With real vanilla bean and honey, homemade caramel sauce will have a much more expressive flavor than anything store bought. This recipe is a great use for leftover caramel—if you have any scraps after cutting Chewy Caramel Candies or if you make more than you need (see Fashion Emergency below). Drizzling the sauce over ice cream is the obvious use, but the sauce can also add an extra element of flavor when served as a topping on cupcakes or a cake.

　　

Ingredients

makes about 2 cups sauce

　　3/4 cup heavy cream

　　1 1/2 cups chewy caramel candies (page 182)

　　

Step 1

Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it reaches a simmer

　　

Step 2

Add the Chewy Caramel Candies, stirring constantly until they have melted and combined with the cream.

　　

Step 3

Serve the sauce immediately, or keep it in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week. The caramel sauce should not harden when stored, but it will be easier to pour or spoon out if you reheat it. To reheat, simmer a pot of water and place the container with the caramel in the water (make sure that the water goes only about three- quarters the way up the side of the container). Heat it until the caramel liquefies. If you are drizzling it on top of icing, allow the caramel to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before using.

　　

Polish your look

Step 4

Following are some ideas for incorporating Caramel Sauce into your cake and cupcake presentations:

　　

Step 5

For Dulce de Leche, drizzle Caramel Sauce over Vanilla Cake (page 115), topped with Caramel Buttercream (page 159).

　　

Step 6

For German Chocolate Cake, top Devil’s Food Cake (page 98) with Mocha Buttercream (page 158) and candied pecans and a drizzle of Caramel Sauce.

　　

Step 7

Add Caramel Sauce to the Sweet-and-Salty Cake (page 108) for extra decadence. Spoon Caramel Sauce over slices of Devil’s Food Cake (page 98) topped with Chocolate Icing (page 148).

　　

Fashion Emergency

Step 8

If you want to make caramel sauce but don’t have the caramel candies already made, just make half the recipe for Chewy Caramel Candies, but double the amount of heavy cream and cook to only 240˚F. Allow the sauce to cool in the pot to a usable temperature before serving or keeping in an airtight container.

　　Sweet Chic