So I was making a Turtle Cheesecake recently. The recipe calls for a caramel topping made of 1cup dark brown sugar, 2 tbsp whipping cream, and 1/4cup unsalted butter brought to a boil over high heat and stirred until sugar is melted.
When I finished, poured it on top of the cake, and let it cool, it was rock hard. Should I have boiled it longer, shorter, hotter, cooler, or what? I’ve made the same recipe before and it turned out ok, and I don’t know what I did differently this time.
What were you looking for? Did you want loose caramel flavored syrup or soft chewy caramel? Candy making is like baking. It is a precise thing. If you wanted a chewy caramel you needed to use a lower temperature. If you wanted a runny caramel sauce, even lower.
A candy thermometer is your best friend in this type of circumstance. If the recipe didn’t give you a temperature for the caramel, then all I can say is experiment until you find what you are looking for in conjuction with a calibrated candy thermometer.
I can’t give you specific temperatures at the moment about candy (I’ve had a martini too many to give you exact stuff, but perhaps JavaMavan can). But I can tell you that if it is harder than your taste, you went too far on temperature.
Ok, thanks Turbo Dog. I figured it was something like that. I’m using a gas stove and it is often hotter than the comparable setting on an electric. I’ll try turning it way down and getting a smooth sauce.
By the way, Turtle Cheesecake contains no turtles
Turbo Dog nailed it. Yoou really have to use a thermometer to do this properly. The difference in temp from soft to hard caramel is not much so you really need to watch it closely.
Ok, I have a candy thermometer but it’s probably 50 years old. Is there a simple home method of ensuring it’s calibrated?
What temp should I aspire to? Soft ball, hard ball, etc? The last time I tried to use the thermometer to gauge the temperature I found it very difficult to keep the liquid at the desired temperature with the gas stove. Any tips for that?