Big City, Little Kitchen

If there is one kitchen-related task that is, for me, totally daunting, it is making caramel.  It doesn’t matter that I happen to LOVE the stuff–I have ruined enough pans, inflicted enough burn blisters, and suffered enough damages to my spirit to have lost all will to keep trying.  Until this weekend.  I have been making my way through Baked, the new cookbook from the Brooklyn bakery of the same name (more on this book in the next week or so), and I wanted to tackle what seemed to be the most difficult recipe in the book:  Sweet and Salty Cake, which requires the baker to make caramel TWICE, once as a brushed-on layer and once to incorporate into frosting. 

After one wrong start, I ended up with a batch of caramel–success!  And no candy thermometer necessary (I have not found them very helpful when it comes to caramel-making), though it is important to be attentive while watching the progression of browning.  Because it is such a sensitive, finicky process, I have outlined exactly what worked for me*:

• Start with a small sauce pan that has high sides and a very heavy bottom; I used the 1 1/2-quart stainless steel sauce pan from Cuisinart.  A cheap pan will absolutely not work here; the water-and-sugar mixture will cook unevenly, burn, and fill your entire apartment with an acrid smell.  It will stay in your hair and clothes until you wash them. 
• In the sauce pan, combine 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water, and 2 tsp light corn syrup.  Using a wooden spoon or a spatula, stir them together gently, until all of the sugar is moistened by the water; try to avoid splashing the sides of the pan while stirring; a sugar particle stuck to the side could interfere with the caramelization process later on.
• Turn the burner to medium-high, and cook the sugar mixture for about five minutes–do not agitate it.  Once it begins to turn golden (this will probably happen along one edge, or in one spot, rather than throughout), gently turn the pan so that the browning happens evenly.
• As soon as the entire mixture is a light golden color, and one or more spots begins to turn a darker, honey color, turn off the heat and gently slide the pan from the burner.  The mixture will continue to cook in the pan.  Let sit for five minutes.
• Heat 1/2 cup heavy cream over a medium-low flame until it steams; remove from heat and pour into the waiting caramel; it will hiss and bubble, but stir gently until well-combined.  Let cool completely before using. 
• A tip I picked up from the Baked book on cleaning the caramel pan:  fill it with water, bring that water to a boil, then pour it away; any residue left over is easily wiped away.

A final word of advice:  it might take a couple of tries to get comfortable with making caramel.  I have ruined more batches than I care to remember, but hopefully these tips will prevent you from doing the same.  Let me know how it goes, or if you have your own tricks that you’d like to share!

*I found this post by David Lebovitz very helpful as well.