Take it darker than feels safe
Salted caramel
The whole flavour comes from how far you dare take the sugar. Stop at golden and it tastes sweet; push to deep amber and it tastes of caramel, which is a different thing entirely.
- Makes about 1 litre
- 30 min hands-on
- Chill 4 hrs
- Churn 20–30 min
- Ice cream maker needed
Ingredients
- 200 g1 cup caster sugar
- 400 ml1⅔ cups double cream (heavy cream), warmed
- 400 ml1⅔ cups whole milk
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt, plus more to serve
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Have the cream measured and standing by before you start the caramel. There is no time to fetch it once the sugar is dark.
- Put the sugar in a wide, heavy pan over a medium heat. Leave it alone as it melts, swirling the pan now and then but not stirring, until it is a deep amber and just beginning to smoke.
- Off the heat, pour in the warm cream. It will bubble up violently, so stand back and pour steadily. Stir until smooth; if lumps of set caramel remain, return it to a low heat and stir until they dissolve.
- Add the milk and the salt and warm until steaming.
- Whisk the yolks in a bowl. Pour in a ladleful of the hot caramel cream in a thin stream, whisking hard, then return everything to the pan.
- Cook over a low to medium heat, stirring constantly, to 77–82°C (170–180°F), until it coats the back of the spatula.
- Strain into a cold bowl, stir in the vanilla, and chill for at least 4 hours.
- Churn for 20–30 minutes. Pack into a tub in layers, scattering a little flaky salt between them, and freeze for 4 hours.
Worth knowing
- Use a light-coloured pan. You cannot judge the colour of caramel in a black one, and colour is the only signal that matters.
- No sugar in the yolks here. All the sweetness is already in the caramel, which is why this recipe tastes of more than sugar.
- Warm the cream first. Cold cream hitting hot sugar sets it into a solid lump.
- Salt at the end as well. Salt folded through in layers gives little bursts rather than an evenly salty base.
Make it yours
Five ways to change it
Salted caramel swirl
Ripple in the salted caramel sauce from the Treats page as you pack the tub.
Caramel pecan
Fold 100 g of toasted, chopped pecans in at the end of churning.
Burnt honey
Replace half the sugar with honey and cook it to the same dark amber.
Coffee caramel
Add 1 tbsp instant espresso powder with the milk.
Banoffee
Layer with sliced banana and crushed digestive biscuits as you pack it away.
If it goes wrong
Rescue remedies
The caramel seized into a solid lump
Cold cream. Put the pan back on a low heat and keep stirring: it will melt back in within a few minutes.
It tastes only sweet, not caramelly
You stopped too early. Next time take the sugar to the colour of an old penny and trust your nose.
The sugar crystallised while melting
Stirring is usually the cause. Swirl the pan instead, and brush any crystals off the sides with a wet pastry brush.
It is too salty
Flaky salt varies a lot. Start with ½ tsp in the base and add the rest in layers, tasting as you go.