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!
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 always found 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 have been in the thousands!
Her old-fashioned caramel icing was always so good and as a 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. As an adult, I’ve been known to do it sometimes too. 😉
A never fail caramel icing
The recipe for caramel cake icing that my Grandmother used was actually just slightly different than this one.
Grandmother’s recipe used the same ingredients but was pretty tricky to make. The process was a bit more exacting and required a lot more precision with temperature. It was also somewhat difficult to get it to consistently turn out perfectly.
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!
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
Easy Caramel Icing
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter (4 oz.)
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 cups 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
Other dessert recipes that you might enjoy:
Ruth
I’m looking for a frosting for Pumpkin Bars. Do you think this frosting will work? I’m looking for a frosting that hardens as I will be putting the bars in individual bags. Thank you!
Lydia Beiler
Yes, I think it would work well. The icing is quite sweet though, you may want to make sure that you don’t put on too thick of a layer as it may overpower the pumpkin bars.
Rowena
Being in the UK, what does the c in the size of portion mean please? We use grams or ounces. Also, can the caramel icing be topped with a layer of chocolate, as I love a caramel and chocolate topping on fruit cake (much better than marzipan and white icing)?
Lydia Beiler
I just updated the recipe to be a bit more clear, Rowena. The c stands for cups. In the US, most people use measuring cups and measuring spoons to measure ingredients instead of weighing things. After living in England myself, I appreciate actual weight measurements more than ever as they are more accurate. But the majority of Americans do not own kitchen scales, so I continue to stick with cups and teaspoons for the recipes that I share here. You can buy measuring cups and spoons in the UK- I think Tesco might have them? Or you can Google the gram/ounce equivalent for ingredient amounts too.
Yes, I think the icing could easily be topped with a layer of chocolate. Yum! Just be aware that this is a very sweet icing, so you probably won’t want to sweeten the chocolate very much.
I hope that helps!
Rowena
Thank you.
Karen
Rowena-4 Oz butter
8 Oz brown sugar
2 Oz milk
16 Oz powdered sugar
These I can do in my head- metric might take a little longer.
Judy Darlene Fortner
Do u have to put cake after frosting in fridge or store or is it OK on counter
Lydia Beiler
Counter is fine as long as you plan to eat it within a couple of days, Judy. Frosted cake also freezes well too, in case that’s a good option for you.
Persiasblossom
How about 1 week?
Lydia Beiler
I think the icing would likely be fine but I’d be worried that the cake would possibly start to get moldy or dried out.
Ashley
This looks deliciously simple! If frosting a standard pound cake, would you recommend doubling the recipe?
Lydia Beiler
I think one recipe should be fine as this makes enough to cover a 9×13 cake with a fairly thick layer of icing. I hope you enjoy it!
Beverly Watkins
Can I add nuts to this? If I don’t have regular milk can i use evaporated milk?
Lydia Beiler
I have never tried either thing, but I think both would work. I obviously can’t promise that it will though! If you add nuts, I’d recommend stirring them into the icing at the very end. Keep in mind that this icing does set quickly!
barb.
Cant believe this is exactly what Ive been looking for – now I can make the cake-happy mother’s day! barb.
Lydia Beiler
Delighted to hear it, Barb! And thank you for the Mother’s Day wishes. Very kind of you!
Evelyn Kyle
Are you using salted or unsalted butter?
Lydia Beiler
I usually use salted, but unsalted should be okay too.