Broiled Nut Icing
on Mar 06, 2010, Updated Jul 24, 2024
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Broiled nut icing is a super simple, caramel-like nutty topping for cakes of all types and flavors!
Let’s talk about this ultra-easy, four-ingredient cake icing today! Have you ever heard of broiled nut icing? It looks (and tastes) a lot like caramel, but it has nuts. The broiling element makes it extra fun when prepping your baked goodies.
Heat some milk and butter on the stove, add some brown sugar, melt it all together, and add some pecans or walnuts (or both for a real party!). Pour the mixture over the top of a cake, and then stick the whole thing in the oven under the broiler for a couple of minutes. The result? It is a gooey, caramel-y, sweet, and nutty topping that is lovely on cakes of all kinds.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This recipe is from my great-grandmother and is one of the easiest and most decadent cake icings I’ve encountered. I absolutely love it on any kind of spice cake.
- It’s a good recipe to whip out for rolls to make them into morning sticky buns
- This super easy broiled nut icing is a caramelized, rich, and nutty topping. You will love how simple it is for such a decadent end result!
Recipe Ingredients
- Butter
- Milk
- Brown sugar
- Nuts – Pecans or Walnuts
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Boiled Nut Icing
- Combine butter and milk until the butter melts.
- Add brown sugar, then add nuts.
- Pour the sugar mixture over the warm cake.
- Broil the cake and cool before serving
Recipe FAQs
This icing recipe is super-duper-simple. It has four ingredients: butter and milk to make it creamy and rich, brown sugar for the deep golden color and warm sweetness, and nuts for a bit of crunch.
Broiled nut icing is absolutely heavenly. It tastes like a caramel topping that seeps into the cake and makes the top layer extra moist from the broiling part of prepping it. Thanks to the pecans and/or walnuts, it’s crunchy and nutty, and it’s warmly sweet but not over the top.
Broiling it over a cake really takes it to the next level. It allows it to thicken and soak into the cake so that it’s infused into the top part of the dessert!
Expert Tips
- You could experiment using brown coconut sugar for a similar effect, but I wouldn’t recommend using any white or granulated sugars.
- This icing goes great with Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake, a rich and rustic dessert full of sweet and warming flavors. They are both winning recipes, especially when you need a tasty dessert without a ton of time and effort.
- Some people also use coconut flakes, which would be great! Just add the flakes when you add the nuts.
More Frosting Recipes to Consider
Frosting Recipes
Caramel Cake Frosting
Frosting Recipes
Peanut Butter Frosting
Frosting Recipes
Chantilly Cream
Frosting Recipes
Cream Cheese Frosting
Broiled Nut Icing
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter and milk. Stir over medium heat until the butter melts.
- Add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Remove from heat and stir in nuts.
- Pour sugar mixture over warm cake.
- Broil covered cake about 5 inches away from the heating element for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the topping is bubbly and golden.
- Cool before serving.
- This makes the perfect amount for a 9-inch round cake or a 9×9 square. If using a 9×13 cake, double the recipe. If you took the cake out of the pan before you put the topping on, be sure to place the cake on a baking sheet before topping and broiling.
- I use this recipe on my favorite Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cake; both recipes are from my great grandmother.
Notes
- I actually got the recipe from my great-grandmother, who used it atop her famous Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake.
- Although frosting and icing are similar, icing is a little thinner than frosting and is often poured over cakes.
- If you want to thicken your icing without adding additional sugar, add a minimal amount of cornstarch (less than a teaspoon).
- Boiled frosting needs to be used immediately and can’t be stored. It’s a softer icing that doesn’t pipe well.
Does this frosting harden when it’s cooled? I’d like to use it as a filling between layers but I’m looking for something that would stay “gooey.”
In the middle, I would still do an icing dam if I were you, it’s sticky but not hard.
I’ve never heard of broiling frosting/icing…..I have to try it! I love old family recipes!!!!!!
It’s been fun to go back through and update them, they’re all the recipes I published 10 years ago because they were my favorites.