Whipped Caramel Masterclass
How To Make The Best Cake Filling Of All Time
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There is a very strong possibility I am posting this at the entirely wrong time of the year. It’s far too hot in London to be doing almost anything in the kitchen, other than making and enjoying plenty of ice cream, of course. I’m posting it anyway because it is timely. As you have probably seen, the whipped caramel and chocolate cake has gone completely viral, and it’s taken over the Internet, or at least my entire Instagram feed. The problem? Lots of people are struggling to make the whipped caramel, so I thought it was time for a masterclass, to give you as much advice as possible and to help you out with any issues you may have had.
Over on Second Helpings this week I also have a new recipe that utilises that spectacular caramel: little Guinness chocolate cakes with whipped caramel and an espresso glaze. They’re damn good and a really fun way to use the caramel. If you’re a paid subscriber, that recipe is in your inbox right now.
Whipped Caramel
So what actually is whipped caramel? I guess its name is pretty self-explanatory; it's a caramel, salted of course, that is whipped. Is it just a regular caramel? Not quite. To make a whipped caramel, it has slightly more cream than regular caramel sauce. Because it is cream-based, it needs to be very cold before it can be whipped. When caramel is chilled in the fridge, it becomes very thick, and my usual caramel sauce would be almost impossible to whisk, even when utilising a stand mixer. So, with a little extra cream, you get a whippable mixture.
Now, that caramel whips, but unlike whipped cream, the mixture doesn’t increase in volume a huge amount. It lightens and aerates, but it is not light and airy; it's like a cross between whipped cream and a meringue buttercream. It is still slightly dense, but it is super creamy.
The first time I made it, it was a kind of mistake. I had accidentally weighed out too much cream and realised my caramel was too runny. If you ever made my chocolate sheet cake with whipped caramel ganache from One Tin Bakes, you know I have a history of whipping up mixtures to make something delicious. It was a logical extension of that ganache to think this could also just be whipped. It worked wonderfully, and so after a little tweaking, this is the recipe I settled on.
The cream ratio can be adjusted to achieve the desired result. I wanted a really stable cake filling, so the amount of cream allowed the caramel to be whipped without making it super soft like whipped cream. If a whipped cream is what you actually want, you absolutely can increase the cream, but the more cream you add, the more diluted the caramel flavour will become. However, as the caramel flavour is intense to begin with, you do have some leeway.
The Caramel
The base of a good whipped caramel is, of course, a really good caramel. This is a dry caramel, which means you are melting down the sugar with nothing else added, no water. This is, to my mind, the easiest form of caramel because it lets you stir it without worrying about it seizing.
Tip 1 - Don’t Use Cold Cream
Place the cream into a saucepan at the same time you put the sugar in a seperate pan. You want to bring the cream to a simmer, then remove it from the heat so that by the time your caramel is finished and you add the cream, it is still hot. Adding cold cream to hot caramel will ALWAYS result in a huge lump of very hard caramel swimming in a pan of cream. This can be rescued by turning the heat to low and cooking until the sugar remelts. The problem is that this takes time, and as you continue cooking the mixture, the liquid will reduce, leaving a much thicker caramel that will be hard to whip. Hot cream added to hot caramel yields a perfectly smooth caramel that still has the right texture for whipping.
Tip 2: Darker Caramels Taste Better
Sugar is very sweet, of course. As it melts and caramelises, we perceive its sweetness less and less as more bitter compounds are introduced into the mixture. As the sugar caramelises, you are looking at its colour. When the caramel is stopped too soon by adding butter, salt, and cream, the resulting caramel will be bland and too sweet. Cooking it too far, on the other hand, will result in a bitter and burnt flavour. The challenge is finding the sweet spot. I aim for a dark coppery brown, like the colour of an old penny.
To help with this, I always advise against using non-stick pans. The dark coating on these pans makes it difficult to judge the colour; I prefer to use traditional stainless steel, as it is much easier to gauge the caramel's colour.
Cream
Watching this recipe go viral has made me read up on a lot of the different-style creams on offer around the world, and not all are made equally. To make a whippable cream, you want fresh cream with a fat percentage of 35-40%. In the UK, this means ‘whipping cream’, and in the US, it means ‘heavy whipping cream’. If you’re in the UK, you can also use double cream, but it will definitely make a richer finished mixture.
In hot countries, fresh cream can be hard to come by, and unfortunately what is on offer may not work. The recipe has become extremely popular in India, and from what I can tell, the most commonly used cream is a UHT version with 30% fat. Unfortunately, when it is turned into a caramel, it doesn’t like to be whipped, and the resulting caramel becomes very loose, almost runny. There a few ways around this, you can add a little more butter, you can add a little white chocolate to help stabilise the mixture but these do change the nature of the product.
Chilling
The point at which most people seem to struggle with this whipped caramel is the whipping. You need to think of this more like whipping cream than whipping caramel. The same rules apply to whipping caramel as to whipping cream. The colder the better. The caramel needs a minimum of 3-4 hours before it can be whipped, but it is advisable to treat 4 as the bare minimum, since not everyone's fridge is as cool as the next person's. I have actually started leaving it overnight. Leaving it that long makes the caramel significantly thicker but, because of the higher level of cream, it’s still whippable with an electric mixer.
FAQ’s
How long can the caramel be refrigerated before whipping
I have left this as long as five days in the fridge and it has still had no issues whipping up.
Can it be frozen?
Yes and no. Caramel has a high sugar content, meaning it never truly freezes; it will firm up but remain a little soft. If you whipped it and used it on a cake (like those little Guinness cakes from today’s Second Helpings), then these will freeze absolutely fine.
Can you refrigerate the caramel after whipping but before using it?
No, unfortunately no. The whipped caramel will start to thicken a little in the fridge and become less spreadable, so ideally it should be whipped and used immediately.
Is it stable in the heat?
As I have discovered this week, the answer is not really. Like any whipped cream, it will start to melt and break if exposed to heat for too long. When the temperature starts to tick up, and it is in the 30s, the caramel becomes incredibly soft and starts to melt. The fridge is your friend during periods of high heat.
Can I leave out the salt?
Yes, but why would you? Salt enhances the caramel's flavour and balances its sweetness. To me, a caramel without the salt is missing one of its key components. You can also control the level of the salt, so if you really don’t like a salted caramel, add a little less, but trust me when I say caramel will always taste better with a little salt.
If you have any other questions, leave them below, and I'll help out in any way I can.
Can’t Be Bothered To Make The Caramel
If you're craving some whipped caramel or the original whipped caramel cake but you can't be bothered to make it? Well, you have just a couple of days left to get your order in for a big slice of my collaboration cake with Get Baked. They can ship the cake almost anywhere in the UK, and the slices for this initial drop will arrive July 16th or 17th.
Whipped Caramel
150g caster sugar
200ml whipping cream (35-40% fat)
15g unsalted butter, diced
Large pinch flaked sea salt
Add the sugar to a medium-sized saucepan and place over medium/high heat. At the same time, place the cream in a separate small pan over medium/high heat and bring to a simmer. Once the cream is bubbling, turn off the heat.
Cook the sugar, stirring occasionally to melt and caramelise evenly, until the sugar is the colour of an old copper penny, a rich and deep brown colour. If the caramel looks like a brand new copper penny, it is still too light. Once properly cooked, add the butter and salt and stir briefly to combine. Pour in the cream in two or three additions. Even though the cream is still very hot, the caramel will still bubble up significantly, so if you add it all in one go, you risk the caramel bubbling over the sides of the pan. Once the initial bubbling has settled slightly, you can add the remaining amount. If you heated the cream in advance, the caramel should be perfectly smooth, so take the pan off the heat and pour into a heatproof container. Allow the caramel to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes before transferring to cool for at least four hours.
To whip, scrape the caramel into a large bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until the caramel holds soft peaks. The finished caramel will be very thick and should hold its shape, with a spreadability similar to a meringue buttercream, if a little thicker. If you underwhip the caramel, it will be too loose and will be hard to use as a cake filling. If you overwhip the caramel, it can start to break, so try not to overdo it.
Once whipped, use the caramel immediately.