This caramel buttercream is just divine and so incredibly easy to make. You can use a store-bought caramel, or make your caramel from scratch or you can even use my cheats caramel sauce which is totally scrumptious.
I’ve been making this caramel frosting for years – sometimes it’s a salted caramel frosting like these cinnamon caramel cupcakes and sometimes it’s not but it’s always amazing.
It’s the best caramel buttercream frosting for decorating cakes and cupcakes. This creamy buttercream is rich and delicious and pipes beautifully. It sets firmly enough to use in a layer cake but is still melt-on-your-tongue luscious.
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Ingredients notes
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Caramel sauce: As I mentioned, you can use pretty much any caramel sauce for this.
- Store-bought caramel sauce is fine (and I use Bonne Maman when I do use shop-bought).
- Homemade caramel sauce is wonderful if you have a spare 20 minutes.
- I also often use my cheats caramel (made using 2 simple ingredients and a medium saucepan – no candy thermometer required). You can find the recipe for my cheats caramel over on my caramel chocolate cupcakes post.
- Butter: It’s best to stick to unsalted butter for this recipe but you can use salted butter, just leave out the additional salt called for.
- Brown sugar: Just a little dark brown sugar adds more caramel flavour and the right amount of sweetness meaning we can use less icing sugar / powdered sugar.
- Icing sugar / powdered sugar: This is mostly a classic ABC (American Buttercream) recipe using icing sugar (aka powdered sugar) for sweetness and texture.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla does a great job of intensifying the caramel flavour.
- Cream: You’re after thickened cream / heavy cream / heavy whipping cream.
- Salt: A little fine sea salt is important for intensifying flavours but add a little more for a salted caramel buttercream.
How to make caramel buttercream
This caramel frosting is so easy to make. I find a stand mixer best purely because it’s more hands off and more powerful but a handheld electric mixer will work too. Just make sure not to skimp on creaming the butter and brown sugar.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Cream butter and sugar
Start by creaming together the butter and brown sugar until it’s lightened and looking quite fluffy. You’ll need to beat it on medium-high speed for a good 4-5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. The reason this step is so important is to get that brown sugar dissolved as much as possible into the butter.
2. Add the caramel sauce
Now, add the caramel sauce and beat it in really well again. This time about 2 minutes.
3. Add icing sugar
Now, it’s time to beat in the icing sugar. Add 2 cups, ½ a cup at a time beating on low until incorporated, then give it a good beat for 2-3 minutes until thick and smooth. If you need more icing sugar for a thicker consistency, you can add the last ½ a cup and give that a beat in too.
Then, finally, beat in the cream for 30-40 seconds and it’s done.
You can adjust the consistency of your caramel frosting by adding more icing sugar to make it thicker or a little milk or cream to make it thinner. If you add so much sugar that it becomes too sweet, just add pinches of salt to taste to counteract the sweetness.
Tips and tricks
- I prefer using a stand mixer with paddle attachment for this recipe as it’s more powerful and creams the butter and sugar quicker but a hand mixer will work.
- Don’t skip a really good beat to cream the butter and brown sugar.
- If your buttercream seems too soft to pipe, it may be that your butter was just extra soft. Just chill it for 10-15 minutes before giving it another beat and it should be good to go.
- Don’t skip the ¼ teaspoon of salt, even if you don’t want a salted caramel buttercream. Buttercream can be very sweet so the salt cuts through that as well as lifting the flavour.
How to use caramel buttercream
There are just so many ways to use this gorgeous frosting.
- These cinnamon caramel cupcakes
- These chocolate caramel cupcakes
- This salted caramel chocolate cake (shown above)
- Use it to top these apple pie cupcakes
- As a filling for chocolate roll cake
- Frost these chocolate sugar cookies
Storage
Store your buttercream in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week and freeze for up to 1 month. Bring it to room temperature before giving it a good beat up with a spatula or mixer again, then use at will.
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Ingredients
- 170 g unsalted butter softened (6oz / 1 ½ sticks/ ¾ cup)
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (8tsp, notes 1)
- 2-2 ½ cups icing sugar (powdered sugar) (260-325g / ~9.2-11 ½oz)
- ½ cup caramel sauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons thickened cream (heavy cream) (notes 1)
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt (or notes 2)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- A stand mixer (best) or handheld electric beater
Instructions
- Beat the butter and brown sugar together until lightened and fluffy (4-5 minutes). You want to beat it really well at this stage to dissolve that brown sugar right down. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the caramel sauce, the vanilla and the salt if using, beat well to combine for another 2 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add 2 cups of icing sugar, ½ a cup at a time until fully incorporated, holding back the final ½ a cup adding it only if your buttercream needs a thicker consistency. Beat on medium-high speed for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time.
- Finally, add cream and beat for 30-40 seconds to combine. Done!
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- If you want to make a salted caramel buttercream. Start with salted caramel then, once it’s all mixed together taste test and add fine sea salt to taste.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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8 Comments on “Caramel Buttercream”
Great recipe but I wish the wording in the first step had been more specific. Without the step specifically listing the brown sugar, I mistakenly assumed I was supposed to put all the sugar in at once. It still turned out fine so no worries, but I definitely had a moment of ADHD frustration when I got a few steps later and realized I was only supposed to have the brown sugar in at the first step.
You make a great point, Katie. I’ve fixed that in the recipe card now.
Thanks for the recipe, works great with the “easy caramel”.
It was really tasty but slightly disappointing that no matter how long I whipped the brown sugar, it never dissolved. My buttercream ended up slightly gritty, and I didn’t have time to re-make it. I would try this again minus the brown sugar, or I would throw it in the food processor first.
Hi Maria. Normally beating it with the sugar well is enough to dissolve it. You could try very gently warming the caramel and dissolving it into that before adding to the butter. Keep in mind, you don’t want to caramelise the caramel further though, so very low heat.
This caramel buttercream recipe looks deliciously rich and versatile. Have you found it pairs best with any specific cake flavors?
So happy you love it, Nahid. It’s particularly lovely with chocolate or cinnamon but great with just a nice vanilla or butter cake too. Try it in this layered chocolate caramel cake or in my smaller 9 inch single layer chocolate blueberry cake (swapping out the blueberry buttercream). For a cinnamon cake, try my churro cake.
Love Carmel this recipe sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Can’t wait to hear how you love it, Ruby.