Caramel Sauce

There was an ice cream party at the kid's school today and each family was supposed to send in one ice cream topping. I had a feeling a lot of the kids would bring chocolate syrup, but didn't think anyone would bring caramel sauce, so I decided to whip up a batch - no recipe, I just winged it.

I started by melting 1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan.

I heated it over a medium flame until it reached a nice color and it started to smell kind of carmel-y. I also transferred the sugar/butter mixture into a larger pan because I remembered caramel bubbles up violently when liquid is added, and I planned to add cream in the next step.

I added about 3/4 cup of heavy cream and stirred well. Note: I usually let it get a bit darker before I add the cream, but I needed to get this out the door fast, so I finished it a bit on the light side. I knew the kids would love it no matter what, and they surely did... there was only a drizzle in the bottom of the jar at the end of the party.

Then I turned off the heat and added 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract; stir, stir, stir...

I let the mixture cool for a couple of minutes before pouring into jars. As you can see, this step can be a bit messy, so I filled the jars over a lined sheet tray.

After a quick clean-up, I added the lid and wasn't pleased with the appearance of this reused maraschino cherry jar, so....

I jazzed the jar up a little with gold ribbon and a couple of squares of recycled star tissue paper, which made for a much more pleasant presentation. I don't usually recycle tissue paper, but this one was too cute to throw away - glad I saved it.

Caramel Sauce

makes 1 1/2 cups

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (be sure to use the good stuff)

Directions

1. Melt butter, sugar, and salt together in a large sauce pan.

2. Bring to a boil and cook without stirring until desired color is achieved.

3. Remove from heat and stir in cream.

4. Cool for a couple of minutes before adding pure vanilla extract; stir to combine. Enjoy!

Sunday Favorites - some of my cake creations

chocolate truffle wedding cake

This super rich and delicious Chocolate Buttercake filled and frosted with the most amazing Chocolate Ganache - TO DIE FOR!

The scent of chocolate completely filled the entire reception hall - you should have heard the comments! Even the kitchen staff came out to see what smelled so good.

red velvet wedding cake vanilla buttercream

A Petite Red Velvet Wedding Cake filled and frosted with Vanilla Buttercream - Interior ruby color was stunning!!!

vanilla wedding cake

Vanilla Butter Cake with Vanilla Buttercream - Classic!

vanilla buttercream wedding cake

Vanilla Almond Pound Cake filled and frosted with Vanilla Buttercream. Decorated with a stunning variety of fresh flowers and Rose Hips.

rose hips wedding cake

The top tier to the cake above. I adore the rose hips - I added them at the last minute because I didn't thing the cake looked complete. I'm so glad I made a middle-of-the-night trip to Wal-Mart. Btw, I haven't seen rose hips there since.

vanilla and raspberry tiered cake

An amazingly delicious Vanilla Butter Cake with Fresh Raspberry Puree Buttercream filling and Vanilla Buttercream frosting - accented with fresh flowers and ruby red raspberries.

vanilla and raspberry cake

Another delicious Vanilla Butter Cake with Fresh Raspberry Puree Buttercream filling and Vanilla Buttercream frosting - accented with fresh flowers.

NYC Cheesecake w/Wild Maine Blueberry Sauce

New York Style Cheesecake with Wild Maine Blueberry Sauce - Delish!

These goodies were all made pre-blog, so I can't post about them specifically, but I'll be sure to get lots of pictures of future baking projects!

Eastern Redbud in bloom

One last photo of the gorgeous Eastern Redbud that is blooming all over our part of Virginia right now. It's stunning, and the blooms last for weeks and weeks!