Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting Recipe

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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 some fantastic cake flavors such as banana, pumpkin, apple and even pure vanilla or chocolate cupcakes.

Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting Recipe, Best Butterscotch frosting[/caption]

If you love butterscotch sauce, then you probably love butterscotch buttercream too. And if you like caramel, then you love butterscotch buttercream! I must admit that I have a particular soft spot for butterscotch sauce, and especially butterscotch buttercream. 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 on this post. And NO Caramel and Butterscotch are not the same... nope!!

Don't you love that color? Especially the smell.. yum. Sweet and luxurious!

Two methods to make butterscotch buttercream frosting (Pin)

Yes, if you know me, I love shortcuts, and I know many cake decorators like me 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 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.
  • 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!

Ingredients and substitutes

• 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 critical 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.

Recipe 1 - Using ready-made buttercream

If you already have buttercream readily made, why make more. Use it!! This method will give you a more soft buttercream consistency which is ok for cupcakes and frosting cakes. Depending on the consistency you may even be able to pipe some borders. You can use any of my buttercream recipes Swiss, Italian, American, French, or German buttercream. 

Recipe

• Make and cool (homemade) 1 cup butterscotch sauce ( you can use commercial one as well).
• Add to 4 cups of buttercream frosting (Swiss, Italian, American, French, or German buttercream.) 

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 (Pin)

Ingredients

• Butterscotch sauce- 1 cup (recipe here)
• Unsalted butter - 450 grams ( 1 lb)
• Powdered sugar - 175 grams (1 ½cup)
• Salt - ½ tsp

Step by step 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.
• 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 lovely 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.

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