting for caramel cake is basically slow-cooked caramel candy that you pour over the cake. This caramel frosting is much lighter in texture, which is why I call it “fluffy” to distinguish it from old-school, Southern caramel frosting.
Keep it in the fridge, with plastic wrap pressed down onto the surface and in a tightly-sealing container for up to a week. Allow to come to room temperature, and the re-whip to restore its fluffy, light texture. Freeze for up to a month, again allowing it to come to room temperature before re-whipping.
Yes, as written, this recipe is gluten-free.
Serving Suggestions
This frosting works beautifully on chocolate and yellow cakes alike, so pick your favorite cake and go for it.
Obviously, you may want to gild the lily a bit when serving, so might I suggest some stabilized whipped cream or caramel vanilla ice cream to go with?
Questions
A Note About Measurements
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
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Caramel Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
- 150 grams granulated sugar 5.3 oz or about 3/4 cup
- ⅜ teaspoon kosher salt
- Enough water to moisten the sugar about 1/2 cup
- 112 grams evaporated milk 4 oz or about a generous 1/3 cup, substitute heavy cream if you have it
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 336 grams butter, cut into 1 Tablespoon pieces (divided use) 12 oz or 3 sticks
- 224 grams powdered sugar 8 oz or about 2 cups
Instructions
- In a pot that is very much bigger than you think you need, place the granulated sugar, salt, and water.
- Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Once it comes to a boil, stop stirring and cook over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until the sugar turns a medium-to-dark amber color.
- Immediately remove from the heat and pour in the evaporated milk. It will boil up madly, so seriously, do not skimp on your pan size here.
- Stir until the mixture is smooth.
- Add the vanilla and 1/3 of the butter (112 grams/1 stick/4 oz). Whisk until the butter has completely melted.
- Pour the caramel mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer, or into a large metal bowl, and refrigerate to cool room temperature, about 2 hours.
- Place the bowl on the mixer fitted with the whip attachment, or with a hand mixer, whip the caramel until it lightens in color.
- Add the powdered sugar gradually, and whip until smooth and pale caramel in color. Scrape the bowl as necessary.
- With the mixer on high speed, whip in the remaining softened butter, a tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to get completely incorporated before adding more, about 15 seconds or so.
- Once all the butter is in, scrape the bowl well, and whip an additional minute or so.
- Use immediately to frost and fill an 8" or 9" layer cake. You can also refrigerate the frosting for 3-4 days. Let it sit out at room temperature for 3 hours or so to soften, and then re-whip to restore its light texture before frosting your cake/s.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Nutrition
Thanks for spending some time with me today.
I think you’ll love the richness and flavor of this caramel frosting, friends.
Take care, and have a lovely day.
Hi, y’all! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and hopefully also learned a thing or two.
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This looks as sound delicious. Does the frosting need to be refrigerated or can the cake be stored in a container on the counter?
Thank you for sharing
Hey, Bernadette. That’s a good question. Technically you can leave it out, but if it’s warm where you are, all that butter may not stand up. I’d err on the side of caution and store the cake in the fridge. Take it out and slice it while cold and, for best texture, give the pieces a good 45 minutes to come to room temp. I hope you enjoy it!
I’m assuming I should use unsalted butter. Is this correct?
The 3/8 teaspoon of salt called for in the recipe should be enough without having to use salted butter. I hope you enjoy it.
Saw this and just had to try it, it is not run-of-the-mill and that attracted me. Found it to be easy to prepare and, based on the response of my bible study group, delicious. They appreciated the nuanced flavor and light texture. I’m a fan!
After the conversation about this recipe, I decided I better try it. I made sure I had the ingredients together before I started boiling the sugar, because once you start, it can turn to burnt sugar very quickly. I’ve made caramel before and this was similar, only using evaporated milk instead of heavy cream.
I liked that the sugar had to chill before starting the whipping process. It gave me time to make my confectioners sugar (I’m don’t like buying it). I’m also glad you had the weight measure of the ingredients it does make a difference measuring in a cup vs by weight. I used a cup to gauge, and would have had 2-3 oz more had I not weighed it as well.
The recipe did not disappoint. It made 3 cups, and will be more than enough for me to frost a double layer chocolate cake. I can’t wait to have the birthday girl taste it on Thursday!
In fact, none of your recipes disappoint. You’re always precise in your instructions and your tips. You think of all possible scenarios. You’ve helped me, almost “live” many years ago when making Genoise for the first time. Very grateful for the instant help while I was in the middle of making it. Thank you!
I can’t wait to see the finished cake, JO-Anne, and I am delighted the recipe worked as advertised, too! If Heather had bothered to contact me, I’d have helped her, too. Even on Jeffrey’s birthday extravaganza day. xo
This recipe is the worst frosting I have ever made! I hate to be rude, but there is nothing positive to say. Three sticks of butter later, it only tastes like butter, there is no caramel to identify over that much butter. It takes a whole lot less than a half cup of water to ‘moisten’ a third cup of sugar, that took an HOUR to caramelize! 4 oz or a generous 1/3 cup of evaporated milk? Those are two quite different amounts and the confusion on measurements continues with 8 oz or 2 cups of powdered sugar. And last but certainly not least, claiming this makes enough to generously frost a layer cake, that’s just a blatant lie. About $12 worth of ingredients and a WHOLE lot longer that claimed later, I’m not just disappointed in this recipe, I feel cheated and angry! I’m just thankful I made it early just in case. Now I hopefully have time to whip up a decent frosting. I don’t see where to rate this, but it gets no stars from me, I will definitely not be using trusting this website anymore.
Hi, Heather,
I guess you won’t be wandering by to check these comments, but if you do, I want to respond to your concerns about this recipe.
First of all, I am very sorry the caramel frosting did not meet your expectations.
Let me see if I can address each of your concerns as they rolled in much like waves on the shore:
1)There is no caramel to identify over that much butter: It sounds to me like you did not take your sugar to a dark enough caramel for the flavor to register.
2)It takes less than 1/2 cup water to moisten a third of a cup of sugar. Okay, fair point. But the recipe expressly calls for 150 grams or 5.3 oz sugar, which is about 3/4 cup. So I’m not sure where you got the 1/3 cup amount.
3)If caramel is taking over an hour to caramelize, turn up the heat.
4)4 oz or a generous 1/3 cup of evaporated milk are roughly equivalent. Remember that evaporated milk is much heavier than whole milk, so while it would take 2.6 oz of whole milk to equal 1/3 cup, it takes a full 4 oz of evaporated milk. It sounds to me like you are not comfortable in working with weights. I do expressly encourage you, and everyone who comes to my website, to use a kitchen scale for accurate and consistent measures.
5)8 oz of powdered sugar IS 2 cups, because 1 cup of powdered sugar weighs 4 oz. Again, this appears to be operator error. I do wish you had availed yourself of the “Email Jenni” button, as I would have been able to help you in real time.
6)The photos in the post are of cake with this exact frosting on it, and it is enough to generously frost and fill a layer cake. I wasn’t lying.
7)I am sorry you feel cheated and angry. I would as well, but I would also recognize that operator error played a role here.
8)I hope you can find a delicious frosting recipe. I hope that you leave them a glowing review. And I hope you enjoy your cake.
Jenni, you are the most gracious person I’ve ever met. I <3 you and all of the careful, hard work you put into everything you do.
Thanks, Jenny. ❤️ Maybe when she gets to know me better, she will know that I’m pretty trustworthy. 🙂
Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa HELLY, I MEAN HEATHER!!!!! TAKE A CHILL PILL LADY AND BREATHEEEEEE!!!!
Jenni, God bless you, dear lady!!! You are A WHOLE LOT NICER than I am, FOR SURE!!! You responded with such grace!!! I commend you 1000% because I would not have been able to reel in the calmness that you have to have responded in the manner in which you did!!! That lady would have gotten 1000 times more hate than she gave, which was A LOT!!! Whew!!!! Bless you!!!!
Anyway, again, as I said on Facebook, I THANK YOU for being so responsive, and available for ALL of your followers, which is no small feat AND you’re whipping out WONDERFUL content and recipes consistently!!!
Finally, I for one, have kicked, screamed, snotted, and cried for this caramel frosting recipe and you DELIVERED!!!!! CARAMEL IS MY MOST FAVORITE THING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD (after God, my husband and kids, that is) and I am SO VERY THANKFUL for this AMAZING recipe!!!!! ***I will DEFINITELY be utilizing my kitchen scale and if I happen to screw things up, I’ll TAKE SOME ACCOUNTABILITY AND BLAME MYSELF and not crucify you, like HELLther — I mean, Heather, did!!!!*** ((giggles))
DeeDee, I am so glad you have found me and are a huge caramel fan. And I believe you are one of those people who really goes to the mat for their friends. I appreciate it so much. xo
Praise the lord! I’m so tired of that brown sugar frosting on cakes that people here in the South refer to as “caramel”. I’ve been experimenting for a long time with different kinds of true caramel frostings, and not found one I liked. I can’t wait to try yours, Jenni, and I’ll report back. (I plan to try the cream cheese addition too, possibly on a carrot cake.)
Also, I’m a big fan of using evap milk in recipes. I love the slightly toasted note it brings to baked goods and to gravies, too.
Thanks for this!
YOU ARE MY PEOPLE! It is so nice to see you, Maggie! Can’t wait to hear what you think of the frosting. I am Super Happy with it!
Heather, first of all , could you be any more hateful and rude? Second of all, hate filled people aren’t good cooks , that’s probably what happened when you tried making this. And lastly , you should make sure it wasn’t you lacking knowledge before making a fool of yourself. I have made this many times, and it has turned out as perfect as it looks in this picture.
Thank you, and I’m very glad you love the frosting. I’m pretty proud of that recipe. I can understand Heather being upset. I’d have been upset too. I can only help as much as folks will let me though.