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
We have a tradition in our family of grand daddy making the grand kids birthday cakes. My grand daughter wants a caramel cake. In looking at your caramel icing recipe I don’t see where you add caramel to the frosting. Did I miss something? Thank you!
Hi, such a fun tradition that I know your grandchildren will cherish! You are actually making the caramel in my recipe for the icing. Hope she has a wonderful birthday!
I am glad to have found this recipe. Recently I shared Caroloine’s Caramel Cake with my mother and she immediately recognized the icing as her Aunt Georgie’s icing from the 1930s. I have always heard the legend of this delicious caramel icing that took so long to beat by hand, but I have never seen the recipe. Thank you so much for sharing yours!
What is the softball stage?
Hi Kim,
Jessie gives a great description of Softball Stage in Comment #22 that should help you out. If at all possible, I recommend using a candy thermometer that has all of the stages clearly marked.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe!! My husband’s people are
from Mississippi and this is his favorite cake. My mother-in-lawnhas tried for years to
replicate his Grandmother’s recipes, but we had missed the little
touches you included, especially using a mixer to mix the icing at the softball stage. Thank you soooo much again. It made his birthday!!
Elizabeth,
Thank you so much for telling me! I am so glad that you found the recipe and he loved it for his birthday! There’s just nothing like when you are able to make something or taste something that reminds you of those that you love so much. Thank you again for your comment. xoxo
🙂 Making it again for Thanksgiving for my side of the family. Can’t wait for them to try. A very happy Thanksgiving to you, your family, and readers!
Thank you for both the cake and frosting recipes. For the frosting, I’d like to up the butter to 1 cup in place of the Crisco. Personal preference not to use Crisco. Will this impact the integrity of the frosting??
OMG! I just made this icing for my boyfriend’s birthday. I was a little nervous because it definitely took way longer than 20 minutes to make before it was even somewhat close to being able to go on the cake, but once it was- I haven’t stopped eating it. I need to because it actually looks like bacon grease- and it might as well be. I was cooking at his apartment for convenience but he didn’t have baking soda so that was the one thing that was missing from mine- still delicious though- just a clearer color – and not close to being brown like in the pictures. Is that what would have made the difference?
Yes, you absolutely need the baking soda.
I don’t quite understand steps 3 and 4. Can you please explain? I want to make this for my father’s birthday!
This site explains ‘softball stage’
Elizabeth – 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 🙂
Hi Robyn!!! I stumbled across your recipes for caramel cake and the accompanying icing via Pinterest. Made this last night and it was heaven. My husband and I decided that we have NEVER tasted better cake, ever. The icing was fantastic, but much trickier for me as I have never made anything like it before (my dad was always in charge of these activities—killer fudge). However, with A LOT of patience, the icing turned out perfectly and I just wanted to thank you for sharing a family tradition that is good for the belly and the soul. Any additional tips you have on the icing, however, would be appreciated. Mine took alot longer than the estimated 20 minutes, so not sure if I missed something… Anyway, thank you again!
Hey Whitney,
I’m so glad you made the cake and everyone loved it! It really is quite the masterpiece cake that folks just love! On the icing, I’ve found that the weather can make the times off, too. In not really sure why, but if it is rainy or humid, it takes a bit longer than usual.
Thanks so much for letting me know how it turned out!
What if I don’t have a cast iron dutch oven? What would be the next best thing to use? Also,at what temp do you have the stovetop? Can’t wait to make this!
I would try another heavy-bottomed large pot and watch even more carefully so it doesn’t burn. Let me know how it goes.
I’ve wanted a recipe for caramel frosting ever since reading The Help. Thanks Robyn!!