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 c. butter
- 1 c. light 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
Other dessert recipes that you might enjoy:
Scarlet
Oh my gosh. This quick caramel icing was so good over brownies. Yummy! It was so fast to make and so full of delicious caramel flavor.
Lydia Beiler
I never thought to use it on brownies but a follower on Instagram just shared that he used it to top his Nutella stuffed brownies. It sounds amazing! So glad you enjoyed it!
Karie Redding
The directions are clearly easy but mine did not turn out right. It was gritty.
Lydia Beiler
Karie, I am so sorry that your icing turned out gritty. That is so frustrating! I’m rather puzzled as to what may have caused it because I have made this recipe dozens of times and never had any issues. (A previous recipe that I tried that used a bit of a different method sometimes did it though.) Were you stirring it constantly and also keeping the sides and “corners” of the pan clean too as you stirred? That’s the only thing that I can think of that may have caused it to become gritty. Again, I’m sorry. I know how annoying it is to go to the effort of making something and then having it flop for what seems to be no reason.
Carolyn
Would this frosting work on cinnamon rolls?
Lydia Beiler
So sorry for the slow reply, Carolyn. Yes, I think it would. It’s a bit stiffer than your typical cinnamon roll icing but I don’t think that would really matter. Just more something to consider.
Katie
This was an amazing find – thank you! 20 years ago a coworker brought in her famous caramel cake and I loved it. Tried to make her frosting ONCE and I didn’t get it right. Who wants to stir for THAT long? This was awesome. So fast and came together easy peasy. I text her this recipe and told her to try it.
Of note, I didn’t have any whole milk so I used almond and it was just fine. Also had to add my twist of half a capful of maple extract and 1/8 cup Mexican crema at the end. I used this on a box butter pecan cake mix I substituted butter for oil with and added a capful of vanilla to. My family raved over the cake and frosting. They said the frosting tasted like a maple bar frosting and it’s now a Christmas favorite.
I think this tasted like the center of a butterscotch square candy from See’s. That being said I think this could be doubled and poured in a pan, cut in squares and dipped in chocolate and double for that. Will save me from buying it hubby 2 pound box for a lot more, and will be made with extra love.
Thanks again!
Lydia Beiler
So happy that you enjoyed the recipe, Katie! Yes, many caramel icing recipes can be pretty tricky and hard to get to turn out right. But this recipe is pretty foolproof! Thanks for the tip that almond milk works wells too. Super helpful for those that don’t use dairy! And the other tweaks sound tasty too.
I never thought to try making this into candy but it sounds totally delicious! Now you have me itching to try it. 🙂
Debby Brooks
Best (and easiest) caramel icing…ever! Looks like the old fashioned kind that my grandma made. Delicious!!
Lydia Beiler
It’s surprising how easy it is to make, isn’t it? So glad you liked it!
Sheri
My 92-year-old grandma also always made chocolate cake with caramel frosting, just like your recipe! We would celebrate every birthday together with extended family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – and this was most everyones favorite. I however hated chocolate cake, so my grandma started reserving a little dish of caramel frosting just for me 🙂 There was a little a bit of jealousy over that, lol. I never wrote the recipe down, so thank you for sharing. My kids love this as well 🙂
Lydia Beiler
What a fun memory, Sheri! Aren’t grandmas the best? And knowing that you are able to enjoy caramel frosting again like your grandma made makes me so happy! Comments like this are what make my day and keep me doing what I do. 🙂 Thanks!