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:
Karen S Richardson
I, like you have my grandmothers/mothers recipe for caramel icing. They both used to make it for a yellow cake.
I have been wanting that, but like you the recipe was so much harder to make and I never seemed to get it to come out right.
I made a yellow cake today and I made your recipe for caramel icing and it is PERFECT!!
It wasn’t hard to make and came out just right.
I haven’t had a piece of the cake yet but I did taste the icing and YUM!
Thank you and your church lady for this recipe
Lydia Beiler
Your comment made my day, Karen! I’m so, so happy that this caramel icing recipe could help you make the icing you remember loving again. You are very welcome for the recipe!
Jo
I followed the recipe and my icing did not thicken up. It was runny and it tasted great. What can I do to thicken it up?
Lydia Beiler
I’m sorry, Jo, that your icing didn’t set up. I’m quite puzzled as to why it would happen. The only thing that I know to do to try to get it to thicken is to add more powdered sugar, although that might not totally do the trick either.
Judy Byler
I have been making this recipe for many years but I add 1 tsp vanilla to it. It also is wonderful over a moist yellow cake or a brown sugar cake.
Lydia Beiler
I love vanilla and can imagine that it adds a bit of extra delicious flavor to this icing. I’m going to try it the next time! And I never thought of putting this on a yellow cake but yum, it sounds delicious. I’d never heard of a brown sugar cake so I Googled and now you have me wanting to try that too! Thanks for all the suggestions!
Paula D.
Just made it and put it on my applesauce cake. My husband absolutely loves it so it’s a keeper!
Lydia Beiler
That sounds delicious, Paula! And happy that it made keeper status. 🙂
Natalie
It was delicious. Came out perfect. I’m definitely using this recipe again. Thanks!
Lydia Beiler
So happy to hear that you enjoyed it, Natalie!
Wendy
Very yummy on banana cake. Will definitely make again. Thank you for this simple recipe.
Lydia Beiler
So glad you enjoyed it, Wendy!
Hmw
This looks perfect for my next jam cake.
Lydia Beiler
Oh, it would be delightful on jam cake!
Ann
A very nice frosting that pairs well with chocolate cake.
Lydia Beiler
Chocolate cake with caramel icing is THE best!