Salted Caramel Sauce

Salted caramel is one of those taste sensations of salty and sweet that my American palate absolutely adores. I put it up there with the highlight of eating pancakes with syrup with the maple syrup oozes on the plate, covering the smoky, salted bacon.

A key feature of my Dr Pepper and salted caramel cake, I will find any excuse to pour this unctuous liquid over almost any treat. Most recently I've used it to pour over my cream filled profiteroles.

Making salted caramel can seem intimidating because it involves using a cooking thermometer but it really is simple and straightforward to make, although it does require close watching to ensure it doesn't burn. I use Martha Stewart's recipe and have converted into metric, which I prefer to use.

Ingredients:

800g caster sugar*

240g golden syrup

225g cold unsalted butter cut into pieces

470ml double cream

60ml water

1tsp salt

You can halve the recipe very easily depending on what you need it for.

Instructions:

1. Combine the sugar, golden syrup, and water in a medium sized heavy bottomed pan and set it over a medium/high heat. Cook without stirring until the mixture becomes a dark amber colour and all of the sugar crystals have melted. This will take around 15 minutes.

 

2. Remove from heat and slowly pour in the cream because it will splutter and splatter and it really burns if it splashes on you. Stir the cream and sugar mixture until smooth - it will be lumpy at first and then it will smooth out, and then return to the heat and insert a cooking thermometer and cook until it reaches 114C or 338F. This usually takes around 10 minutes over a medium/high heat. Take care with the heat since it could bubble over if you don't have a deep enough pan.

 

3. Once the caramel has reach 114C remove from the heat and stir and pour into a clean glass bowl stirring the salt through. I often use salted butter and omit the salt at this stage and it works just fine. Let it cool  in the bowl for 15 minutes.

4. Gradually add the pieces of butter and mix it in thoroughly before adding the next piece. Once you have added all of the pieces of butter you can leave the caramel to cool in the bowl or pour into a jar.

The caramel will last about a week in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Warm up slightly in the microwave so you can pour it over your favourite cakes, cookies, ice cream or just spoon it straight from the jar to your mouth.

*You can use regular sugar but it might take a little bit longer to melt since the crystals are larger.

Practise Make Profiteroles

They say ‘practise makes perfect’ but I prefer to say 'practise makes profiteroles'! I've only ever attempted making them once before and it was a total disaster.

I have The Croc Bake Off in a week’s time and I’m thinking about making a salted caramel chocolate cake topped with a pyramid of cream filled profiteroles – something that will be a real show stopper. Hopefully it will be a sight to behold and lift what is already a scrumptious chocolate cake into the winner’s circle.

The last time I attempted to make profiteroles I was still in university and living in the US. I had never attempted to make anything like them before and I had never seen anyone make them either – the unknown was how I made a mess of things. When I started adding in the eggs I panicked and threw it out deciding it was better to buy them than persevere.

Thanks to the benefit of watching countless cooking programmes where they’ve shown the stages of the horrible doughy mess that miraculously turns into stretchy and smooth dough I knew what I was getting myself in for with this. Also, I have a lot more baking under my belt than I did when I was in my early 20s.

Here’s the recipe from my Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie & Baking Foundations cookbook.

Ingredients list:

Profiteroles

125ml water

125ml full fat milk

125g unsalted butter

5g salt

12g sugar

150g flour

4-5 eggs

1 egg slightly beaten for egg wash

Whipped Cream

250ml whipping cream

50g icing sugar

Salted Caramel

Chocolate Ganache (link to follow)

1.     Mix the water, milk, butter, salt and sugar in a medium saucepan and cook over a medium heat until the butter melts. Remove from heat and add in all of the flour at once and stir through completely. Replace the saucepan on the medium heat and stir continuously until the batter comes away from the sides and forms a ball. For the Americans out there it looks like the world’s thickest starter for cream gravy – for the British, well I’m not sure how best to describe it)

2.     Once a ball has formed you need to transfer the batter into a clean bowl and let it cool for about 5-10 minutes. Once cooled add in one egg at a time and mix until if is fully incorporated. This is when it gets a bit funky. Don’t lose faith and toss the effort into the bin like I did all that time ago. The egg will actually mix in and go from a clumpy, eggy and slimy mess to a stretchy and sticky dough. Just make sure you add them one at a time because you may not need all of the eggs.

3.     Once the batter is nice and sticky you should prepare the pastry bag with a round tip and fill the bag full of the dough. I like to put my pastry bag into a pint glass and fold back the sides to make it easier to fill. Once full of the dough I shake it down to the piping tip and twist the top to keep it from coming out.

4.     Finally, pipe rounds onto a silicon mat and put into a preheated oven at 220°C (425°F) and immediately turn the oven down to 205°C (400°F). When the profiteroles start to colour turn them around and bake until golden. Place on a wire rack to cool. (Don't forget to tap down the nipples on the rounds before putting them into the oven - you can give them an egg wash at this point to make them shiny)

5.     While the profiteroles are cooling pour the cream and sugar together into a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment and whip until stiff peaks form.

6.     Put the cream into a piping bag fitted with a piping tube tip and fill the profiteroles from underneath. Make sure to add plenty of cream so the profiteroles don’t taste like semi-sweet Yorkshire puds.

7.     Once you have filled the profiteroles you can stack them in a pyramid stack and drizzle over with the salted caramel or the chocolate ganache.

Croc Bake Off entry - Muchas Leches Cake

Ever since joining The Crocodile I have been looking forward to the annual Great Croc Bake Off and having seen the pictures from the previous year’s entrants I knew I was going to be in for some stiff competition. After much deliberation I decided I was going to make a version of the Muchas Leches Cake that was in The Pastry Queen cook book by Rebecca Rather that I was given many years ago by my friend Emily.

The Muchas Leches cake is a very impressive looking cake; mostly due to the sugared almond slivers that decorate the outside of the cake along with the seasonal fruit. At first the cake looks like it might be difficult to make, but I can assure you it’s very easy especially if you break up the different parts over a couple of evenings. I make the sugared almonds one evening, the next I make the cake layers and soak  them in the liquid and the third day I assemble the cake.

It must have paid off because I won the heat this week and now I have to figure out what to make for the final!

Here's a peak at the competition this week, cake balls, avocado and lime 'cheesecake' and hot cross buns - thanks to abst4r.blogspot.com for the pics.

List of ingredients:

(I’ve used the American measurements here and will supply weight measurements later - P has asked that I make him this cake this week for his leaving cake so I'll weigh the measurements then)

Sugared Almonds

4 large egg whites

4 cups of sliced almonds

1 cup sugar

Cake

4 cups ground almonds

1 ¾ cups sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

14 large eggs separated

¼ cup plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

Soaking Liquid

½ cup whipping cream

¼ cup cajeta or dulce de leche

½ cup condensed milk

½ cup evaporated milk

½ cup full fat milk or coconut milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Frosting

4 cups chilled whipping cream or double cream

1 ½ cups icing sugar (powdered)

seasonal berries

For the sugared almonds, whip the egg whites until frothy and then add in the sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks. Fold in the almonds making sure they are completely covered in egg white and sugar. Spread the mixture evenly onto a lined baking sheet (you can make this in batches). Place the baking sheet into a preheated oven at 160°C (325°F) and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. About 5-7 minutes into baking take the baking sheet out and stir the almonds and flatten them back out and put them back into the oven until golden. (Be careful because the egg white can puff up and  make meringue like almonds if you don’t stir them to knock the air out)

To make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 170°C (350°F) and line two 9 in square or round tins with parchment. Measure out the almonds, cinnamon, flour and baking powder into a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks and sugar with the paddle attachment until think and creamy.  Add in the almond mixture in batches until combined. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Slowly fold the egg whites into the almond mixture. (The almond mixture will be quite stiff and will loosen up once the egg whites have been mixed in)

Pour the mixture into the prepared tins keeping the bowl close to the tins so you don’t knock out any air. Use a spatula to smooth and even out the top because the mixture will not even out as it bakes.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is golden and the cake is firm to the touch.  Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes and then poke holes in the top using either a skewer or a fork. Then pour the soaking liquid over the cakes splitting it evenly between the two cakes. Let the cakes cool completely in the tins.

For the soaking liquid:

Whisk together all of the liquid making sure the dulce de leches or cajeta is thoroughly mixed in without any lumps. Use a hand blender if you have one.

For the frosting:

Pour the cream into a mixing bowl and beat using the whisk attachment until  soft peaks form. Add in the sugar and whip until the sugar is fully incorporated and the frosting is thick enough to spread easily.

When the cakes have cooled completely invert the first layer onto a plate and remove the parchment. Spread a thick layer of the whipped cream over the top and smooth out. Invert the second layer of cake and remove the parchment. Spread the rest of the whipped cream over the entire cake and smooth it as evenly as possible. Take the sugared almonds and press them all over the cake until the cake is completely covered on all sides.  Add the pieces of season fruit on the top and then dust with icing sugar.