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Easy Old Fashioned Caramel Icing

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You’ll love this easy caramel icing recipe!  It’s made with basic pantry staples, takes around 10 minutes to make and beats store-bought frosting ANY day!

Quick and Easy Caramel Icing

It’s been just over a year since my sweet 95-year-old Grandmother went to be with Jesus.  And I’ve been finding myself thinking a lot about her life and the legacy she left.

Grandmother loved to cook and she was always finding ways to serve people, both through her love of cooking and otherwise. 

One dessert that she was known for far and wide, was her chocolate cake with caramel icing.  I wonder how many of those she must have made in her lifetime. It had to be have been in the thousands!

Her caramel icing was always so good and as I child I loved to peel it off the cake in one piece, eat the cake by itself and then slowly savor the delicious caramel icing all on its own. And as an adult, I’ve been known to do it sometimes too. 😉

Caramel Icing recipe

A never fail caramel icing 

The recipe for old-fashioned caramel icing that my Grandmother used was actually just slightly different than this one. 

Grandmother’s recipe used the same ingredients but was actually pretty tricky to make.  The process was a bit more exacting and required a lot more precision with temperature.  And it was somewhat difficult to get it to consistently turn out perfectly. 

Easy Caramel Frosting Recipe

Shortly after I married, an older lady from our church shared this easy recipe for caramel icing with me.  I was so excited when I tried it because it tasted just like Grandmother’s famous recipe!

But instead of being tricky to make, this recipe was super easy and is pretty much a never fail caramel icing recipe and turns out perfect every time!

So I switched to this simpler recipe and have never looked back!  I’ve made it for numerous extended family get-togethers and everyone has agreed that it tastes just like Grandmother’s!  

Easy Caramel Frosting

We love this easy caramel icing on my Best Ever Chocolate Cake and it goes perfectly with my Super Moist Gingerbread Cake too. 

Apple cakes, such as this Applesauce Cake, pair wonderfully with caramel icing as well.

 

Easy Caramel Frosting Recipe

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4.42 from 124 votes

Easy Caramel Icing

This simple caramel icing, made from 4 everyday kitchen staples, is absolutely delicious and crazy easy to make!
Prep Time2 mins
Cook Time10 mins
Total Time12 mins
Servings: 18
Author: Lydia @ ThriftyFrugalMom.com
Prevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

  • ½ c. butter
  • 1 c. brown sugar
  • ¼ c. milk
  • 2 c. sifted powdered sugar

Instructions

  • Melt butter and brown sugar together on low heat. Bring to boil and boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
  • Add milk and heat just until boiling again. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
  • Mix in powdered sugar until smooth. (I find using a whisk or hand mixer really helps to get it nice and smooth.)

Notes

The icing will be pretty runny initially, but it will quickly start to firm up.
Because of how quickly the icing firms up, it does not work well for decorating layer cakes, unless you are okay with the "naked" cake look.  It would probably work for that!
This makes enough icing for a 9x13 cake.  Half the recipe if you want to ice an 8 inch cake.

 

Other dessert recipes that you might enjoy:

  • Homemade Cool Whip
  • The Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
  • Blonde Brownies- the best chocolate chip brownie 
  • Easy Apple Dumpling Dessert
  • Fresh Strawberry Pie- easy and delicious
  • Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake
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Filed Under: Desserts, Other, Recipes Tagged With: easy recipe, frugal recipe, recipe

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ellie

    April 25, 2022 at 6:37 PM

    5 stars
    Super easy and very delicious 😍 using this to layer in my Twix cake jars

    Reply
    • Lydia Beiler

      May 6, 2022 at 6:40 AM

      Twix cake? That sounds delicious and decadent! Happy to hear that you liked the icing, Ellie.

      Reply
  2. Jessica

    April 23, 2022 at 3:19 PM

    Thank you for the recipe. It’s just like my grandma’s. This is now my go-to caramel recipe. Xx

    Reply
    • Lydia Beiler

      May 6, 2022 at 6:43 AM

      It always makes me smile when someone lets me know that their grandma also made caramel icing like this. So glad you can enjoy it and think of her!

      Reply
  3. Andrea Adams

    April 7, 2022 at 12:07 PM

    5 stars
    I made a cake with blueberries, coconut and sliced almonds. I made the Carmel icing and drizzled it on top. It was so delicious 😋

    Reply
    • Lydia Beiler

      April 11, 2022 at 5:03 PM

      Oh, that does sound like a delicious combination, Andrea! Glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
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Welcome! I’m Lydia. I want to help you find ways to live well and enjoy life on a budget! Read more…

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