I call butterscotch buttercream frosting the twin sister of caramel buttercream. While quite similar, butterscotch has a uniquely delicate and sweet flavor from brown sugar. Also, it's much softer than caramel and goes well with some unique cake flavors such as banana, pumpkin, apple, and even vanilla or chocolate.
I must admit that I have a particular soft spot for butterscotch sauce, and especially buttercream. If I had to pick between a caramel sauce or a butterscotch sauce, I'd choose butterscotch. I think its that mellow flavor from the brown sugar
Don't you love that color? Especially the smell.. yum. Sweet and luxurious!
Ingredients and substitutes
- Butterscotch sauce - while you can use store-bought sauce, I highly recommend you make your own so you can make a thicker sauce which works better for consistency. Besides, it takes just 5 to 7 minutes to make your own from scratch
- Butter - I always use unsalted European butter for my butterscotch or caramel, European butter has lower moisture content and is often used for making pastry.
- Powdered sugar - Always use powdered sugar made from cane sugar, not beet sugar. Beet sugar stays grainy and gritty
- Vanilla extract - a good quality vanilla extract goes a long way. Pro-tip - it is more affordable to make your own vanilla extract, bean paste, or vanilla sugar.
Two recipes - butterscotch buttercream
- Premade buttercream - If you are a cake decorator like me, then you probably already have buttercream on hand - why would you make more from scratch? Right? You can use any frosting from Swiss, Italian, French, German, or American Buttercream as a base.
- Of course, this buttercream is a bit soft in-consistency because you are now adding a sauce ingredient. Please keep that in mind but in some cakes it's ok.
- And you definitely cannot use it for piping because the consistency is soft.
- From scratch - You can make it from scratch using this recipe. A fair warning
- This is rich, light, and fluffy because you MUST whip it for at least three minutes.
- I love using this more than the first method because it's not too sweet but rather very buttery.
- As you can see it's all butter so use it such that it complements the cake. Beautiful 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!
Recipe 1 - Using pre-made buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, whip the butterscotch sauce with the premade buttercream until light and fluffy.
Pro-tip - if you don't whip enough the buttercream will be a soft consistency.
Consistency
- The consistency of this buttercream will depend on the consistency of the original buttercream as well as the consistency of your Butterscotch Sauce.
- 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.
Recipe 2 - Made from scratch
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream the butter and salt until pale, light, and fluffy
Pro-tip - the butter must be room temperature otherwise it will make a lumpy buttercream - Next, add the butterscotch sauce in two batches making sure to combine well.
Pro-tip - the mixing will look very soft, loose, and almost curdled. Just keep whipping. - Next, add the powdered sugar and continue to whip. Once all the powdered sugar is well-combined turn the mixer to medium-high and whip for three full minutes until light and fluffy
Pro-tip - the butter and cream in the butterscotch sauce will whip into a light and airy buttercream so don't skip the whipping. - Finally, add the vanilla extract and combine well.
Tips and troubleshooting
- The consistency of the sauce you use will determine the consistency of the buttercream.
- Ideally, one way to get a firmer buttercream would be to add more powdered sugar, but this results in a sweeter buttercream.
- If the consistency of the buttercream is too soft - use it as a filling first then use some regular buttercream to frost the outside of the cake.
Frequently asked questions
How long will this buttercream keep?
This buttercream will keep in the fridge for up to a week. You can also store leftovers in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight for best results
What is the difference between caramel and butterscotch?
Caramel is made with white sugar while butterscotch is made with brown sugar. Butterscotch has a unique flavor that comes from the molasses in the brown sugar.
What flavors work well with butterscotch?
Recipes that use brown sugar are often enhanced with the flavor of butterscotch. Coffee and chocolate both work well with it as well.
You may also like
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Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting - 2 Methods
Print Pin RateCalories: 46kcal
Adjust Servings Here: 4 cups
Description
I call butterscotch buttercream frosting the twin sister of caramel buttercream. While quite similar, butterscotch has a uniquely delicate and sweet flavor from brown sugar. Also, it's much softer than caramel and goes well with some unique cake flavors such as banana, pumpkin, apple, and even vanilla or chocolate.
Ingredients
From Scratch
- 1 cup (240 ml) Butterscotch sauce recipe here
- 1 lb (450 g) Butter unsalted, room temperature
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 ½ cup (180 g) Powdered sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
With Pre-made buttercream
- 1 cup (240 ml) Butterscotch Sauce
- 4 cups (900 g) Any Buttercream Frosting options below
- American Buttercream Frosting OR
- French Buttercream Frosting OR
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream OR
- Italian Meringue Buttercream OR
- German Buttercream
Instructions
From Scratch
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream the butter and salt until pale, light, and fluffy Pro-tip - the butter must be room temperature otherwise it will make a lumpy buttercream
- Next, add the butterscotch sauce in two batches making sure to combine well. Pro-tip - the mixing will look very soft, loose, and almost curdled. Just keep whipping.
- Next, add the powdered sugar and continue to whip. Once all the powdered sugar is well-combined turn the mixer to medium-high and whip for three full minutes until light and fluffyPro-tip - the butter and cream in the butterscotch sauce will whip into a light and airy buttercream so don't skip the whipping.
- Finally, add the vanilla extract and combine well.
With Pre-made Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, whip the butterscotch sauce with the premade buttercream until light and fluffy. Pro-tip - if you don't whip enough the buttercream will be a soft consistency.
Recipe Notes
- The consistency of the sauce you use will determine the consistency of the buttercream.
- Ideally, one way to get a firmer buttercream would be to add more powdered sugar, but this results in a sweeter buttercream.
- If the consistency of the buttercream is too soft - use it as a filling first then use some regular buttercream to frost the outside of the cake.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 32gCalories: 46kcalCarbohydrates: 3.9gProtein: 0.7gFat: 3.3gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gCholesterol: 6mgSodium: 148mgPotassium: 0mgFiber: 0.8gSugar: 0.5gVitamin A: 0IUVitamin C: 0mgCalcium: 0mgIron: 0mg
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
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Trisha Wiedbrauk
My comments from last week seemed to have disappeared. I made this frosting for a Valentines Day cake. I believe I measured everything properly prior to starting. Frosting tasted like a stick of butter. One pound butter to 1.5 cups powdered sugar and 1 cup butterscotch sauce seems off now after making it. Other buttercream frosting I looked at after making this, have 4 times the amount of powdered sugar. Not sure whether I messed something up, if there is a type o or if this is just a bad recipe.....
Veena Azmanov
Trisha, Thank you for your feedback. Sorry this buttercream did not work for you
No this is not like the other buttercream recipes on the blog. The recipe is correct, though you can use more powdered sugar if you prefer. It is similar to my caramel buttercream which has a video if you would like to see.
Caramel or butterscotch sauce are both made with butter and whipping cream. So when whipped well, these two ingredients will add volume to create a light and airy frosting.
But, you must whip to that consistency. I hope that makes sense.
Tammie
Hi. I have a question regarding a filling that will pair well with the buttersctoch frosting. I plan to make a white cake but I'm not sure what type of filling (like a homemade jam or even a curd) would pair nicely with this frosting. Last week I did my first cake that had a dam and filling inside and now I can't wait to do more. ? I'm just having an issue when it comes to pairing flavor profiles that aren't as common. I'm looking for a filling that won't be too sweet but will work. Can you please give me some suggestions? Thanks!
Veena Azmanov
Hey Tammie. I have a post that has great suggestions for flavor combinations that you might like to check out.
For butterscotch, a great combination is a coffee, espresso or dark chocolate ganache.
The bitterness of coffee or dark chocolate does go well with the sweet butterscotch.
Another great combination with butterscotch are tart berries - like sour cherries, blackberries,
Personally, I do like orange curd with butterscotch but it's not very popular with everyone.
I hope these suggestions help.
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.