A few days ago, when we were checking-out at the super market, I noticed that my husband (it still feels a bit weird calling him that) slipped in a bottle of caramel sauce, which actually was nothing more than an overdose of corn syrup with artificial vanilla and half a dozen chemicals. If that weren’t bad enough, he paid €6.50 for it!
That bottle of fake caramel struck a nerve. I couldn’t stand watching him drizzle that god-awful sauce over a gorgeous triple chocolate mousse cake he and a good friend made for my birthday (l’m one lucky girl). Sacrilege. So I made caramel sauce with farm fresh butter and Maldon sea salt.
I quickly read up on tips laid down by David Lebovitz on making the perfect caramel and within minutes I had my caramel sauce. Deep amber, thick, unctuous salted caramel sauce. The best. Ever.
Here’s a tip: When adding salt, you can add a part of it while the sauce is warm so it flavors the entire sauce evenly as it melts in, and then some more once the sauce has cooled and thickened so as to enjoy a bit of the salty crunch. Also remember, making caramel is a very quick process – you can’t step away from the pan of sugar even for a bit!
After I was done eating the sauce as if it were soup, I made myself an apple tart with puff pastry and Canada apples I bought from the farm. Nothing too elaborate; just puff pastry topped with thin slices of apples sprinkled with a bit of cinnamon sugar (just a bit – we want the sweetness from the salted caramel sauce later) and baked at 200ºC/400ºF until the pastry was golden brown.
Salted caramel sauce drizzled on the apple tart: heaven at home.
Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 200g / 1cup white sugar
- 90g / 6tbsp unsalted butter (the best you can get your hands on)
- 120g / 1/2 cup cream (double cream, preferably)
- 1 tsp (or more) Maldon Sea Salt or Fleur de Sel
Method
- Add the sugar in a thick bottomed pan and cook it till it melts. Keep swirling the pan so that the sugar can cook evenly.
- Once the sugar has reached a deep brown colour, pull it off the heat and add all the butter. It will foam up, so make sure you're using a pan with high sides. Stir until it's completely melted into the sugar.
- Next, pour in the cream (more foaming) and whisk in until you have a consistent sauce.
- Stir in half the salt. Let it cool completely. Stir in the remaining salt. Bottle it.
- Serve it on a cake, in a cake, over ice-cream, tarts, crumbles, pancakes, brownies, waffles, toast, granola. Everything.
- Store in refrigerator for upto two weeks.
UPDATE!
11th January: I made the caramel sauce again for a cake. This time, using salted Bordier butter. Turns out that this batch had a slight bitter taste that a bunch of you have written about in the comments. That’s our answer! For making this caramel sauce we must stick to using unsalted butter in case we want to avoid that bitter taste. Just for this recipe, Bombay folks, bite the bullet and spend a little extra on unsalted President butter available in most supermarkets. You will be hooked. I promise.
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does this even have a tiny tiny bitter taste or does it have no bitter taste at all?
does this have a tiny tiny bitter taste or no bitter at all?
I ended up with a caramel with a slight bitter taste as well just yesterday when I tried to make myself a batch. It’s only because I cooked it for a weel bit longer trying to get a darker colour. Lesson learned: don’t gauge colour in a black pan!
This is also probably because you used salted butter.
Need some help anyone. I have tried this 3 times and had problems each time.
What heat do you set the stove and can you stir the sugar while it is melting?
I found that the sugar took a long time to melt and once the butter was added, the sugar turned rock hard. Impossible to add the cream.
Any suggestions please?
Set it on medium, DO NOT STIR UNTILL YOU’VE ADDED THE CREAM!and I’d it turns rock hard heat it up it will take a while but it will soften. When you add the cream to will bubble so this is usual.
Hiya, I LOVE this recipe! I want to drizzle this caramelsauce over brownies I’m going to bring to a party. Can I make it in advance and take it to the party, or would it be wiser to make it there? If I can make it in advance, how long can I keep it stored?
Thanks a bunch!
Eva
Hey Eva, it’s stated in the recipe that the caramel sauce can be made ahead of time and be refrigerated up to two weeks.
I added Some whisky, brillent for pouring over a walnut cale .
Des add a teaspoon of water to sugar . Let it dissolve dont touch it till bubbling , take off heat Keep stirring , Then add cream..
THANK YOU DEBBIE! I will give that a try.
Add the water at the beginning, same time as the sugar? Is this correct?
Made this, had to make two back to back. The first came out bitter because I darkened the melted sugar too much. Second batch was absolutely. Perfect. I used regular non fancy unsalted butter and it was fine.
Caramel sauce is a beatiful thing. However over cooking the sugar will leave that nasty bitter burnt taste. Whats worked best for me is, on a gas range med-low for disolving sugar and med-high for the cooking stage. I also use a candy thermomiter to asure the right temp.I do whisk the sugar during the disolving stage, in my opinion it does help with the breakdown of the sugar.
Just made this. Just perfect! :)
If I put this on a hot bread pudding and then under the broiler till it bubbles madly, will it turn nice & chewy-crunchy? That’s the kind of caramel topping I’m looking for.
Thanks!
If I put this on a hot bread pudding and then under the broiler till it bubbles madly, will it turn nice & chewy-crunchy? That’s the kind of caramel topping I’m looking for.
Thanks!
Hi Phoebe, I’m not sure if this will work, but if you do try it, please let us all know! : )
Hey Shaheen, i tried your caramel sauce with Amul butter (salted) and it tasted fantastic. Not bitter at all… I skipped adding the pinch of salt. It was finger licking delicious. Thank you for this one!
I made this caramel sauce and it turned out pretty well, but there was a lump of caramel in the middle, it still was nice though
I just made this to go with apple bread pudding. OMG. It’s a-mah-zing!
Thank you for posting this. I was looking for just the right thing and I found it.
My only problem with be cleaning the pan. Any thoughts?
Just fill it up with water when the pan is still hot and forget about it for a few hours. Cleaning will be a cinch.
This looks so good!
I was just wondering is this caramel sauce thick.
And if so, do i have to wait until it cools to see that it is a thick consistency or will it be thick when it is warm/hot?
Thanks
It’s a thick sauce that gets firm on refrigeration – warm it a bit in a water bath and you’re good.
Thank you!
I’m going to try this out now :)
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