Apparently you all REALLY love salted caramel. My salted caramel cheesecake bars were shared almost 100 times on Facebook! I am just blown away at their popularity and decided I probably should keep with the trend and whipped up this salted caramel buttercream. You always need a reason for a good frosting, am I right? This specific recipe was made for some unbelievable cupcakes that will be making an appearance Monday!

Salted Caramel Buttercream

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter flavored shortening
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup caramel sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt, I use fleur de sel
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

Combine the shortening and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until fluffy.
Slowly add in the caramel sauce, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir until fully combined.
Add the heavy cream and turn your mixer on high for two minutes or until the buttercream is fluffy.

The wonderful thing about this recipe is that you can use a homemade caramel sauce or you can pick up some in the ice cream aisle! If you do decide to go the premade route make sure you pick a sauce that is a little on the thicker side. Smuckers has a great salted caramel sauce that needs to be heated. It works to be about the same consistency needed to make this recipe work. Runny sauces will leave you with a runny mess.

Ready for a sneak peek at the cupcakes? Check these babies out…

Oh my dreamy. I don’t want to give too much away. Just know that yes there is salted caramel involved. It ALSO happens to be a cake mix hack. That’s right people, I used a cake mix! Truth be told… Sometimes that’s just the easier route. So prepare your taste buds for fall flavor overload!

Recipe adapted from Wilton