Salted Caramel Sauce | This simple sauce is excellent on my Apple Sheet Cake, my Super fudgy Brownies and just about any other dessert you can think of. Or with just a spoon!
This salted caramel sauce is the one that I see to top my Apple Sheet Cake, as shown in the photo above. That cake is so perfect for fall.
The salted caramel is also wonderful and on many different desserts but I especially love it on vanilla bean ice cream.
When making this sauce, you can decide whether to make it salted or not. I usually will put ½ teaspoon of salt in and then garnish a dessert with Fleur de Sel, similar to my apple caramel cake and my fudgy brownies.
Leave the salt out and you've still got a beautiful, decadent, and smooth sauce.
How to make a simple caramel sauce at home
Add the cup of sugar to a thick bottomed pot over medium heat. As you heat it, the sugar will go through stages. First it'll start to melt, then it will clump and finally it will start to melt again. Gently stir through all of the stages.
Cook the sugar, gently, until it's amber in color (like the color of the final sauce). Be very careful not to burn it. If the sugar is cooked too far, there is no saving it and you'll have to start again. Just have patience and watch it carefully.
Once the sugar reaches the right color, carefully add the butter while stirring. Be so careful here because it will probably bubble and spit at you and sugar that hot can burn you. Do the same thing with the cream once the butter is incorporated.
Boil for one minute and then remove from heat. Add the vanilla and stir. Add the salt if you're using it. Cool until ready to use. Store in the fridge, in a container with a lid.
Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Fleur de sel to garnish (or ½ – 1 teaspoon salt stirred in)
Instructions
- Heat the sugar in a medium pan over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. It will begin to melt, then clump, and then melt again.
- Cook until amber in color, making sure not to burn it.
- Add the butter, stirring to combine, being careful as it will bubble up and splatter. (The sugar is so hot, it can burn your skin very badly, so be extra careful!)
- Do the same with the cream. (If the caramel seems likes it separated at this point, just keep heating and stirring and it will come back together.) Boil for one minute, then remove from heat and add vanilla.
- And ½ - 1 teaspoon of salt stirred into the caramel, or use Fleur de Sel as garnish on your dessert for a salted caramel. (Omit salt completely if you prefer)
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!