Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
A silky cream cheese frosting laced with buttery caramel and finished with flaky sea salt for the ultimate cinnamon roll topping.
- Sweetness
- high
- Tanginess
- medium
- Consistency
- spreadable
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Makes
- ~1.5 cups
The quick answer
Beat softened cream cheese and butter until smooth, whip in powdered sugar, then swirl in cooled salted caramel sauce and a pinch of flaky salt. Spread over rolls that are warm but not hot.
This is what happens when classic cream cheese frosting meets a jar of real salted caramel. The tang of the cream cheese keeps the caramel from tipping into cloying, while a pinch of flaky salt makes every note sharper — buttery, deep, and just sweet enough. Fold cooled caramel into softened cream cheese and butter, whip it smooth, and it spreads over warm rolls like a dream, pooling gold into every cinnamon crevice. It looks fancy but comes together in under ten minutes.
Not sure which icing to use? See the complete cinnamon roll icing guide — the simple base recipe, the sugar-to-liquid ratio, and how to choose between glaze, cream cheese, maple, and dairy-free.
Ingredients
- cream cheese, softened4 oz (113 g)
- unsalted butter, softened0.25 cup (57 g)
- powdered sugar1 cup (120 g)
- salted caramel sauce, cooled0.33 cup (100 g)
- vanilla extract1 tsp
- flaky sea saltpinch
Instructions
- 1Let the cream cheese and butter come fully to room temperature, about 30 minutes, so the frosting whips up silky instead of lumpy.
- 2Beat the cream cheese and butter together until completely smooth, scraping down the bowl once.
- 3Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat on low until incorporated, then on medium until fluffy.
- 4Pour in the cooled salted caramel and a pinch of flaky salt, then beat just until swirled through and spreadable — don't overbeat or it can loosen.
- 5Spread over cinnamon rolls that are warm but not hot, then finish with an extra pinch of flaky salt over the top.
Apply, adjust & store
- Best applied when
- rolls are warm but not hot — about 10 minutes out of the oven so the caramel softens into the swirls
- Storage
- Keeps in an airtight container in the fridge up to 5 days. Bring to room temperature and re-whip briefly before spreading. Refrigerate frosted rolls after a few hours at room temperature.
- Consistency adjustments
- For a thicker, pipeable frosting, add powdered sugar 2 tablespoons at a time. For a pourable caramel glaze, thin with 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until it ribbons off the spoon.
Food safety: this frosting contains dairy. Refrigerate leftover frosting, and refrigerate frosted rolls after a couple of hours at room temperature. Bring back to room temperature before serving.
Cinnamon rolls to pair
- Cinnamon Roll Monkey BreadCinnamon rolls cut into pieces, tossed in cinnamon sugar, and baked in a bundt pan into sticky, pull-apart monkey bread with a caramel glaze.
- Biscoff Cinnamon RollsCinnamon rolls loaded with Biscoff cookie butter in the swirl and a Biscoff glaze on top, finished with crushed Lotus cookies for caramelized, spiced-cookie flavor.
- Giant Cinnamon RollOne enormous skillet-sized cinnamon roll — a single continuous spiral you slice like a cake, with gooey layers all the way to the center.
- Classic Homemade Cinnamon RollsSoft, fluffy, bakery-style cinnamon rolls from scratch with a gooey brown-sugar filling and cream cheese frosting.
- Apple Cinnamon RollsSoft cinnamon rolls stuffed with diced, cinnamon-spiced apples that bake down into little pockets of warm apple pie.
- Maple Pecan Cinnamon RollsButtery cinnamon rolls packed with toasted pecans and finished with a glossy maple glaze for cozy, nutty sweetness.
- Brioche Cinnamon RollsUltra-rich cinnamon rolls made from a buttery, high-egg brioche dough for an impossibly tender, feathery crumb.