Luxuriously rich with a deep caramelized flavor, this English Toffee Sauce recipe is super easy to make and your taste buds will thank you over and over again!
Few things are as irresistible as an oozing toffee sauce. Luxuriously rich with deep caramelized flavor, if you can resist eating this with a spoon or your fingers you will thoroughly enjoy it served over your desserts.
Drizzle this English toffee sauce over your cakes, ice cream, fresh fruit, add it to your fruit crumbles and crisps, or a dollop to your waffles or anything else your heart desires!
Why Is My Toffee Sauce Grainy?
When sugar crystals form on the sides of the pan before they’re completely dissolved they can crystalize and fall back into the toffee mixture causing it to be grainy. To prevent this be sure the sugar is dissolved before increase the temperature to a low simmer and then avoid stirring as much as possible until the toffee sauce begins to turn color.
Let’s get started!
Place the heavy cream, brown sugar, salt and butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat and let the brown sugar dissolve completely, stirring as little as possible to avoid the sugar granules from splashing up the sides of the pan (this will result in a grainy toffee sauce). Once it’s dissolved increase the temperature to medium high.
Avoid stirring too much during the initial stages until the sauce begins to turn color. Increase the frequency of stirring as the sauce gets browner to prevent burning. Continue until the sauce is thickened and a dark amber.
How dark and how thick you let it get is a matter of personal preference. The darker and thicker, the deeper the flavor. I like it dark and thick. When I scrape the bottom of the pan with a spoon and a trail is left behind, that’s the thickness I prefer. But you can stop simmering earlier than this if you prefer a thinner and lighter sauce.
Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
Let it cool a few minutes and serve warm or let it cool completely and store the English Toffee Sauce in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a month. If it’s too thick, reheat it with a little heavy cream and/or butter.
Enjoy!
English Sticky Toffee Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- small pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon quality pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the heavy cream, brown sugar, salt and butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat and let the brown sugar dissolve completely, stirring as little as possible to avoid the sugar granules from splashing up the sides of the pan (this will result in a grainy toffee sauce). Once it's dissolved increase the temperature to medium high. Avoid stirring too much during the initial stages until the sauce begins to turn color. Increase the frequency of stirring as the sauce gets browner to prevent burning. Continue until the sauce is thickened and a dark amber. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.If the sauce thickens too much or if leftovers are too thick, add a little extra butter and/or heavy cream and reheat.
- Makes about 1 3/4 cups. Store in the refrigerator for up to a month.
Roy Totten says
I was trying to cook it long enough that i had the trail as in the photo but it never did get that thick and actually started to get thinner and ended up with a dark caramel separated from the liquid
Any body got any thoughs of what might i have done wrong
The sauce pan i was using was on the smaller side
Maggie says
I subbed out 2% milk for cream and it was a disaster. Butter and sugar remained separate, just had a layer of butter floating over a layer of liquid sugar. Don’t use milk!
Maggie Davis says
Your blog is beautiful and I have enjoyed every word and photo. I cannot wait to prepare several of your wonderful recipes.
Would you consider reducing the amount of blank space on your print recipes? This would cut down on the amount of paper we have to use for each recipe. IE:The information next to the photo could be reduced to 2 lines at most and positioned to the left of the photo without compromising your very clear and concise recipe format. That way most recipes would fit on both sides of just 1 page of paper. Recipes covering over two sides of the paper tend to clutter up the files and I try not to waste paper and ink.
Love your site. Maggie
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Maggie, that is so kind of you, I really appreciate the compliment, thank you very much :) That’s a very good point about the blank spaces, thank you for the suggestion. The recipe box is structured by a software program I subscribe to and I’m not sure how much flexibility there is with the format. I’ve just sent an email to the software developer with the question you raised to see if there’s anything they can do to make improvements. If there is I will definitely request the changes. Thanks again. Warm regards, Kimberly
YoungLebron5 says
Can I use imitation Vanilla extract, or does it have to be pure Vanilla extract
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi! Imitation is fine. Happy baking!
Mark says
Hi Lauren,I followed your recipe by every step,at the end it seems very runny is this normal?I hope so 😊 it tastes devine.i made a spiced apple bundt cake for Christmas day and hope this will compliment it beautifully
Denise Parkinson says
Wow what an easy recipe, turn out fantastic. Thank you. 😊
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you, Denise, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Kimberly says
When do I add the Vanilla extract? I am assuming after the caramel sauce has finished cooking and stir it in.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Kimberly, it’s at the very end of Step 1. Correct, you add it very last after removing the sauce from the heat.
Ann Savage says
Hello! As I’m English, please can you tell me the English equivalent of ‘cups’ – not used here (well not by me anyway!). Pounds/ounces or grammes would be helpful.
Thankyou !
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Ann, to the right of the ingredients you’ll see a button for “Metric.” Just click on that and it will provide you with those measurements.
Or says
I only wanted a single serving to go with bread pudding+ice cream so I scaled it down by using 6 grams of brown sugar, 4 grams of butter and about 8 ml of heavy cream. It took very little cooking on a rather low heat and came out really tasty. Thanks!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Wonderful, Or, I’m happy you were able to scale it down and that it was a yummy success – thank you!
Kim Zielke says
As it cooled the butter separated what can I do to fix it
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Kim, stir it constantly until it comes back together and then return it to the heat, continuing to stir a little longer. Then let it cool slowly.
Tracey says
Wow just tried this toffee sauce to go with my toffee cake it’s fantastic will definitely be making it again 😍
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks so much, Tracey, I’m happy you enjoyed it!
Sanqual Minger says
Can you pour this over popcorn while the toffee is still hot-reminiscent of “Crunch N Munch”?
AZGeorge says
This came out great for me, but after refrigerating it I can’t get it to soften back up again without the butter separating out. Any ideas how to get it back?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi AZGeorge, you can add a little bit of water and gently reheat the caramel while stirring it constantly to re-blend it. Let it come back to a simmer and again, keep stirring constantly.
AZGeorge says
That worked! Thanks, Kimberly, and thanks for the terrific recipe!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Awesome, AZGeorge, you’re welcome and I’m glad that worked!
Abby says
Can i use salted butter instead?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Abby, yes you can.
Lauren says
Well that was an epic fail! I don’t know what I did wrong but the only thing I can think is that I used a nonstick saucepan and my stick of butter had salt. But I was going to add extra salt anyway, so I didn’t think that mattered. One more thing that did occur to me when I ended up with some very chewy Carmel stuff, is that I think I live where we are at high altitude. So maybe that’s it. It’s Albuquerque. Not sure how high but it’s definitely higher than the Midwest. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Adrian says
Hi Lauren
I had the same thing happen to me. I think I overcooked it though. Not sure if my heat was too high or I left it on too long, but I was able to save it by returning it to a low heat until soft, adding some more cream and blitzing it with an emersion blender. (Be careful with the blitzing. I gave myself a nasty burn with spatter.)
Surprisingly, I did not end up with a grainy texture.
I know it’s been a year since your post, but maybe someone else having the same problem can benefit from this.