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My EASY Caramel Buttercream Frosting Recipe is the BEST! Use any caramel sauce to make this frosting – homemade or store bought. It’s the perfect buttercream recipe for cakes, cupcakes, cookies – you name it!
BEST Caramel Buttercream Frosting Recipe
I have been wanting to make a frosting like this for years – it’s creamy like buttercream with the flavor of caramel. While I love cooked caramel icing, sometimes I want buttercream or a more versatile caramel flavored frosting for decorating cakes and cupcakes. That’s what this recipe is!
Why you will love this recipe:
- Use any kind of caramel sauce – homemade or store bought.
- Mixes up easily with a hand or a stand mixer!
- Perfect for piping but hardens when chilled so it’s great for stacking cakes!
- Easy to make into SALTED caramel buttercream by adding sea salt.
Ingredients Needed
- Caramel Sauce: More on this below, but you can use homemade or store bought.
- Butter: I used unsalted butter. Make sure it’s been softened before starting!
- Powdered Sugar: This helps make it more of an American Buttercream, perfect for piping!
- Vanilla: For flavor.
- Salt: If you want to make Salted Caramel Buttercream, then you should add sea salt or kosher salt (not table salt).
How to Make Caramel Buttercream Frosting
- Add softened butter and caramel sauce to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. I don’t recommend using the whisk attachment, but you can use a hand mixer if you want. Cream the two together until the butter is chunky.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix on medium-high speed until it comes together in a nice smooth frosting. Unlike my other buttercream recipes, you won’t need any heavy cream or milk – it should be the perfect consistency just because of the caramel.
- If you want salted caramel icing, then add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt (to taste).
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Tip From Dorothy
Expert Tips
- Do you have to use unsalted butter for buttercream? No – if you use salted butter then omit the salt in the recipe (except add the sea salt if you’re making salted caramel frosting).
- Adding a bit of extra salt helps cut the sweetness of frosting, so if you’re finding your buttercream too sweet, add a few pinches of salt.
- This frosting is soft when you first make it (depending on how soft your butter is) but if it’s too soft to pipe, just chill it for a few minutes.
- Store this in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to a month.
FAQ
Possibly your caramel sauce was thinner than mine. Or, your butter was really soft when you started. Try refrigerating it for an hour or so and see if it firms up. If not, add more powdered sugar to thicken (and add some salt to cut all the sweetness if it gets too sweet).
This can happen for a number of reasons, but you can add a bit more caramel or add 1 teaspoon heavy cream and mix – adding more cream as needed until it’s desired consistency. Don’t add too much at a time though, or it’ll get runny.
Yes! Store bought caramel, dulce de leche or ice cream topping will all work in this recipe.
For storing cakes or cupcakes frosted with buttercream, I recommend storing in the refrigerator. But you can leave them out for parties, etc., but once you notice it getting shiny it’s time to chill it.
Other Frosting and Cake Recipes
- Best Carrot Cake
- Pound Cake Recipe
- Lemon Butter Cake
- Chocolate Frosting
- Cream Cheese Frosting and Vanilla Buttercream Frosting are my favs.
Caramel Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter , softened
- ½ cup caramel sauce (homemade or store bought)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups (452g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon sea salt for flavor, optional if making salted caramel frosting
Instructions
- Add butter and caramel to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer). Cream until butter is chunky in the caramel.
- Add salt, vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until creamy and smooth.
- Frost recipe as desired. Makes enough for 24 cupcakes or a 9-inch layer cake. Store in refrigerator for up to one week or freeze for up to a month.
Recipe Notes
- You can use any kind of caramel sauce – check out the links in the post for all my caramel recipes.
- To make Salted Caramel Buttercream: Add up to an additional 1 teaspoon sea salt after making frosting – to taste.
Recipe Nutrition
EASY Caramel Buttercream Frosting – this recipe works with any caramel sauce and is perfect frosting for cupcakes, cakes, cookies and so much more!
I used this as a filling for chocolate macarons. It paired so well with it! I used the crazy for crust caramel recipe for the caramel (another delicious recipe!). I ended up using a cup (I know, that a lot) of caramel instead of half a cup to be able to really have that flavor come through. Great recipe!
Yum! So glad you like this frosting recipe, Holly. Thanks for sharing. I love macaroons!
I made this frosting and used it on homemade cinnamon rolls! Absolutely delicious and so easy to make! I used Smuckers Caramel Sundae Syrup in the recipe.
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing, Mary Kay.
Turned out great! Perfectly sweet. I used Ghirardelli’s Carmel sauce. I was able to pipe it onto the cake. Everyone loved it.
This frosting was soooo good! I used smuckers salted caramel sauce. It whipped up easily and piped beautifully on my apple cupcakes! Planning to use this on Thanksgiving. Thank you for this recipe!
Super Fast to Whip up! Taste Amazing!!
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