Salted caramel sauce
Caramel is one ingredient and one decision: when to take it off the heat. Too early and it is cloyingly sweet, too late and it is bitter beyond rescue. The right moment is deep amber colour and the first wisp of smoke, and from there to burnt is barely a dozen seconds or so.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Preparation 5 min
- Caramelising the sugar 10 min
- Adding the cream 5 min
- Cooling 10 min
Step by step
0 / 7 donePrepare everything before you start
Warm the cream to lukewarm, measure out the butter and salt and set them within arm's reach. Once the caramel hits colour you have seconds — there will be no time to measure anything.
Ingredients: 250 g sugar · 60 ml water · 250 ml whipping cream (30%) · 80 g butter · 1 tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract
TipCold cream poured into caramel spits more fiercely and makes it partly set into hard lumps. Lukewarm cream blends in smoothly.
Dissolve the sugar in water
Put the sugar in a heavy pan with a light-coloured interior and add the water. Heat over medium without stirring until the sugar dissolves and the syrup boils. The water only helps the sugar dissolve evenly and then evaporates.
Ingredients: 250 g sugar · 60 ml water · 250 ml whipping cream (30%) · 80 g butter · 1 tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract
TipA light-coloured base is not fussiness — in a dark pan you cannot judge the caramel's colour and you will burn it.
Do not stir, swirl
From the moment it boils, do not touch the caramel with a spoon. Stirring triggers crystallisation and the sugar seizes into a block. Instead swirl the pan gently to even out the colour.
Ingredients: 250 g sugar · 60 ml water · 250 ml whipping cream (30%) · 80 g butter · 1 tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Swirl the pan instead of stirring with a spoon.Take it to deep amber
Cook until the caramel reaches deep amber — the colour of strong tea — and begins to smoke faintly. That is about 170–175 °C. Take it off the heat at once; caramel burns within a dozen seconds or so.
Ingredients: 250 g sugar · 60 ml water · 250 ml whipping cream (30%) · 80 g butter · 1 tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract
TipPale caramel is cloyingly sweet. Boldness pays — the darker it goes, the more bitterness balances the sugar.
The colour of strong tea and the first wisp of smoke.Add the cream, standing back
Stand back and pour the warm cream in slowly, whisking hard. The mixture erupts and rises violently — that is normal. Put the pan back over low heat and stir 2 minutes until the sauce is smooth.
Ingredients: 250 g sugar · 60 ml water · 250 ml whipping cream (30%) · 80 g butter · 1 tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract
TipThe caramel is at about 175 °C and it spits. Use a long whisk and a tall pan filled no more than a third.
Violent bubbling is normal — hence the tall pan.Whisk in butter and salt
Off the heat, whisk in the butter cube by cube, then the salt and vanilla. Added gradually the butter emulsifies smoothly; tipped in at once it floats to the top as a greasy layer.
Ingredients: 250 g sugar · 60 ml water · 250 ml whipping cream (30%) · 80 g butter · 1 tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Jar and cool
Pour into scalded jars and cool for 10 minutes. The caramel is as thin as cream now — it only thickens once completely cold. Keep the sealed jar in the fridge for up to a month.
Ingredients: 250 g sugar · 60 ml water · 250 ml whipping cream (30%) · 80 g butter · 1 tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Before you start
Rescuing crystallised caramel
If the sugar seizes into a lump, add 3 tablespoons of water and heat slowly until it dissolves. Then start caramelising again.
Too thick when chilled
Warm the jar in a water bath or for 20 seconds in the microwave. Caramel from the fridge is as firm as toffee, and that is normal.
How to use it
On ice cream, pancakes, apple cake and in coffee. Folded into whipped cream it makes a cake filling, and spread over warm brownies it is a ready-made glaze.