Caramel Glaze

This Caramel Glaze is a buttery brown sugar glaze to drizzle over homemade cakes for a visually stunning dessert without having to make frosting! Use it for bundt cakes, cinnamon rolls, and more.

When it comes to baking cakes, not all cakes get the same frosting treatment.

Take my chocolate bundt cake for example.

Thanks to its unique shape with its fluted sides, decorating with a bundt cake glaze makes more sense (not to mention much easier and faster than making buttercream frosting.)

But did you know you can make flavored cake glazes? Now you can add even more flavor to your cakes with Caramel Glaze!

It’s a buttery brown sugar glaze that requires only 5 basic ingredients, all of which I’m willing to bet you have in your kitchen right now.

And this easy caramel icing is pretty quick and easy to whip up.

All you have to do is melt the butter, brown sugar, and cream together in a pan then whisk in the powdered sugar and vanilla.

It tastes as if my Bundt cake glaze and homemade caramel sauce had a baby.

This caramel glaze isn’t just for cakes either! Use it for small batch cinnamon rolls, apple cinnamon coffee cake, cinnamon apple bread, apple turnovers, and more.

Ingredients For Caramel Glaze

To make your caramel glaze for cakes, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Brown sugar: Adds a deeper caramel flavor thanks to the molasses added to it
• Melted butter: Not only does butter add flavor, it helps make a velvety texture.
• Heavy cream: Helps thin out the icing so you can pour it
• Powdered sugar: Helps thicken and sweeten the glaze
• Vanilla: Balances the flavor and makes it taste even more caramely

Bundt Cake Glaze Variations

If you’re looking for a chocolate glaze for bundt cakes, check out my easy ganache recipe.

How To Make Caramel Glaze

Making your caramel drizzle is SO easy! Here’s how to make your caramel glaze:

1. Melt together brown sugar, butter, and milk.
2. Boil for 1 minute to dissolve the brown sugar.
3. Whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla.
4. Drizzle onto desserts as desired.

Refrigerate leftover caramel drizzle for up to 1 week. It’ll harden once cool, so you’ll need to reheat it again before using and stirring in more cream or milk until drizzling consistency again.

You can also cut this caramel drizzle recipe in half and use for your small bundt cake.

What consistency should caramel glaze be?

Your caramel drizzle recipe is ready when it has the consistency of corn syrup.

This means when you take a spoonful and drizzle it back into the bowl, it should leave a ribbon trail for a few seconds before blending back into the glaze.

If it’s too thick, add a little more milk. If it’s too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.

How To Glaze A Bundt Cake

Since pouring your brown sugar glaze can get a bit messy, I place my cake on top of a cooling rack over a cookie sheet.

This allows the caramel icing to drip down without your cake sitting in a pool of it. You can even line your baking sheet with parchment paper or foil for easy clean up.

With a spoon or small vessel with a spout, pour your glaze evenly, letting it drip down the curves.

If you’re decorating with nuts or sprinkles, immediately add while the glaze is still wet so they stick.

Let your dessert sit at room temperature for about 2 hours for the glaze to fully harden. Or refrigerate to speed up this process.