Those of you who love the divine combination of salty and sweet can rejoice: this frosting, which is rich yet light and sweet yet not cloyingly so, is what you’ve been looking for. It’s Swiss Meringue Buttercream, delicious all on its own, but made amazing with some salted caramel.

The latter adds a new dimension to the frosting, and for that reason I suggest pairing the buttercream with a cake of a simple flavor. Our favorite Vanilla Cupcake recipe, for example- or, if you’re feeling particularly decadent, a dark and dense Chocolate Cake. It works well on cupcakes, but is just as lovely to fill and frost a regular 2-layer cake (which is about how much this recipe makes).

Salty-Sweet Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Think the name is a mouthful? Wait until you try this buttercream.
First, you want to make the salted caramel, which might be daunting if you’ve never made caramel sauce before. But don’t fear. Check out my past post on making perfect caramel, and apply the same technique.

Salted Caramel
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup heavy cream
generous pinch of sea salt

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Over low heat, swirl the pan gently (don’t mix, don’t touch with a spoon or implement of any kind). You just want the sugar dissolved. Once its dissolved, bring the heat up to about medium, and continue swirling every once in a while until it reaches a dark amber. Remove from heat, and slowly pour in the cream, stirring with a whisk. The mixture will spatter, but just be careful and all will come together beautifully. Add sea salt. Set aside until cooled and gorgeous… while you make the

Swiss Meringue Buttercream
3 large egg whites
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 sticks salted butter

In the bowl of your electric mixer (stand or hand, but stand is infinitely easier), combine sugar, egg whites and cream of tartar. Set over a large saucepan of simmering water, and constantly whisk (unless you want scrambled eggs. Sweet scrambled eggs.) until sugar is dissolved, and mixture is nice and frothy and white. I use a candy thermometer, because I’m O.C., and bring it to about 160F.

Remove from heat, give the bottom of the bowl a good wipe, attach your stand/hand mixer, and beat on high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the mixture is glossy and holds stiff but NOT dry peaks.

Add butter in tablespoons. Note how your mixture looks curdled (if the butter was cold), and sally forth. It will come together, and give you the most glorious, billowy buttercream.

If the room is warm, it’s a hot day, or your butter wasn’t cold, the mixture may look melted and gloopy even after a few minutes of mixing. If so, take your bowl and stick it in the fridge for about ten minutes. Then re-whip.

One of the smartest things I ever did was learn how to make perfect caramel sauce. About once a month, I fill a large plastic ketchup dispenser with my homemade caramel sauce, and keep it in the refrigerator. Having this on hand is wonderful for:

• Serving on ice cream and frozen yogurt.
• Drizzling slices of chocolate cake with.
• Pouring into my coffee for instant Caramel Macchiatos.
• Sandwiching between two homemade cookies during dire emergencies.

Seriously, all it takes is 3 ingredients: sugar, butter and cream. Do you need even more reasons to make this?

Homemade Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup salted butter (the salt makes it better, really)
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the cup of sugar over medium heat. Do not stir. I like to swirl the pan around, to ensure even melting. Before long, all the sugar will have melted, and it’ll look something like this:

Cook it some more until it’s a little dark- You want a nice amber color. But don’t overdo it.

Now immediately whisk the butter in. Once it’s all melted, take the pan off the heat, and slowly (!) add the cream, whisking nicely. Don’t stick your face in it or anything, because it will sizzle up.

Let it cool, transfer to a container of your choice, and pat yourself on the back for making perfect caramel sauce.

I’ve never understood why anyone would buy packaged caramel popcorn (yes, I’m talking about those tin cans)- or worse, the “caramel-flavored” microwave popcorn which comes with a little pack of artificially flavored caramel to mix with your popcorn while its hot. See, the thing is that caramel is sugar. And if you have popcorn and sugar in your house, you can make caramel popcorn that tastes a thousand times better than anything storebought.

My own recipe, which I think is based off one I got in Seventeen magazine when I was, um, around 17, uses brown sugar, honey, kosher salt, and plenty of butter. I love that phrase, plenty of butter. It always equals something good.

Brown Sugar Caramel Popcorn Recipe

3-4 cups plain popcorn, popped (you can make this in the microwave, hot air popper, or kettle)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons butter

In a large pot, over medium heat, melt the butter. To this, add the brown sugar, honey and salt. Stir while cooking, so that it all melts into a gorgeous, golden caramel… just below boiling. Immediately take off heat, pour onto your popcorn, and mix mix mix.

I don’t always have honey around, so sometimes I omit it altogether. And of course, you can add all sorts of goodies to this, like chopped walnuts or almonds- even some chocolate, if that’s your thing.