Have you ever had a week where you were on the wrong day for the entire week? All week, I was a day behind. All day today, I thought that it was Wednesday. I am so confused. I never really caught up and my poor blog was neglected. Something else that did not help with productivity was that we got a new addition to our family. We adopted a 10 month old puppy. Her name is Ginnie. She is a total and complete love. I went into Best Buy to buy a printer and came out with a dog. Next door to the Best Buy is a Petsmart. My husband and children went to the adoption tent, and buy the time I got back, it was decided that we needed to take a doggie home. It did not take a lot of arm twisting. They had their eyes on a different dog, but I saw this sweet babe and knew that she was our new dog. We could not take her home that day, she needed to go back to be spayed, and I drove to Ottawa to pick her up on Monday. It was well worth the disruption in our week, but I never got it together. But you will forgive me right?
Salted caramel is my latest obsession. I cannot get enough. My sea salt and vanillla bean caramel sauce is delicious on its own, but the last time I made it, I added about 2 ounces of Jack Daniels Tennesse Honey. It is the most perfect thing that I have ever eaten. Sweet, salty, and boozy. Usually, I am not even a whiskey fan, but on a whim I bought a bottle of the new honey blend (must have been a rough day) and love to cook with it. And then, I got an even better idea. Add butter to it. Lots and lots of butter. And more sugar. And then add to it some cake. And then some cupcakes. Sometimes, just sometimes, I have really good ideas.
2 sticks (1 cup) room temperature butter
1 brick (8-ounces) room temperature cream cheese
1/2 cup salted caramel (homemade or store bought, if you cannot find salted caramel, add about a teaspoon of sea salt)
3-4 cups powdered sugar
Cream together the butter and cream cheese.
Pour in the salted caramel.
Beat until combined.
Slowly add the powdered sugar, and beat for a few minutes until really light and fluffy.
I used it to ice this yellow cake. This recipe makes a lot of frosting, I iced this cake and had some frosting left over. I added a few extra sprinkles of sea salt and this cake was amazing.
And it is also perfection on top of chocolate cupcakes with a little extra caramel sauce drizzle and some star glitter. The stars just make it extra fancy. I like sparkles.
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Oh my sweet goodness! This is a must make!
thanks Renee!
You could not have timed this more perfectly! I made your salted caramel sauce and want to use it to make frosting for a butter pecan cake for a friend’s birthday tomorrow. I was planning on using it with a whipped cream frosting, but I might have to go this way… Does the tang of the cream cheese come through? How do you think it (the salted caramel sauce) would work with the whipped cream?
Yum. Yes, you can taste the cream cheese. But I think that a whipped cream sounds amazing too. Tough call.
I went with the whipped cream, and it turned out great. If you’re still on your salted caramel kick (I’m on one, too…thanks to you!), I recommend it. I’m sure you’ll come up with something fabulous. Thanks for the inspiration 🙂
Yum. Sounds like perfection.
Heather…just now trying this frosting recipe so followed it using cream cheese, but whipped cream sounds great. How much whipped cream did you use? Thanks! Nancy
I’m a recent fan of salted caramel. This looks amazing! And I love the little sprinkles! 🙂
thanks Caroline. I love your name, if my youngest was a girl, that is what I would have named her.
Oh my…these look amazing. Very good idea, my friend. Have a fun weekend!
thanks, Alison! I wish that I had one right about now.
Congrats on your new addition! Dogs bring so much joy to a family! A lot of work too, but mostly JOY!
Yes, they really do. On both counts!
Congratulations on the puppy! We adopted a (second) dog last week, and now I cannot imagine my life without these two little guys.
The cupcakes look great, too. 🙂
thank you Cristina. We love her. Congrats to you as well.
i’m totally plotzing over the fact that you have star glitter. how? amazing! want!
Thanks, I got it at Hobby Lobby. It is Wilton.
Ginnie looks totally worth the disruption! The frosting makes me swoon 🙂
She is. We love her.
Ooooh, Bree . . . . Bree, Bree, Bree.
I want to lick that dripping caramel off of your header.
go for it, sister. I won’t tell.
I love this entire post, what a gorgeous little dog! Beautiful 🙂 And this recipe looks scrumdiddlyumptious
thank you Sasha!
Your new doggie is sooo cute. There is nothing like a puppy!!
Salted caramel is my newest obsession too and these gorgeous looking and delicious sounding cupcakes may have to be my next salted caramel fix.
thank you Beth. I need to just stop with the salted caramel. Dangerous. Very dangerous.
Aww your new pup is absolutely adorable! Reminds me of when we first got our two little crazy dogs! And I could definitely find myself putting this frosting on everything!
thank you Peggy. We adore her already.
Definitely into salted caramel and am going to steal this icing today.
Congrats on the new member of the family. So much better to adopt than buy. And she looks like such a sweetie. I have two rescues that I’ve had for 9 years and just cannot make a move without them at my heels.
thank you! I love pound puppies too. She is a sweet heart, we love her already.
Oh my…. those look good!
they are!
Thank you for sharing this recipe. My daughter loves to bake cupcakes and always looking for great frostings to top her delicious cakes!
you are welcome. She will love this one. If she is young, make sure you help her make the caramel sauce. Cooking sugar needs a grown up.
Do you have a recipe for the yellow cake you show here? It looks fabulous. How did you get it to be so dense looking?
And, the frosting on the yellow cake looks white while the cupcake frosting looks caramel colored. What’s the difference?
I used a doctored cake mix. http://www.withsprinklesontop.net/?p=1397&print=1
The difference is that I used two different batches of caramel. One got a lot darker than the other, but both tasted delicious.
Made the frosting this morning with the salvaged salted-caramel sauce. It set up just fine (a bit on the thinner side), so I am thinking I should have left it on the heat? The frosting has been the perfect pairing for the pumpkin pie spiced cinnamon rolls. I sprinkled crushed pretzels on top for more crunch and salt-deliciousness. Thank you again!
It needs to set up in the fridge, but is not as thick as a store bought sauce. There is not corn syrup which I think helps with the thickening.
Do you have a favorite chocolate cupcake recipe to pair with this frosting?
I don’t, but when I find one, I promise to share.
I love Ina Garten’s Beatty’s Chocolate Cake recipe and use it for cupcakes! 🙂
This salted caramel frosting looks divine. Ooh.
it is the best chocolate cake recipe around.
I have been search for salted caramel frosting that looks as delish as this! Where are those gold sparkles from? (must have for the festive season!)
P.s. Dog is sooo cute congratualtions
I got the sprinkles at Michaels, they are Wilton. And thank you, she is a love.
Hey Bree! I tried to make this frosting this morning and it was a total disaster! I was so bummed since I made the caramel myself and I had to throw the whole batch out…major bummer. Ok so firstly my butter and c.cheese was still a bit cold, not room temp. So I got lumps, ick. But I continued on praying for a miracle. Once I added the caramel and sugar the frosting separated and became almost gritty. I live in Dubai and I find that the cream cheese here is much softer than what we have in the US…any idea what I can do tomorrow? I’m trying it again, wish me luck.
Gina
It will not be smooth unless the butter and cream cheese are room temp. If you want, you can just leave out the cream cheese.
Just got done making this frosting and it’s the best I’ve ever had! Amazing! It will be surprising if it makes it on the cake!
I am so happy to hear this Sarah!
You said this recipe makes a lot of frosting, could I cut the ingredients in half to make less? I want to use it on mini chocolate cupcakes 24 of them 🙂 thanks.
Sure, you can halve it.
This frosting was such a hit! I used my own salted caramel recipe, but it was still sweetly delicious, thanks for sharing it!
http://thedreameryblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/punkin-ale-cupcakes-with-salted-whiskey-caramel-frosting/
You are welcome! I made it yesterday and forgot how good it was.
Umm… So I made this to go on my spiced apple cupcakes n it’s flipping amazing! I added a lil vanilla, used a store bought butterscotch caramel n added salt. Still, bomb. Love the salty, sweet n tangy combo!!
I know! I have made it twice this week alone!
hi can i use something else instead of cream cheese
All butter.
I had a co-worker bring in wheat free cupcakes with this frosting and a little caramel drizzle on top and they are the most delicious cupcakes I have ever had. I was amazed. I’m bookmarking!!! This will be a well used recipe in my house. 🙂
I am so glad that you liked them so much!
Followed recipe exactly…could not find salted caramel sauce so used a caramel topping and just added 1 t. sea salt. I also bought some ground sea salt and set it on the largest for grinding and will lightly grind over top of cake.
I was wondering if there is a specific Carmel they I should use? I tried to make this with Carmel bits, it did not work. I melted the Carmel and once it was completely melted I added it to the cream cheese and butter and it instantly hardened. Is there a trick it should I have used a different type of Carmel? Thanks
There are links in the recipe, but it needs to be sauce. You can use store bought if you don’t want to make your own, but it needs to be liquid.
Only, this looks amazing! I’m going through a salted caramel phase right now so I’ll be trying this!