Southern Caramel Icing
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
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 made this icing today with a little difficulty. I think I cooked it too long; it’s a darker brown than the picture. After whipping in my stand mixer it turned into a grainy mess and some of the liquid separated (like peanut butter does sometimes). Using a wooden spoon I was able to get it back to a nearly-workable consistency. But, I made it too early and by the time the cakes cooled the icing had become a solid mass like fudge. I warmed it up in a double boiler and was able to ice the cakes, so maybe all is not lost. The icing does taste good. I used a yellow cake mix for the cake.
One question though: Does a cake with this icing need to be refrigerated?
It does sound like you cooked the icing too long, Bruce. Cook just to softball stage. It is easy to tell when you reach that stage if you have candy thermometer and the temperature reaches 235-245º F. The icing does not require refrigeration, Bruce.
I tried making this with swan down cake flour it didn’t rise well I made my icing it came out to thick were did I go wrong???
Debrah, you need self-rising flour for this cake. The cake would not rise using cake flour because there is no leavening in the cake flour. It sounds like if the icing was too thick, it cooked too long. It will take about 40 minutes total cooking time when cooked over medium heat. Soft ball stage is when the mixture has thickened and when you drop a small amount of it in a bowl of cold water, it will form a small ball. You will beat it until the frosting is smooth and easy to spread on the cake. I hope this helps.
HI – I’m really looking forward to making this cake but am a little hesitant about using shortening in the icing. Could it be made with all butter or would that change it too much?
I haven’t tried making this with all butter so I’m not sure how it will turn out, Diane.
Delicious, definitely recommend. I added salt, and may brown my butter beforehand next time, but it is really good as is. I also think you actually need to triple the recipe for the seven layer cake. I have it spread very thin, just like the caramel cakes I grew up with, but still have a section not covered on the back of my layer cake. Thank you for sharing!
Brianne, I double the icing recipe for a 3 layer cake so you would need at least triple the recipe for a 7 layer cake.
You said to double the Icing on the 3 layer cake?
Yes, you will need to double the Southern Caramel Icing Recipe for this 3 layer cake. Hope you enjoy!
Is this brown or white sugar?
It is white granulated sugar, Annette. Hope you enjoy!
I can’t wait to try this icing on the southern cake!! It looks so good!! I will update when I do and let y’all know how it turned out.
Hope you enjoy, Heather.
I love this icing! I was very nervous initially because I decided to quarter the recipe (I’m using it for a single 6-inch cake) and I’ve heard so much about how tricky it is to make a caramel icing at home. I don’t bake frequently so when I try a new recipe, it’s usually never anything adventurous, which is definitely what all caramel recipes are in my book. But as I kept repeating the soft ball test every now and then, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The result was just amazing! And I used an electric beater in the end to stiffen it. Thank you for sharing this. It’s going to be my new favorite icing. Cheers to your grandmother!
Thanks so much, Nandini! I’m so glad this icing turned out so well for you.
This will be my first time trying this
I hope you enjoy!
Does this icing never get ‘set up’ or get firm? Or did I do something wrong? Tastes great, came out just like the recipe… covered cake to take to dinner, and got a nasty, messy looking cake when I took off the foil. This was my first try with this kind of frosting and it SEEMED like It was going to be fine. I guess I would have transported it differently if I’d know the frosting stays sticky. Thanks!
This icing does not stay sticky, Tina. It does get firm. It sounds like it may have not cooked long enough. I have not tried covering the cake in foil so that may have contributed to the issue, too.