Today, I'm sharing 2 ways to make the amazing caramel sauce: dry caramel and wet caramel. I’m explaining all the crucial steps to make them successful at home!
In this post, you'll learn essential baking tips such as:
- How to make caramel sauce with both dry caramel and wet caramel method.
- The detailed comparisons of the thickness while they are hot, cold, and at room temperature.
- Tips to avoid sugar crystalization.
- How you can avoid caramelizing sugar too dark.
- + all the other troubleshooting! ... and so on!
Jump to:
📌 Frequently Asked Questions
Store in a fridge in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks. You can also freeze it for up to a few months.
It's often advised for a few days but since it contains heavy cream, I do not recommend leaving it at room temperature for more than a half day. It's always safer to store it in a fridge and reheat it before you use it!
The results are very similar as you can see in the post. So it's up to you! Read through the instructions and pick the one you might feel more comfortable with. You can also check the detailed comparisons of the 2 methods (The thickness when they are hot, at room temperature and cold.) toward the end of the post.
📌 What's In Caramel Sauce?
- Granulated sugar
- Water
- Omit water for dry caramel.
- Heavy cream
- Use regular heavy cream. I don't recommend using milk for the best result.
- Vanilla beans
- You can also use vanilla extract instead.
- Salt
- I used regular table salt.
- Unsalted butter
- I am comparing them with and without butter to show what butter does to caramel sauce.
📍 The printable recipe is at the very end of this post.
Jump to Recipe📌 How To Make Caramel Sauce
The Dry Caramel Sauce Method
- Heat sugar in a pot.
- Mix and melt the sugar to make caramel.
- Add heavy cream to the caramel.
- Add salt (& butter) and mix.
- Heat the caramel sauce one more time.
The Wet Caramel Sauce Method
- Heat water and sugar.
- Turn your pot 360 degrees to even out the color.
- Add heavy cream to the caramel.
- Add salt (& butter) and mix.
- Heat the caramel sauce one more time.
📌 Detailed Tips for Caramel Sauce
Now, let me share detailed tips on each step that are crucial for making the 2 caramel sauce.
Prep (For both dry & wet caramel sauce):
- Cut butter into smaller pieces.
- Scrape off the vanilla beans gently so that the brown part does not come off. Add that to the heavy cream in advance. (I usually add the vanilla pod in the cream also but there is a small chance the hot caramel spill out of a pan when you add it with the cream. For safety reasons, we are adding it separately today.)
- Heat heavy cream and ensure it is very hot when you add it to the caramel.
My very first tip for both methods is to prepare a clean pot. Any liquid or impurity can affect the final result.
Alright, let's get started with the dry caramel method!
The Dry Caramel Sauce Method
Step 1: Heat sugar in a pot.
First, add sugar to a pot. And heat with medium heat.
You do not need to move the pot or mix the sugar until the caramelization starts happening. Because when you touch it too early, the sugar sticks a lot more to a spatula and all around the edges of the pot. It’s harder to take them off later.
So you can leave it for now!
Pay close attention once you see the sugar started melting from the edges slightly.
Step 2: Mix and melt the sugar to make caramel.
And once you see that it started caramelizing slightly, turn down to low heat quickly so that the caramelization proceeds more slowly.
Heating with lower heat at this point is key because if you heat with high heat, you might not be able to catch up with the caramelization process and your caramel might get too dark by the time you finish melting all the sugar.
The caramelization always starts from the edges; from the edges toward the center. So blend caramel and sugar inward like in the photos below.
And when I mix, I try not to let the sugar touch the edges since it can stick there and it's gonna be harder to take it off later.
If you see small pieces of sugar at this point, mix more and let it melt. You can also crush it with a spatula as you do it.
Step 3: Add heavy cream to caramel
And once it turns into nice amber color and everything is melted, remove it from heat. And add a vanilla pod and ⅓ of hot heavy cream right away. Don't wait too long and add heavy cream right away since the caramel can get harden quickly. There is no need to let them blend evenly here. Add the rest of the heavy cream once they are blended roughly.
Add heavy cream while the caramel is fluid and extremely hot before it starts getting hardened. Also, make sure that your heavy cream is very hot so that it does not harden the caramel. Today, I heated it with a microwave while I was heating the sugar but if you feel nervous doing so, you can heat it in advance.
Step 4: Add salt (& butter).
After the heavy cream s roughly blended, add salt and butter. Butter is optional, so you can omit it as well. The unmelted caramel is thick and can get harder as the temperature goes down, so you can also add them right after you start heating again (step 5).
Step 5: Heat the caramel sauce one more time.
Once they are roughly mixed, heat it one last time.
You don't need to heat it for a long time. Once you see that all the caramel is melted and it looks nice and smooth, it is done! Oftentimes, caramel is stuck to the edges, so scrape it off well.
Right after it’s made, you’ll see a lot of bubbles like the photo below. But soon it’ll calm down and turns into a shiny sauce.
Next, let's make caramel sauce with the wet caramel method.
The wet Caramel Sauce Method
Step 1: Heat water and sugar.
First, add water and sugar to a pot. And shake a pot so that the water spreads evenly. I do this to make sure that the syrup cooks up evenly.
And brush the edges with water to wash off any sugar sticking to them to prevent sugar from getting crystallized. (Sugar crystallization is the worst enemy for wet caramel!)
Once you prepare all the ingredients, heat it at medium-high heat.
Compared to dry caramel, wet caramel takes a lot longer time for the caramelization to start happening. To fasten the process a little bit, I do medium-high heat instead of medium heat.
Once you turn on the heat, do not shake the pot or touch the sugar at all, and also do not remove the pot from the heat at all. This is crucial especially after the syrup starts thickening. Because when the heated syrup cools down, sugar crystallization can occur. So the best thing is to just leave it until it starts caramelizing.
At the beginning stage, you can hear that the bubbling sound is high and loud. That means caramelization does not happen in a minute yet.
I usually brush the sides one or two times while heating to wash off any sugar that might start getting crystallizing. Or you can also place a lid on top for the same effect; The steams drop on the side and wash off the sugar. I personally just use a brush method only because I'm used to it more.
Once the bubbling sound gets lower and quieter than earlier, it means the syrup is much thicker and caramelization is happening in a short time. And that’s when I turn down the heat just slightly to medium heat.
Now, don’t go anywhere and pay extra close attention!
Step 2: Turn your pot 360 degrees to even out the color.
As soon as you see the light caramelization all over the pot or partially, turn down the heat to low heat. Just like the dry caramel, it's very important to slow down the caramelization process so that you won’t accidentally caramelize the sugar too much. When you keep heating with medium heat, it’ll get dark very quickly. It’s just gonna be harder not to caramelize too much.
At the same time, as soon as you see the light caramelization, turn your pot 360 degrees to make the color even so that you can judge the color correctly.
Repeat this as you heat until you reach the color you want. keep in mind that the caramel gets slightly darker with the remaining heat before you add heavy cream.
As soon as it tunes into the nice amber color, remove it from the heat right away. Either you stop with light or darker amber depending on the flavor you want. The darker it gets, the deeper the caramel tastes. Do not make it too dark since your caramel gets too bitter and sour.
Once you start seeing smaller bubbles on the surface like this, that is the sign you need to stop because the caramel gets very dark quickly after that. And once it gets too dark, you can not fix it.
Step 3: Add heavy cream to the caramel.
Remove from heat quickly and add a vanilla pod and about ⅓ of heavy cream right away. Don't wait too long and add heavy cream right away before the caramel cools down and gets harder. And once it’s roughly mixed, add the rest. Just like the dry caramel.
Compared to dry caramel, wet caramel is slightly thinner and blends with cream a bit easier.
Step 4: Add salt (& butter) and mix.
Add salt and butter after you add heavy cream and mix. Butter is optional, so you can omit it if you prefer.
Step 5: Heat up one more time.
And heat one more time just to make sure everything is melted.
When you want to make the light caramel sauce:
Do not add the cream too early because the sugar can get crystalized and the finished caramel sauce can get grainy.
This is dark enough to add heavy cream. But notes that the lighter the color is, the sweeter your caramel sauce gets.
And do the rest the same as darker caramel sauce.
Darker caramel has more depth in flavor which I love but if you burn too much, it’ll get too sour and bitter.
And the caramel sauce is slightly thinner than darker caramel although it is a very small difference.
📌 The Comparisons Of The 2 Methods
Here are the textures at each temperature.
All the caramel sauce gets thinner when it's warmer and harder when it's cold. Depending on what you like to use it for, you can adjust the temperature.
Caramel sauce with butter is slightly thinner when it’s hot and slightly firmer when it’s cold than the one without it. Also, the flavor gets milder with butter. But the difference is very minor if you don't add a lot of butter.
You can also see that wet caramel is slightly softer than dry caramel. But the softness of caramel sauce can easily get adjusted by adding more or less heavy cream.
To conclude, although there are some differences between the 2 methods, there are not major and adjustable. So I encourage you to pick whichever you like. If you are new to them, you can also try both and see which one you like better!
📌 VIDEO: 2 Ways To Make Caramel Sauce
To see all the steps visually and get a better understanding of all, check out the video tutorial:
Don't forget to subscribe if you liked it😉
📌 Uses For Caramel Sauce
- As topping for your cakes and desserts such as ice cream, whole cakes, etc.
- As filling for your cakes and desserts such as cream puffs, chocolate bonbons/truffles, whole cakes, etc.
- Mix it in your favorite frosting as a flavor: such as buttercream, whipped cream, etc.
- For your drink: Enjoy making a lot of special drinks with this homemade caramel sauce!
Nothing beats ice cream with homemade warm caramel sauce and some toasted nuts on top. We had lots of it this week... It's SO addicting good!
📌 The Printable Recipe
2 Ways To Make Perfect Caramel Sauce
Equipment
- Pot
- Spatula Heat resistant
- (Brush or a lid for wet caramel)
Ingredients
- 7 oz Granulated sugar
- 2.3 oz (Water) Only for wet caramel
- 5.3 oz Heavy cream
- Vanilla Beans (or ⅓-1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract)
- Salt Add more as you like!
- 1.76 oz (Unsalted butter) Optional
Instructions
Preparation
- * Prepare a clean pot.* Cut butter into smaller pieces.* Add vanilla beans in heavy cream ahead. * Heat heavy cream until it gets very hot. (Not bubbling.) Make sure it's still hot when you add it to the caramel.
Dry Caramel
- Heat sugar in a pot.7 oz Granulated sugar
- Mix and melt the sugar to make the caramel:And once you see that it started caramelizing slightly, turn down to low heat quickly so that the caramelization proceeds more slowly.The caramelization always starts from the edges; from the edges toward the center. So blend caramel and sugar inward. Try not to let the sugar touch the edges since it's gonna be harder to take it off later once it sticks there.If you see small pieces of sugar in the caramel at this point, mix well to eliminate it or crush it with a spatula.And once it turns into nice amber color and everything is melted, remove it from heat.
- Add heavy cream (& vanilla pod) to the caramel and mix:And add a vanilla pod and ⅓ of hot heavy cream right away. Add the rest of the heavy cream once they are blended roughly. Add heavy cream while the caramel is fluid and extremely hot before it starts getting hardened.5.3 oz Heavy cream, Vanilla Beans
- Add salt (& butter) and mix.Salt, 1.76 oz (Unsalted butter)
- Heat caramel sauce one more time.Once you see that all the caramel is melted and it looks nice and smooth, it is done!
Wet Caramel
- Heat sugar and water in a pot.* Make sure that the sugar is wet completely before heating.* Do not move the pot or mix the syrup until it starts caramelizing partially.7 oz Granulated sugar, 2.3 oz (Water)
- As soon as you see the light caramelization partially, turn down the heat to low heat.Turn your pot 360 degrees to make the color even so that you can judge the color precisely.Repeat this as you heat until you reach the color you want. keep in mind that the caramel gets slightly darker with the remaining heat before you add heavy cream.
- Add heavy cream (& vanilla pod) to the caramel and mix:Remove from heat quickly and add a vanilla pod and about ⅓ of heavy cream right away. And once it’s roughly mixed, add the rest. Don't wait too long and add heavy cream right away before the caramel cools down and gets harder.5.3 oz Heavy cream, Vanilla Beans
- Add salt (& butter) and mix.Salt, 1.76 oz (Unsalted butter)
- Heat caramel sauce one more time.Once you see that all the caramel is melted and it looks nice and smooth, it is done!
Video
Notes
How to store caramel sauce:
Store in an air-tight container. In the refrigerators: for up to 2 weeks. In the freezer: for up to a few months. Note: The amounts of ingredients are exactly the same for both dry and wet caramel. Just omit water for dry caramel. Pick whichever method you like!Nutrition
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