10 Comments
User's avatar
Melanie J Alexandrou's avatar

Hallo! love your deep dives, thanks for sharing - currently attempting the salted caramel...first try the sugar caught too much/too dark so resulting caramel is bitter (will see if it's any good still mixed into smbc), every other aspect went perfect though! second try, got some lumps after I added the cream - definitely because it had cooled too much as i took longer with the sugar to make sure it didn't go too far this time. Did the suggested of warming and then passing through a sieve, perfect. Waited for it to cool to around 35°C and added butter - BUT my butter had been sat out and it's verrry warm today. So it's done the weird greasy sort of splitty thing 🥲 anything I can do to fix at this point? 🙏🏼

Expand full comment
Sophie Bamford's avatar

Hi, I'm so sorry that I missed this comment! I would still try adding a bit of the dark caramel to your buttercream, sometimes I actually think it's better when it's a little bit too dark if you're adding it to other things as it helps the flavour really come through. To fix the split caramel, you can try warming up to about 50c and blending it using a stick blender, this should fix it!

Expand full comment
Melanie J Alexandrou's avatar

Hey! Ah that's ok! Thanks for replying now, I appreciate it. Definitely going to keep the dark caramel for buttercream (it'll be ok for around 2 weeks in the fridge right?) and the second batch I ended up just stirring it now and again as it cooled and it came together! Maybe the final texture was more stretchy rather than smooth/pourable (when warm) but it was still great for my purposes and tasted AMAZING. In fact, it won out in a tasting box I made for a client's wedding cake next year. Thank you!

Expand full comment
Sophie Bamford's avatar

Yes it’ll be fine in the fridge for ages! This recipe is super thick, it can also get even thicker due to evaporation when adding the cream, I find that I have to adjust the cream depending on the batch size to account for this. If you want a more pourable one just add a little more cream before adding the butter

Expand full comment
Hailey's avatar

Question! When making a direct caramel with the glucose and caster sugar, can you layer all the sugar over the glucose and let it melt together that way or should you add the glucose and then add sugar gradually? 🤔

Expand full comment
Sophie Bamford's avatar

You can do the glucose and a bit of the sugar but not all, you’ll still need to add it gradually to avoid it burning on the bottom and getting lumpy. Unless you’re doing a really small batch and then it’s ok just to add it all at once

Expand full comment
Hailey's avatar

Thanks! I made the peppermint caramels and added it all at once. It worked out, but I suspected I hadn’t done it correctly. 🙃

Expand full comment
Sophie Bamford's avatar

Oh I might have not made it clear enough, sorry! I’ll go back and edit it

Expand full comment
Sophia Real | Real Simple Food's avatar

Loved this deep dive, thanks for sharing!

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Mar 10, 2024
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Sophie Bamford's avatar

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed!

Expand full comment