Articles Entertainment & NewsWhat you need to know about making caramel, as Great British Bake Off contestants take it on
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What you need to know about making caramel, as Great British Bake Off contestants take it on

By The Press Association Sep 19, 2017

Learn how to make the sweet stuff, without any fuss

It’s caramel week on the Great British Bake Off – time for intricate sugar work, salted caramel fancies, decadent nut brittle and teeth-rotting millionaire’s shortbread.

However, caramel is notoriously tricky to perfect – even professionals mess it up sometimes. Celebrity French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli managed to get it completely wrong at Mold Food & Drink Festival. “I’m a prat,” he announced to the crowd during a demo, after he used flour instead of sugar when trying to create a delicate caramel cage for a fruit pudding.

To avoid similar embarrassment in your own kitchen, follow these simple tips for making caramel without ruining all your pans:

Follow the basic method

The only ingredients you need to make caramel are sugar (if you are making dry caramel), or sugar and water if you are making wet caramel (which is slightly more manageable to work with). For wet caramel, add 4oz of water and 9oz sugar to a pan over a medium heat, stir to combine, then heat until the sugar has dissolved and you’re left with a golden caramel. For dry caramel, omit the water.

Get yourself a thermometer

Different boiling points for your sugar and water mixture will determine what kind of caramel you make. A cook’s thermometer will keep you on track, and your caramel molton rather than burnt.

Know your temperatures

For a soft pliable caramel suitable for making fudge or praline, you want a boiling point of 112-115 degrees C. For a firmer caramel (good for making sweets), you want 116-120 degrees C. For nougat and toffee it’s roughly 132-143 degrees C, and for hard, tooth-cracking toffee, 132-143 degrees C. Or you can just cook it until the sugar has gone liquid, is a lovely golden colour and you can no longer resist pouring it over ice cream or waffles.

Don’t lose focus

The margins between different caramel boiling points and textures are small, so watch your caramel pan incessantly – this is not a time for multi-tasking.

Swirl or stir?

You need to get your water and sugar combined at the start of the process, however, as the sugar begins to cook, many argue you shouldn’t stir your caramel, but instead swirl the pan to avoid crystallization. Others reckon it doesn’t matter either way. Give both a go, and see which works for you.

Have a pastry brush to hand, maybe

The jury is also out on whether you should wipe the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush to stop the sugar sticking…

Have iced water ready

When your caramel has reached the desired colour and consistency (or is getting too dark), halt the cooking process by plunging the pan into a bowl of ice cold water.

Then eat!

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