Salted Caramel Sauce

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Caramel sauce might be one of Hubby’s favorite things ever. He will always choose a caramel treat over a a chocolatey treat. I’ve just recently gotten more comfortable making my own caramel sauce. It actually is so much easier than I thought it was. Having a candy thermometer is a must for making caramel at home. But that’s really all you need. If you haven’t made your own caramel sauce, do it. Trust me, it’s worth the minimal effort required.

I ended up making a triple batch of this salted caramel during the holidays. I ordered some cute jars online and gave them away as gifts to some family members. Hubby also enjoyed a bunch of this caramel sauce heated up over vanilla ice cream.

One Year Ago: Crunchy Nut Encrusted Chicken Tenders
Two Years Ago: BBQ Chicken Pizza Sticks

Salted Caramel Sauce

Salted caramel sauce is easier to make than you could ever imagine. And it makes a great gift!

Yield: 2 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
1 tsp fleur de sel

Directions:

Add water to a 2-qt saucepan. Gently add the sugar to the center of the pot - it will mound, that's fine. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat.

Once boiling, uncover the pot and insert a candy thermometer. Continue cooking until the mixture registers 300 F and is just starting to develop some color, about 15 minutes.

Reduce heat under the pot to medium and cook until the syrup is amber and registers 350 F on the thermometer, about another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour the cream into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. If it simmers before the syrup is ready, just take it off the heat and set aside.

Remove the caramel from the heat and add about 1/4 of the warm cream to the pot. It will bubble furiously so be careful. Once the bubbling subsides, add the remaining cream. When it stops bubbling, whisk gently to incorporate fully. Add the butter and the salt and whisk to combine.

Refrigerate up to 1 month.

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, as seen on Erin's Food Files

Better than Store Bought, Condiments, Dessert, Gift Ideas, Other

4 comments »

31 Responses to “Kentucky Butter Cake”

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Megan — May 1, 2013 at 7:04 am
This sounds amazing! I’d be shocked if the people you manage don’t think you’re the best boss ever!
- beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 7:56 am
  
  Ha, I’m ok with bribing them with baked goods into feeling that way 🙂
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2

Eva @ Eva Bakes — May 1, 2013 at 7:40 am
I wish my boss would do something like this for us. This cake sounds phenomenal! Anything that tastes like a donut gets an A+ from me!
- beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 7:57 am
  
  I had a boss once who would bring a store bought cake and cut it into the same number of pieces as there were people at the meeting. And he made us sing. It was horrible.
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Erica @ In and Around Town — May 1, 2013 at 8:38 am
Definitely the best boss when you get homemade cakes that have been compared to a glazed donut! Congrats!!
- beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 9:05 am
  
  Thanks 🙂 I am pretty lucky in that my team is pretty awesome too.
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4

Tracy {Pale Yellow} — May 1, 2013 at 11:03 am
Congratulations on the promotion! Your team sounds lucky to have you and this cake looks gorgeous!
- beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 4:21 pm
  
  Thanks!
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5

Jill — May 1, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Congratulations on the promotion!! This looks and sounds delicious!
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 9:05 am
  
  Thanks
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chelsea @ serves two — May 1, 2013 at 10:22 pm
oh my! a giant glazed donut in cake form??!! yes please! i am sort of curious though as to why it’s called a kentucky butter cake 🙂
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 9:04 am
  
  I have no idea why it’s called Kentucky butter cake. I did a quick Google search and it doesn’t look like anyone knows.
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Sarah C — May 2, 2013 at 10:06 am
I’m glad there’s no explanation as to why it’s called a Kentucky Butter Cake, because I am making this for a themed food fest at work next week, and I’m changing it to Hawaiian Butter Cake so that I don’t have to find another recipe. 🙂
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:07 pm
  
  I like the way you work 🙂
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Kathy — May 2, 2013 at 10:50 am
The staff meeting treat sounds like a regular monthly blog post…cant wait to see what is on deck next month
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
  
  For sure! I have already started asking my team members who have May birthdays about what they’d like. One said anything with chocolate. One said anything but chocolate. So that’s going to be a challenge! Luckily I’m the only June birthday so I’m going to go all out for June!
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Ashley Bee (Quarter Life Crisis Cuisine) — May 2, 2013 at 11:38 am
Ever seen The Office? Hehe… they looove birthday parties! And that’s so sweet that you’re acknowledging your workers like that. I’m sure you’re a great boss!
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
  
  Ha – if only we could all have parties like they do on The Office…
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Shannon — May 2, 2013 at 2:48 pm
best boss ever 🙂 this looks fantastic!! we have birthday buddies that we bring cake for, and it’s a pretty awesome tradition 🙂
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 4:13 pm
  
  Oh I like the birthday buddies idea! I’m not sure that would work for my team since it’s ~80% guys… I do joke that everyone needs a buddy cause sometimes I look around and can’t tell who we’re missing. It would be a lot easier to just ask if everyone’s buddy was here like when we were kids on field trips.
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11

Brooke Schweers — May 3, 2013 at 7:40 pm

Yum! Looks devine! Such a perfect looking cake and the glaze makes it look extra shiny and pretty!
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Nutmeg Nanny — May 4, 2013 at 2:37 pm

Oh, this is such a perfect looking cake 🙂
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13

Laura Dembowski — May 5, 2013 at 11:13 am

Oh, I so want a slice of this! Love cakes that are soaked with syrup. So yummy!
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Angie — May 6, 2013 at 3:23 pm
i made this on Friday for a brunch on Saturday. It was delicious and I got lots of compliments! I was surprised when i made it because there were no instructions about adding the butter to the batter. I assumed that the butter should be softened and mixed in, but I would’ve expected it to be mixed in earlier so that it would incorporate more fully. You might consider adding clarification to that step.
- beantownbaker — May 6th, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
  
  Glad you enjoyed the cake. The second sentence in the second step talks about adding the butter. Are the instructions confusing?
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ErinsFoodFiles — May 6, 2013 at 4:13 pm
I think I’ve seen this recipe elsewhere on the interwebs… (of course my eye is drawn to anything Kentucky, my home state!) Glad to hear it’s so good!
- beantownbaker — May 6th, 2013 @ 5:47 pm
  
  It’s definitely out there on the web! I couldn’t find any info about why it’s called Kentucky Butter Cake though. Do you know anything about it? Do you guys eat it in Kentucky?
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claire — May 10, 2013 at 2:11 pm
So the glaze is on the bottom of the cake correct? You don’t reserve any to pour over the top?
- beantownbaker — May 13th, 2013 @ 8:24 am
  
  Yep, you pour it all in to the bottom of the cake while it’s in the pan.
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Maggie Wells — September 9, 2013 at 9:14 pm
Hi there! Wonderful cake. Just wondering — did you let the cake sit overnight with the syrup soaking?
- beantownbaker — September 10th, 2013 @ 7:58 am
  
  Yep, I let the cake sit overnight after adding the syrup.

Salted Caramel Sauce