Salted Caramel Frosting – Barefoot in the kitchen

Buttery caramel sauce with just a touch of salt combines with cream cheese for silky smooth salted caramel frosting perfection.

Salted caramel frosting

Before I made this frosting, I knew {Salted + Caramel = Frosting} was going to be a good thing. However, little did I know it was going to be a great thing: an almost indescribably awesome frosting.

I’m not usually a big fan of frosting, but I am a huge fan of homemade caramel sauce. So pouring caramel sauce into a whipped cream cheese frosting sounded too delicious not to try.

I’m a big fan of real flavors. It can sometimes take a little longer for these flavors to develop – but in many cases it really is only minutes. Caramel is one of them.

Water and sugar slowly simmer in a simple syrup. You don’t need a candy thermometer, just keep cooking until the sugar has dissolved. Once this happens, increase the heat and continue cooking until it turns an amber color.

Caramel can be tricky because you want to keep it moving to prevent burning but don’t want to get any of the sugar crystals that might form on the sides of the pan back into the caramel. These pieces make small crunchy bits in the caramel sauce.

Once it’s that rich amber color, add the butter, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Gently stir them in and allow the sauce to cool before placing in the fridge.

Salted caramel cream cheese frosting

To turn this amazing caramel sauce into glaze, first make sure it’s completely cooled. I can’t stress this enough. It needs to be room temperature to make a smooth and creamy glaze.

Beat the butter and cream cheese until combined and smooth and creamy. Then add your powdered sugar. Once that’s incorporated, add just one cup of the salted caramel sauce.

I paired this frosting with the best gluten free chocolate cake imaginable. The combination of caramel and chocolate was exactly what I wanted.

I have to admit that one of my favorite things about this frosting is that it doesn’t take anything fancy than a knife to decorate the cupcakes. No piping tools were required and the frosting stayed soft enough to look pretty without effort or skill on my part.

Salted caramel frosting recipe

Caramel Sauce Instructions

1. In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Stir to combine and then cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves; about 4-5 minutes. No stirring is necessary, just swirl the pan over the stove occasionally while the sugar dissolves.
2. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook the sauce, tossing the pan occasionally, until it is amber; about 7-8 minutes. Add the butter, prepare for bubbling and spluttering, stirring lightly with a wooden spatula, do not scrape the sides of the pan and do not spill sauce up the sides of the pan. (This will cause crystallization as you scrape the uncooked sugar back into the sauce.)
3. Once the butter has melted, remove from the heat and add the vanilla, cream and salt. It bubbles up again but calms down quickly. Stir to combine (again, don’t scrape the sides of the pan) and then allow to cool before transferring to a jar and refrigerating for storage.

Instructions for frosting

1. Beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and beat to combine.
2. Add 1 cup room temperature caramel sauce and beat again to combine. Spread the frosting on anything and everything you like.

Recipe inspired by Eats Well With Others and adapted from Life on Blackberry Farm

Frosting Recipes

Spices are one of my favorite ways to add new flavors and change up recipes. Frosting and frosting fall into this category, delicious on top of cakes and cookies or just for dipping cookies or pretzels as a sweet snack.

Fresh Blueberry Frosting is a light and creamy frosting whipped into a fluffy blueberry sweetness. A dollop of this frosting is sweet heaven on a cupcake. On a spoon, on a cracker, or on an actual cake, this blueberry buttercream frosting is irresistible.

If given the chance, I could do serious damage to a bowl of this fluffy chocolate icing without even smearing it onto the cake. That’s all I wanted in chocolate buttercream frosting.

Grab a spoon, you’ll want to eat this whipped cream frosting straight out of the bowl, or go ahead and dip with fresh strawberries.

{originally published 3/8/12 – recipes updated 1/26/23}