I love every single aspect of this small batch salted caramel buttercream frosting. Not only do you need just a few ingredients, but it comes together in minutes and elevates any dessert, from small batch chocolate cupcakes to my fluffy cinnamon rolls. Even better, you can use store-bought or homemade salted caramel sauce!
One of the best bites I've ever had is carrot cake with caramel frosting. It's honestly one of my favorite recipes I developed when I was in pastry school. So last month, for my birthday, I thought I'd bring that recipe back from the archives for my birthday cake!
As it turns out, it's still just as good, if not even better than I remembered. And since it was just for me and my husband, I scaled the recipe down a bit to make it small batch!
This buttercream is an absolute dream. It's a bit deeper flavor-wise than my vanilla buttercream, but won't overpower whatever cake you use it on. I love it on spice cake, pumpkin cake, or my classic vanilla cupcakes.
And, it pipes up beautifully, so you can use it for decorating, swirling on a cake, or spreading over rolls. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Caramel sauce
For a deep caramel flavor, I like to use homemade caramel sauce. It's a bit more buttery and toffee-like than store-bought. Plus, I can use vanilla bean paste which just takes things over-the-top good!
Of course, if you don't have time to make caramel sauce, don't stress. Just pick a good quality store-bought caramel sauce instead!
How to make it
If you're using a thinner caramel sauce, you might need to add a little more powdered sugar. Just add more powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon (8 grams) at a time as needed.
When it comes to small-batch baking, I always recommend using a scale to measure the ingredients. If you don't have a scale, here are all my tips on how I measure ingredients for small batch baking.
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Easy Small Batch Salted Caramel Buttercream
Equipment
- Hand mixer with beaters
- Medium mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 60 grams unsalted butter softened (¼ cup)
- 40 milliliters homemade caramel sauce or store-bought (2 Tablespoons)
- 120 grams sifted powdered sugar divided (1 cup)
- Pinch of Kosher salt I use Diamond
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 2 teaspoon whole milk
Instructions
- Add the unsalted butter and caramel sauce to a medium mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer with beaters, beat the mixture until it's smooth, 1 minute.
- Then, add half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Repeat with the remaining powdered sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. The frosting will be thick.
- Mix in the Kosher salt, vanilla bean paste or extract, and whole milk. Turn the mixture to high and whip it for 2-3 minutes, until the buttercream is super fluffy. Use it on cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, & more!
Did you make this recipe? I'd love to hear what you think!