Caramel Sauce

This caramel sauce is a quick and easy silky smooth, creamy topping that is perfect with ice cream, cupcakes, cakes, cookies, tarts, pies and so much more!

Homemade caramel sauce only requires five ingredients and is a lot easier than you might think! It takes practically no time at all and doesn’t require a sugar thermometer!

Plus, I have included vegan options too and if you want salted or chocolate caramel check out my substitutions section for additional instructions.

I love it poured over my apple rose tarts or walnut triple chocolate brownies with ice cream.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and the other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram. I love seeing what you come up with! 🙂

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RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

• Ease: easy and quick to prepare.
• FREE FROM: this recipe is gluten-free and please refer to my substitutions section for vegan options.
• GREAT FOR: cupcakes, cakes, cookies, tarts, ice-cream and more!
• TASTE & TEXTURE: sweet, rich smooth caramel.
• QUANTITY: 250ml
• TIME: 8 minutes

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INGREDIENTS

For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:

• Caster or granulated white sugar – once sugar reaches a high temperature it starts to caramelise and this is the base of making our caramel.

• Water – it is possible to make caramel without water. However, I prefer to add just a little as it helps to dissolve the sugar and allows it to melt evenly while heating, reducing the likely hood of burning.

• Butter – gives the sauce a rich velvety finish. For vegan options see my recipe notes or the variations section.

• Double cream – I use double cream as it is thicker and contains a slightly higher fat content, making the final sauce super creamy and thick.

TIP: I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your sweet sauces. It would seem counterproductive, but it’s not, I promise. Salt helps balance out the sweetness and richness. It also elevates the other ingredients, bringing out the best characteristics of any sauce recipe. In a seemingly absurd or contradictory way, salt intensifies the mouth’s ability to taste sweetness. Sodium sends signals to move glucose into the sweet taste receptor cells in our tongue, triggering the cells to register sweetness. The result is that salt not only alerts our ‘salt sensitivity’, but also our ‘sweet sensitive’ taste buds.
I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt.

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SUBSTITUTIONS

While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

SUGAR-FREE AND LOW-CALORIE OPTIONS

• Sugar-free or calorie reduced options: try alternatives such as coconut sugar, honey, natural erythritol, xylitol, stevia or fructooligosaccharide powder instead. There are also sweetener mixes available, that are 70% calorie reduced and low in carb.

• Brown sugar suggestions: Pure Via Baker’s soft brown sugar or Sukrin Gold’s natural brown sugar alternative.

VEGAN OPTIONS

• Butter: I recommend Naturli vegan block or Flora plant-based block butter alternative.

• Cream: I recommend the Coconut Collaborative double cream or Elmlea plant based double cream.

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WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

Here are a few other flavour ideas:

• Salty caramel – really adds another dimension to this caramel sauce. Simply add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the caramel once made.

• Chocolate caramel – for a super delicious variation, stir 100g chopped dark chocolate into the caramel after adding the cream.

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NUTRITION

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STORAGE

Allow the caramel to cool down to room temperature, then pour into a jar or container. Seal with a lid and place in the fridge. The caramel will thicken further in the fridge.

Freezing: Caramel can be frozen if really necessary, in a jar sealed with a lid. Avoid filling the jar to the very top, leaving a 1cm gap for expansion during freezing.

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TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Here are some kitchen tools that I use and recommend for this recipe.

• 3pc Silicone Balloon Whisk Set, Colourful Non Stick, 20cm/8″, 25cm/10″, 30cm/12″

The whisks are ideal for mixing hot and cold batters or creams. They come in three different sizes and are very colourful.

• James Martin Stainless Steel, heavy, 16cm 1.5L Saucepan with Vented Glass Lid, Induction Ready, Oven Safe, Dishwasher Safe, Fully Guaranteed

I prefer to use a heavy based saucepan for boiling milk or cooking creams, the heat is distributed more evenly and allows you to control the heating more accurately.

The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

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RECIPE TIPS

Safety First! – Be extra careful! Once the sugar has melted it has a much higher temperature than boiling water, and when adding the butter and cream it can splatter.

Using the right saucepan – A heavy bottomed saucepan distributes the heat and allows the sugar to melt evenly. If you find that your sugar is burning and not melting, the culprit is most likely the pan heating unevenly. Use a pan with high sides as when you add cream to the caramel mixture the hot caramel will bubble up and you will want to make sure your pan will not overflow when this happens.

Avoid stirring – once the sugar and water have dissolved, you run the risk of causing crystals to form and it could become grainy. You can prevent this by brushing the side of the pot down with a wet pastry brush.

Watch the caramel at all times – it can go from a light amber colour to dark caramel very quickly, leaving you with bitter burnt sugar that doesn’t taste good.

Use room temperature butter and cream – or reheat it on the stove.

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