Southern Caramel Icing
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Yesterday I shared with you about my Mama’s Chocolate Marble Squares. Well, I had lots of emails and requests for the recipe for the caramel icing to go along with it.
Have I ever told you that you are definitely my kind of people?
You most certainly are! There is nothing like fresh, homemade caramel icing to make the world go ’round.
Cause I really and truly think that it does.
Good caramel icing is an act of love. You truly put your heart and soul into making good southern caramel icing.
My Grandmother Verdie would stand at her stove for what seemed like hours swirling her pan to get the perfect “color” on her sugar. Her hands wrought with arthritis, she held the cast iron dutch oven as tightly as possible as she kept the rhythm of the caramel in her heavy pan. She never used a mixer to make her caramel icing, I always was amazed that she didn’t. The time it had taken her to swirl her pan earlier seemed like seconds compared to watching her beat the icing by hand.
When I married, I learned that my mother-in-law also had a special recipe for a cake topped with southern caramel icing. She’d learned to make it from an aunt of my father-in-law’s when she married into the family. She’d talk about how Aunt T would beat her icing by hand so that it would be just right. While her recipe was slightly different, Aunt T’s and my Grandmother’s method were still the same.
When Little Buddy turned one, I decided it was high time that I made a caramel cake myself. We were living with my husband’s parents as we were building our house at the time. We’d invited all of our family to a dinner to celebrate the big day. I’d worked for weeks planning the menu, creating the perfect invitations, finding just the right color of light blue placemats to match a speck of blue in my mother-in-law’s rug, and thinking about this cake.
It had to be perfect.
The icing had to taste just like the caramel icing from when I was a little girl carefully watching my Grandmother.
I set out to make the icing all by myself. I was determined not to call Grandmother Verdie to help me. The arthritis had even further ravaged her hands by now, but I knew she wouldn’t let that stop her from trying to make it for me.
After three attempts, I finally had a caramel icing I could spread on Little Buddy’s birthday cake. I felt like I had accomplished the world. I’d repeated the dance I’d watched so many times before, swirl and stir, swirl and stir, swirl and stir until I finally found just the right rhythm.
Here’s how I make it.
Southern Caramel Icing
Ingredients
- 2 cups (396 g) sugar
- 1 cup (227 g) buttermilk
- 1/2 cup (92 g) Crisco
- 1/2 cup (113 g) butter
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in a 3-4 quart cast iron dutch oven and place over medium heat.
- Swirl pan to keep ingredients moving in the pan.
- Cook to softball stage 235º – 245º on a candy thermometer or when tested in a cup of cold water.
- Remove from heat and beat with a wooden spoon until creamy and ready to spread. If using mixer, once your icing has reached the softball stage, whip the icing until it holds to the whisk when you stop the mixer.
- This is a perfect icing for Southern Caramel Cake
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
I don’t have a cast iron Dutch oven, what do you suggest?
You can use a 3 to 4 quart heavy saucepan or a heavy Dutch oven in place of the cast iron Dutch oven, Dennie.
My committed family helped me on a second attempt at this frosting. The first was not cooked long enough. This stuff is amazing.
I’m glad you tried this recipe again so you could see how delicious it really is. Thanks.
This frosting sounds delicious! I will be attempting this on Saturday to bake for my brother n law’s birthday, along with the cake you posted the frosting with! Do you have to have a candy thermometer because I don’t…. I really have never used one..? I hope this is a winner. I will let you know and your cake looks frosted just fine. Don’t be hard on yourself! I’d rather have a delicious cake with a home style frosted look, than a professional perfect cake that tastes not the best you know what I mean..? Lol . Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!
Carlisia, many people don’t use a candy thermometer with this icing. Just make sure you cook it to the soft ball stage. Jessie gave an excellent description of the soft ball stage in her comment. “when you cook the icing, it needs to cook long enough so it is thick enough to spread once you whip it. To test whether you’ve cooked it long enough, fill a glass with cold water, then dip a spoon in the icing, and let a small amount drip off the spoon in to the water. When the ball of icing looks like it holds shape like a soft ball rather than a stringy, spread out mess, that’s when you know it is done. It takes a whole lot of patience to get to that stage, but it is very important or else you’ll end up with a soupy mess! When it gets to the “soft ball” stage, remove it from the heat, let it cool, then whip it (with either a spoon, whisk, or a stand mixer) – my grandmother used to wait until it cooled and then put it in the blender.” I hope your brother-in-law has a very happy birthday and enjoys his cake.
How do you get the Carmel taste without using any Carmel?
You actually make the caramel when you cook this recipe, Felecia. Hope you enjoy!
For some reason mine came out like a glaze more than icing or frosting and very dark. Nothing like the picture. What did I do wrong? I’m usually good on recipes. So I have 3 layers ready to use, guess I’ll make my famous pineapple cream cheese frosting for now because I don’t have enough ingredients to try another batch of icing. Please help .
Hi Janice,
It sounds like you may have cooked your icing too long. If it was very dark, did you use brown sugar? This will not be a soft, fluffy frosting like a buttercream frosting, but it should not be hard like a glaze, either. I hope you try this recipe again and have better luck next time. Thanks
My son has requested a caramel cake like his Granny makes. I’m going to make six thin layers. Do you think a double recipe will be enough to cover all six layers & the sides? Also, does this need to be stirred constantly for the entire 40 minutes it takes to cook? Thanks for your help!
Paula, I double the recipe for my 3 layer cake so maybe 2 1/2 times the recipe should be enough. I just swirl the ingredients enough to prevent sticking or burning. I hope your son has a very happy birthday and enjoys his cake.
I find it so very disheartening to see so many inane questions posted for this very simple recipe. Learn the basics of cooking and/or baking and set yourselves free. So many have become food network slaves without realizing it’s goal is to keep its viewers stupid so they keep tuning in.
Can I use butter flavored shortening or crisco
It turned out fantastic! Thanks for sharing this. This tastes just like my mom’s and grandmother’s. I lost both of their recipes years ago, and am thrilled to find one just like it. Did I miss where you indicated the stove temperature setting for cooking the icing? I didn’t see it, and couldn’t remember from previous experiences. I simply used trial and error, so it worked out well.
I’m so thrilled you found this recipe if it reminds you of your mother’s and grandmother’s. Every time I make this caramel icing, I think of my grandmother, too. I’m sorry, I didn’t include the stove temperature in my recipe. I cook mine over medium heat. Hope you find more recipes on my site that you enjoy! Thanks.
I have not cooked with Crisco. Is there a reason it is used instead of all butter or adding coconut oil solids?
Hello Loula, this is not my recipe, but I bake enough to be able to answer your question. Crisco is used instead of butter because it stabilizes the frosting (i.e. prevents it from separating, it holds its shape better, can support the weight of the layers on top.) Also, cooking sugar and butter over the stove for 40 minutes would burn – Crisco is made of vegetable oil, and will therefore never burn. Hope this helps!
I’ve used this recipe for wedding cakes, birthdays and baby showers. It is a huge hit and it never fails to please the crowd. In fact, the last wedding cake I made was the southern caramel with this icing and unlike most weddings, THERE WAS NO CAKE LEFT OVER!! It was demolished in an hour.
I’ve just made another of the southern caramel for best friends birthday tomorrow, this is the third year running she has requested it. Much love from New Zealand!!
Thanks so much El! xo
Hi Robyn! Can I use a stainless pot instead of a Dutch Oven for this icing? Thanks! I’m excited to try it for a Christmas dessert.