Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting Recipe – Simply the BEST!
I call butterscotch buttercream frosting the twin sister of caramel buttercream frosting. While quite similar, butterscotch buttercream has a uniquely delicate and sweet flavor from the brown sugar. Also, it’s much softer than a caramel frosting and goes well with a number of amazing cake flavors such as banana, pumpkin, apple and even simple vanilla or chocolate cupcakes.
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If you love butterscotch sauce then you probably love butterscotch buttercream too. And if you love caramel then you definitely love butterscotch buttercream! I must admit that I have a special soft spot for butterscotch sauce, and especially butterscotch buttercream. In fact, if I had to pick between a caramel sauce or a butterscotch sauce I’d choose butterscotch. LOVE!!
In my previous post, I shared in detail the similarities and differences between butterscotch and caramel. So I’ll save you all the repeat of this post. And NO Caramel and Butterscotch are not the same… nope!!
Don’t you just love that color? especially the smell.. yum. Sweet and luxurious!
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Two Methods to Make Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting (Save/Pin)
Yes, if you know me I love shortcuts and I know there are many cake decorators like me who follow my recipes. So yes, you can make butterscotch buttercream using a premade buttercream. And you can also make it from scratch.
- First – If you are a cake decorator like me, then you probably already have buttercream on hand – why would you make from scratch? Right? Of course, this buttercream is a bit soft in-consistency because you are now adding a sauce ingredient. Please keep that in mind.
- Second – You can make butterscotch buttercream from scratch – I like to use this simple two ingredient method.
- A bit of a warning though. This is rich, light and fluffy because you MUST whip it for three minutes.
- I love using this more than the first method because it’s not too sweet as the first method.
- As you can see it’s all butter so use it such that it complements the cake. A nice light and airy cake will be a better match than a dense cake. A dense cake with an all butter butterscotch frosting might be a bit too much. Unless of course, that indulgence is what you are looking for.
- This buttercream does not do so well with piping – it’s much softer than regular powdered sugar buttercreams.
You must try these with my Butterscotch Cupcakes and drizzle them with more Butterscotch Sauce. Yum!!
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Let’s talk ingredients – Just 2 ingredients (Save/Pin)
- Butter – I always use all butter in my frosting but you can use high-fat vegetable shortening. The key here is to use high fat so it will whip some air in with the sauce and become light and fluffy.
- Butterscotch sauce – This is, of course, the key ingredient. I always use homemade butterscotch sauce but I think any store-bought might work just as well. By the way, it takes five minutes to make homemade butterscotch. I highly recommend not using very fresh made butterscotch sauce. Use one that’s cooled completely but not chilled. Chilled butterscotch may not blend well in the butter. If the butterscotch you have is stiff, let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes. If necessary, place in the microwave for 10 seconds only.
- Powdered sugar – It’s best to use powdered sugar made from cane sugar, not beet sugar. Beet sugar tends to give a very grainy buttercream.
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Recipe 1 – Quick Butterscotch Buttercream Made With Premade buttercream
If you already have buttercream readily made, why make more. Use it!! And you can make butterscotch Swiss meringue buttercream or butterscotch Italian meringue buttercream or butterscotch American buttercream frosting with this method provided the buttercream consistency is not too soft.
Recipe
- Make and cool (homemade) butterscotch sauce. (yes, you can use commercial one as well).
- Add 1 cup cooled butterscotch sauce to 4 cups of buttercream frosting.
Consistency
The consistency of this buttercream will depend on the consistency of the original buttercream. If you need to frost a cake or pipe swirls on cupcakes this will work just great. However, if you need a firm or stiff buttercream then you are probably better off using the recipe from scratch below.
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Recipe 2 – The Perfect Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting – From Scratch (Save/Pin)
Tools
Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting Recipe, Best Butterscotch Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
- Butterscotch sauce- 1 cup (recipe here)
- Unsalted butter – 450 grams ( 1 lbs)
- Powdered ugar – 175 grams (1 1/2cup)
- Salt – 1/2 tsp
Method
Make buttercream
- Place the butter and salt in the mixer bowl.
- Using the paddle attachment – mix the butter until light and creamy.
- Next, add half a cup of butterscotch sauce – combine well.
- Add the remaining sauce – combine again.
- Lastly, the powdered sugar – combine well.
- Once all the ingredients have been added – whip for three minutes until the butterscotch is light and fluffy.
Tips and troubleshooting
- The consistency of the caramel sauce you use will determine the consistency of the buttercream you get.
- Ideally, one way to get a firmer buttercream would be to add more powdered sugar but this results in a very sweet buttercream.
- If the consistency of the buttercream is too soft – use it as a filling first then add some regular buttercream to frost the outside of the cake.
- In my video below, I do share how to make the sauce in two different consistencies so you can use one for drips and pours and the other works best for buttercream.
Don’t forget to save this recipe on Pinterest for later.
You can find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.
The Best Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting Recipe, Best Butterscotch Frosting Recipe
Recipe Card – Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting Recipe from Scratch
Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 ml Butterscotch sauce recipe here
- 450 grams Unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 175 grams Powdered sugar
Instructions
- Place the butter and salt in the mixer bowl.
- Using the paddle attachment - mix the butter until light and creamy.
- Next, add half a cup of butterscotch sauce - combine well.
- Add the remaining sauce - combine again.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined.
- Once all the ingredients have been combined - whip for three minutes until the butterscotch is light and fluffy.
Nutrition Information
Love Cupcakes? Me too!
You can find more Cupcake Recipes here or you can see my Recipe Index or Cake Tutorial Index for a whole list of recipes and tutorials.
Love Butterscotch? me to0!
You will find a few good recipes (all tried and tested) here on my blog – Butterscotch Inspired Treats
Whether you are looking for a delicious Butterscotch Sauce to pour over ice cream or snack on Butterscotch chocolate pecan squares.
Butterscotch Sauce, Butterscotch Cake, Butterscotch buttercream, Butterscotch cupcakes, Butterscotch Bars, Butterscotch Squares, Butterscotch Ice Cream, Butterscotch Desserts
Rajal Sharma
Hi Veena, I am planning to bake two 9″ cake with 4 layers and use butterscotch buttercream for frosting. Can i use the exact amount give n in your recipe for both sauce and buttercream. will it be enough to cover the cake..it will be semi naked cake so i just need basically for filing and top and little on side.
Thanks in advance.
Veena Azmanov
Hey Rajal
This recipe makes for 3 x 6-inch layers. A 9-inch cake is about 32 servings.
Just adjust the serving size in the recipe card below (change 12 to 32)
it will automatically calculate the recipe for you.
Bake in two 9 inch pans then split those layers in two – so you have 4 layers.
If you want only to fill the cake – naked- the above sauce and buttercream will be fine.
For more frosting, you will need to adjust the recipe in the card below again.
Enjoy the cake and let me know how it was. Thanks
Aiswarya
Thank you so much for such a delicious recipe.. can I add food colors to the butterscotch buttercream icing?? Like blue color.. what ll b the end result. Thank you.
Veena Azmanov
Aiswarya. You sure can add color but since the base color is not white it will give you a different tone of color. I suggest adding to a small batch and see if its’ what you like.
Janet
Looks yummy but How do I find your post about the difference between butterscotch and caramel? I’ve never seen a clear explanation. Thanks
Veena Azmanov
Thanks Janet. I think I speak about it in either my Butterscotch or Caramel Sauce post.
Mabel
Thank you so much for such a detailed explanation about butterscotch. I’m going to make it with my premade smbc, just to make sure I got the ratio right. It’s 1 cup butterscotch to 1 cup smbc right? Thank you so much for your time reading this and sharing the recipe.
Veena Azmanov
Mabel the quantity can differ. If you use it for a filling a 1:1 ratio works great. If you use it as a frosting the consistency may be too soft. Perhaps a 1:3 or 1:4 may work better.
Daria
Oh my! I will end up eating this all up without bothering to bake anything. Haha. But I think this would be perfect for plain sugar or butter cookies.
Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Veena Azmanov
I hear ya!! I have the same problem when I made it – it’s so delicious on it’s own.