Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Sauce
Slightly tweaked version of a Dark Chocolate Caramel Sauce from The Joy of Cooking – deep, dark, chocolaty good. Serve this rich, creamy Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Sauce over ice cream, pancakes, waffles, crepes, anything!
What is Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Sauce Made With?
With just a few ingredients, you’ll be enjoying this chocolate salted caramel sauce recipe in no time.
- granulated sugar
- unsalted butter
- heavy cream – to get the thickest, creamiest chocolate sauce, I strongly urge you not to try to substitute here, but if you have to, substitute with half and half.
- bittersweet chocolate – if you would prefer to make a milk chocolate version of this, you can change the type of chocolate you use.
- vanilla extract – while this is standard in a chocolate sauce recipe, you absolutely could try out different flavors to get different results. We loved it with almond extract.
- flaky sea salt or fleur de sel
I’ve been making this slightly adapted version of a Joy of Cooking chocolate sauce recipe for years, without the salt.
Last summer, after a few delicious rounds of homemade ice cream, I decided to try a batch with some sea salt flakes to see what that was like.
And it was like heaven.
We’ve been making it like this ever since.
What Can I Do With Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Sauce?
This rich chocolate sauce goes great drizzled over waffles, pancakes, crepes, ice cream, sundae’s, pie, cake….
So pretty much anything you might like a little salted chocolate caramel sauce goodness over.
It makes a nice offering on any dessert table, as does my Easy Mocha Fudge Sauce. You might also really like my Dr Pepper Cherry Caramel Sauce which also includes a recipe for Dr Pepper Cherry Ice Cream.
WHAT CAN I SERVE WITH DARK CHOCOLATE CARAMEL SAUCE?
This incredible sauce pairs beautifully with our homemade pistachio ice cream and our super simple two ingredient peanut butter banana ice cream. Try it drizzled over this Ice Cream Torte.
If you want a really unique and delicious flavor experience, try it with our Chai Spice Coconut Ice Cream.
Another fun way to enjoy this sauce is to spoon it over our Pistachio Pudding Pancakes or substitute it on our Andes Chocolate Mint Pancakes.
Did you make this recipe?
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Recipe for Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Sauce
Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 cups of sugar
- 1 cup of water
- 1 ½ cups of unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- 12 ounces of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
- 2 ½ Tablespoons of vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon of fleur de sel or any other flaky sea salt (add more if desired, to taste)
Instructions
- In a heavy saucepan, stir the sugar and wate together over medium high heat, until the sugar has dissolved and it’s clear. Do not let the mixture boil yet.
- Once it’s clear and the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat up to high, cover and allow to heat to boil for 2 minutes. (begin counting when you put the lid on, not when it boils)
- After the 2 minutes, uncover the saucepan and allow to boil, swirling the pan around occasionally, you see the mixture get dark around the edges.
- As it begins to darken, begin swirling the pan continuously until the syrup is a deep amber color and just begins to smoke.
- Remove immediately.
- Add the butter, and mix until melted and mixed in.
- Next, stir in the heavy cream.
- When adding in the heavy cream, if the sauce starts becoming lumpy, place back over very LOW heat while stirring until smooth. One smooth remove immediately from heat.
- Now it’s time to add the finely chopped bittersweet chocolate and stir until it is fully melted.
- Stir in the vanilla and the fleur de sel (or sea salt flakes).
- Pour finished chocolate sauce into mason jars, seal and tie a tag on.
- Perfect gift.
CHOCOLATE salted caramel sauce??! Be still my beating heart!
Who needs mere WORDS when we get this dark chocolate wonder instead. (Not that I don’t usually enjoy the words!) But really, no words are necessary. Just that first photo and the recipe, Nicole, and I’m good.
Thank you for making me feel better about the “loss of words” 🙂 The sauce was totally worth it though, I promise! Thanks hon!
Nicole! I’ve made caramel sauce over and over, but why didn’t I think about adding chocolate? Now I have a new favorite sauce…
I am such a caramel addict, I’d actually choose it over chocolate sauce most of the time. But man, put the two together and there’s a unique flavor blend that lends itself beautifully to sweet desserts. Thanks!
CHOCOLATE salted caramel sauce??! Be still my beating heart!
Right? Was thinking about you yesterday. I have no idea why, but it was for a long while. 🙂 Hope everything is good in your world 🙂
Ohmigoodness, yum. I’m so pinning this to make for Christmas presents!
Thanks Kim, it really does make great gifts!
Dark chocolate + caramel + salt? OH YA!! This sounds amazing!
You had me at the title – wow this sauce, I could put it on everything!!!!
And we sort of did. Well, we tried. haha It really is good! 🙂
This sauce would not be good for me! I would be spooning it!! I would be making so many things just so I can pour the sauce on it! I love it! Great recipe!!
There may or may not have been some spooning of chocolate sauce going on. There may or may not have been some odd things that the chocolate got drizzled on. 😉
haha thanks!
This looks fabulous Nicole. I love sweet and salty.
Me too, thanks sweet gal!
Dark chocolate + caramel + salt? OH YA!! This sounds amazing!
So yummy! Thanks Bobbi!
This sauce is happening very soon. I just love that you added sea salt. I seriously want to spoon this right from the jar into my mouth. Pinned!
It really made the sauce (the sea salt) enjoy!! 🙂 And thanks for the pin!
Yes, you are correct. Chocolate and caramel needs no further explanation. hahaha Thanks for participating this week.
Thank you for hosting my friend, a great week and great theme!
Wow, Nicole! I think you’ve just won the trophy for sauce of the day…it sounds AMAZING!!!
This looks incredible Nicole. My boys would love to have some of this laying around the house to make sundaes… yum!
Sweet lord that looks amazing!
Amazing, simply amazing looking yummy sauce!!
Amazing, simply amazing looking yummy sauce!!
Nicole, I love what you’ve done with your site! It looks amazing, so fresh, modern and fun. Needless to say, I’m head over heels for your dark chocolate salted caramel sauce. I’ve been obsessed with adding salt to my sweets lately – it just punches up the flavour so much. I want to pour this over everything.
You my sweet friend, made my whole night. Nobody has noticed yet. haha Thank you. It needed some attention and Dan made me promise not to change ANYTHING for 6 months… it’s been about 9 months now and I was ready for something different and more appealing. This works for me. She’s still a work in progress, I have a few more things to do but I’m slowly getting there. Thank you for the kind words. Also, I agree… there is just something about salt in your sweet stuff that’s just… I don’t know.. the missing thing. I love it! 🙂
I can’t believe no one noticed the changes! I’m glad my comment brightened your day because seriously, I think it looks fabulous.
Oh, I want this sauce on top if some Anika ice cream right now!!!! It looks fantastic – chocolate – caramel – and salt!!!
OK, where’s my spoon?
Would I be able to can this deliciousness?
I would say no based on the fact that it contains heavy cream and I don’t believe there is a way to preserve that for long term storage.
The good news? The recipe is easy enough to throw together on a whim and you can make a bunch and hand out as gifts.
Dark chocolate + caramel + salt? OH YA!! This sounds amazing!
CHOCOLATE salted caramel sauce??! Be still my beating heart!
Amazing, simply amazing looking yummy sauce!!