Salted Caramel Sauce

I must say that salted caramel has become so trendy these days that anything that has salted caramel added just sounds so enticing. Just about any types of sweet desserts  have the salted caramel version, or at least a drizzle of the sauce on top. Just yesterday, my daughter bought a slice of red velvet cake, & in addition to the cake that's layered & covered with cream cheese frosting,  there's also a drizzle of salted caramel sauce to top off the 2-layered cake. Of course, it has to be called Salted Caramel Red Velvet Cake.... It just sounds more appealing.....

Interestingly, I have not got on the bandwagon yet, until now. I must admit that it's really hard not to follow the crowd when every time I browse through a baking book or go on the social media, salted caramel something just stares at me! So just be prepared with my salted caramel dessert posts, coming up soon... haha!

I've already had a few recipes in mind but first I need to make the caramel sauce. Although this is my first time making salted caramel sauce, the process is not totally unfamiliar as it's quite similar to preparing the burnt sugar for the Steamed Fruit Cake. The fragrant hot caramelised-sugar smells so familiar....  After pouring the sauce into the bottle, I couldn't help licking the spoon... The sweet & salty sticky sauce brings me back to my childhood days when I loved snacking on those soft caramel candies.

The recipe that I used is from Sally's Baking Addiction. The caramel sauce is creamy & looks so gorgeous & most importantly, it tastes perfect! The recipe just requires 4 ingredients & the instructions are quite clear. Go to Sally's blog if you'd like to look at the pictures for each of the steps.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
6 tbsps (90g) salted butter, cut up into 6 pieces
1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream (I used dairy whipping cream.)

1 tsp salt

Method:

1. Heat granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula. Sugar will form clumps and eventually melt into a thick brown, amber-coloured liquid as you continue to stir. Be careful not to burn.
2. Once sugar is completely melted, immediately add the butter. Be careful in this step because the caramel will bubble rapidly when the butter is added.
3. Stir the butter into the caramel until it is completely melted, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Very slowly, drizzle in 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Since the heavy cream is colder than the caramel, the mixture will rapidly bubble and/or splatter when added. Allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute. It will rise in the pan as it boils.
5. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of salt. Allow to cool down before using or pour it into a container to store it.  Don't worry if the sauce seems a bit too thin at first, it will thicken as it cools.
6. Cover the caramel tightly and store for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Warm the caramel up for a few seconds before using in a recipe.

Recipe by Sally's Baking Addiction.