Salted caramel frosting is one of my all time favorite things to eat. I could eat this allllll day… with a spoon… not too shabby paired with chocolate cupcakes, either. This is a gorgeous, thick, luscious frosting, perfect for decorating cakes and piping nice cupcake swirls.
The key to this recipe is in the dulce de leche. I like to make my own, but it is a little time consuming. I find dulce de leche is usually available next to the condensed milk at my local grocery store, and I always find multiple varieties of dulce de leche at ethnic markets.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, slightly softened (leaves a slight indent of your finger when pressed)
- 1.5 - 2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, sifted very very well
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp sea salt flakes
- 1 cup dulce de leche (no substitutions)
Instructions
- Beat softened butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth and creamy.
- Gradually add 1 cup of powdered sugar and blend on medium speed until smooth, about a minute.
- Add more sugar, if needed, to adjust for taste. (I find that 1.5 cups is perfect).
- Blend in vanilla extract and salt.
- Blend in dulce de leche.
- Make sure you really beat it for a few minutes on medium high (at least 3) so you get that super smooth and fluffy frosting texture.
- Frost cupcakes, then sprinkle the tops of each cupcake with a pinch of sea salt flakes.
More Bakery Style Cupcake Frosting recipes:
perfectly thick and scrumptious cream cheese cupcake frosting
light and fluffy vanilla buttercream cupcake frosting
decadent chocolate fudge cupcake frosting
dorothytong
dorothytong
dorothytong
dorothytong
dorothytong
I made this this weekend and everyone loved it! It was delicious!
Thanks Kelly! So glad to hear you enjoyed it
Hi! Can you please share a chocolate cupcake recipe that goes well with this frosting? Thank you!
Hi MJ! One of my favorite cupcakes ever is actually my Cupcake Wars winning chocolate cupcake recipe – just make the cake recipe without the fudge cookies. Its super moist and tasty! Be sure to use the best quality cocoa powder for the best flavor. The recipe is here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chocolate-fudge-cupcakes-filled-with-chocolate-fudge-cookie-bar-and-marshmallow-meringue-frosting-recipe/index.html
Hi! Thank you for the recipes. I baked chocolate cupcakes using your recipe and paired them with salted caramel frosting. They are love! I had one problem though. The frosting wasn’t stiff at all! It was too liquidy. I added 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar but couldn’t add more because I found the sweetness level just right already. I used home-made dulce de leche, which was basically condensed milk I boiled for hours. Do you have any idea what I might have done wrong? Is it possible that I -the butter? I live in a very humid place. Temperature here is around 34 degrees celsius this summer.
Hi MJ! I am so sorry to hear that! Perhaps you beat the frosting for too long or too high or your butter was too soft?
Hi Dorothy
This is a Delicious Recipe, all my family loved it, but i have 1 cuestion, is your homemade Dulce de Leche a can of condensed milk boiled for hours and hours?? I tried to make my own but its a loooot of time to wait and im a very impacient person LOL, thank you so much for your recipes =)
Hi Luisa!
Yes, I make dulce de leche by boiling condensed milk – it takes a looooong time, so using store bought dulce de leche is a great short cut