Made from just 5 ingredients, this salted caramel frosting is fudge-like, rich, and buttery. It’s everything you love about the flavor of homemade salted caramel—in frosting form! Enjoy it piped onto apple cupcakes, spread over banana cake, or sandwiched between two butter pecan cookies..
Creamy and fudge-like, with an irresistible salty-sweet-buttery flavor, this is the frosting that all desserts are begging for. (I’m pretty sure all desserts would taste epic under a blanket of this stuff.)
So very good on banana cake.
5 Ingredients for Salted Caramel Frosting
Now sift in your confectioners’ sugar and beat in more heavy cream/milk:
At this point, you can use the thin frosting, or wait 20–30 minutes for it to thicken into a pipeable consistency. The longer it sits, the thicker it gets:
And be sure NOT to over-mix the frosting after it’s done. Because it will begin to separate:
Salted Caramel Frosting Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Combine the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir constantly as the butter melts. Once butter has melted, switch to a whisk to make sure the two are really combined. (Otherwise, you might see an oily layer around the edges where they’re still a bit separated; you do not want that.)
- Once melted butter and brown sugar are combined, add 3 Tablespoons (45ml) of heavy cream and the salt. Whisk to combine, then stop whisking and attach a candy thermometer to your pan, making sure the bulb is not touching the bottom of the pan (as you’ll get an inaccurate reading).
- Let the caramel boil, giving it a quick whisk every 30 seconds or so, until the temperature reaches 230°F (110°C). On my stove, it takes just under 2 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from heat, give it another quick whisk, and let cool for a minute. Carefully transfer the salted caramel to a heat-proof mixing bowl set on a cooling rack and cool for just 20 minutes before continuing. The caramel sauce thickens during this time.
- Sift in confectioners’ sugar and add remaining 2 Tablespoons (30ml) of heavy cream. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat on medium-low speed until the ingredients are incorporated. Turn mixer up to high speed and beat for 1 minute. If frosting is very thick, beat in 1 more Tablespoon of heavy cream. Avoid over-mixing or the frosting will begin to “break” and separate.
- Use it right away as a thin glaze or icing, or let it sit and thicken. It’s going to crust a bit as it sits, which is fine—simply give it a stir when you’re ready to use it. If you want to pipe this frosting, let it sit for at least 20–30 minutes before filling your piping bag, to give it a chance to thicken up to a pipeable consistency.
- Frost cake or cupcakes and garnish with a drizzle of salted caramel sauce, if desired.
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