Caramel Sauce

[rob290482]

I want to make caramel sauce to go over ice cream (like the stuff they have in MacDonalds for the caramel McFlurry)

I found a recipe that said to use the following:

225g White Sugar
115g Whipping Cream
75g Butter

To put the sugar in a pan and heat on high until melted and a brown colout, then to add ther butter and mix it in. once mixed in, take it off the heat and add the cream and mix until thick.

I doine this and the result was caramel sauce, but it was a bit too thin (should i have mixed longer???) and had a very rich taste to it, maybe slightly burnt.

Anyone got any idea how to make it better and taste less strong?

Can i put the sugar on a low-medium heat and let it melt slower, therefore being less chance of it burning? once it has melted and got to the colour i want it, should i take it off the heat and add the butter and cream? therefore it would have less chance burning

Please any help?

Rob

[Breton Beats]

If it tastes "burnt" you probably cooked it a little to long. Next time try pulling it before it gets to the color you think you want it (it will keep cooking off heat), keep working on it 'till you get the taste you like. For thicker results put less heavy cream and butter. I have many different formulas for carmel sauce all are just varied amounts of the same ingredients. So play a little. I like to add just a pinch of sea salt to my caramel.

You can cook the caramel fast or slow. If you are going to stand right there fast is ok. In fact I think that it is better because you have less chance of getting bored and walking away "to do something else real quick".

Put the butter and cream in after you have pulled from the heat. The cold cream will cause it to sieze, just keep stirring (off heat) and it will smooth out. Only put it back on the heat if it doesn't smooth out and do it intermittingly.

[rob290482]

i have another question, about heavy cream. what exactly is it? i can only find single, double and whipping cream. i used whipping cream that said on the back: perr 100ml 38g fat. would this mean it is heavy cream? do i use it straight from the container or do i need to whisk it a bit?

Thanks

Rob

[KYHeirloomer]

Cream is classified by the percentage of butterfat. Whipping cream and Heavy Cream are the same thing, containing, IIRC, a minimum of 36% butterfat.

[rob290482]

I tried again, this time i think i took it off the heat too soon, its was a nice 'golden syrup' colour when i took it off the heat and added the butter and cream. it didnt froth up too much and by the time the butter had fully melted and the cream added i needed to heat it up again a little. the resuly was a nice smelling caramel that i wanted, but when it cooled it was quite sticky and had stringy bits in it. it also cooled very quickly compared to the last stuff i made.

well i suppose i can try again. it only costs pennies to make so i am not wasting loads of money each time

[ChefRAZ]

if its too thick when it cools,witch cooked suger tends to be.try adding water before butter and cream.just be careful when adding cause the steam can be very hot on your arms, use a whisk to combine . how mach water..depends on sugar. safe bet would be 2 to 3 %. also when adding the water it (the sugar) will darken some, so don't cook it too dark, but the sugar should not be grainy when adding the water.

[rob290482]

in total i made several lots of this. some were the thickness i wanted but were either too dark or tasted a bit burnt (like bonfire toffee) others were the right colour and taste but set quite hard (like a mars bar in the fridge)

I just cant get it right.

anyone got their own recipe that i can try as i dont think mine works

Thanks

[AprilB]

Works perfect every time under all types of adverse conditions.

April

[MattFin]

another trick with making an even-cooking caramel is to disolve your sugar in a little water before you start cooking it. The water will cook out at the temperatures you are dealing with to turn sugar in to caramel, so no worries there.

I don't add water to already made caramel for the reasons of the steam mentioned before. That is scary stuff.

Also, leave the butter out in my opinion. butter is 80% fat and cream is 36% fat - if the sauce is coming out too rich, I think I know who the culprit is... It takes practice, but I get my sauce to just the right color, quickly remove it from the heat and add cream, stirring quickly so it dissolves in evenly before cooling too much.

I find the resulting sauce not only good for dessert, but a light addition of it to vietnamese cooking works well too.

[Breton Beats]

I am not familiar with McD's caramel sauce but is it warm it is put on top of your ice cream? Most caramel sauce that I work with does set up hard. For restaurant service I usaully have to pre-heat it then hold it warm in a bain marie for making plating designs. So try heating it in a pot of water or in microwave (oh so gentle)

I am sure there are many commercial brand of caramel sauces and they might have lots o' added un-spellable stuff put inside to keep it runny.

Maybe add a little bit of cornsyrup? or more water after everything else is done (be careful if caramel is still hot)

I wouldn't take the butter out completely. It is what gives it a bit of gloss and viscocity (like mounting butter at the end of a savory sauce).

[Blade55440]

Originally Posted by Breton Beats

I am not familiar with McD's caramel sauce but is it warm it is put on top of your ice cream? Most caramel sauce that I work with does set up hard. For restaurant service I usaully have to pre-heat it then hold it warm in a bain marie for making plating designs. So try heating it in a pot of water or in microwave (oh so gentle)

I am sure there are many commercial brand of caramel sauces and they might have lots o' added un-spellable stuff put inside to keep it runny.

Maybe add a little bit of cornsyrup? or more water after everything else is done (be careful if caramel is still hot)

I wouldn't take the butter out completely. It is what gives it a bit of gloss and viscocity (like mounting butter at the end of a savory sauce).

McD's Caramel will get pretty stiff when not heated. They keep it in a their version of a bain marie, otherwise it's a workout trying to get it out of their pump. Not sure about "un-spellable" stuff though.

[ChefRAZ]

micky D's unspellable stuff in Hot Caramel Topping is:

Corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk (milk, sugar, corn syrup), high fructose corn syrup, butter (cream, salt), sugar, water, disodium phosphate, pectin, salt, potassium sorbate (preservative), artificial flavors (vanillin, ethyl vanillin). CONTAINS: MILK