In the Name of Salted Caramel

I received the Baked book for Christmas (well two copies actually, but that was sorted out) and am pretty damn pleased by it so far. I've made quite a few things from it, but very few complete recipes. Quite a few of their recipes have multiple parts and I've been mixing recipes at will. For a birthday cake this weekend I'm using the buttermilk cake recipe from my favorite cupcake book, the salted caramel from Baked and the milk chocolate whipped ganache from another Baked recipe.

I've started with the salted caramel because it doesn't take much time and I could make it before I had to go to work. It also needs substantial cooling time before use, so I needed to make it far in advance. I've made it twice now and I really like it. It has a nice salted taste and is not overly sweet. I also don't have to bother cleaning my candy thermometer either, which is grand. The book says to use a thermometer, but the book says a lot of things. I've made enough caramel that I can usually eyeball it, but if you've never made caramel, use the thermometer. This recipe is also a bit odd in that you let the caramel rest off the heat for a minute before adding the cream. During that time, the caramel with get more brown and deepen, so if not using the thermometer, take it off the stove before it's dark enough.

Working with candy is something I've been wanting to do more of, and making caramel seems to temporarily fill the void. I'll type up the recipe later, but for now here is a walk through of the process.

When making caramel, it's really important to use a much bigger pan that you think you'll need. The first time I made caramel I was not aware of this and used a tiny pan that perfectly fit the amount of sugar syrup I was boiling up, seemed fine. Alas, not all is fine when you add the hot cream and the thing bubbles up like the devil and doubles or triples in volume. Candy burns are no good and neither is trying to clean caramel off of the stove, wall and floor. In summation, us a larger pan. See exhibit A:



Looks ridiculously large. Is not. Trust.

Let it boil until it reaches roughly this color:



Pretty, huh. Still looks like a huge pan. I know, it will. When you add the hot cream though...



Okay, I admit, this is not the most convincing picture. It got much higher as I was stirring it, but I couldn't take a picture and stir boiling hot candy at the same time without disastrous results. At this point the caramel is belching steam and if you're not careful (as I was not because I was taking damn pictures), you'll burn your fingers. Steam hurts, let this be a lesson. A long spoon or whisk is best.

This caramel recipe calls for sour cream which is unique and nice. It also keeps it from having obscene amounts of cream. After the sour cream is whisked in you have a lovely pot of caramel that will burn the skin off your fingers, so don't dip away. Do as I do, dip a spoon, blow of the caramel so it makes neat patterns on the back of the spoon and carefully dab a finger in. When you're certain you won't burn off your taste buds, insert spoon into mouth and savor.




Fab. (See how high the caramel line is on the pot!) Use as a cake filling, over ice cream, in coffee, by the spoonful, anywhere, any time. It's great stuff and not very hard to make, but very satisfying and enjoyable as long as you respect the power of steam.