How to make caramel

How to make caramel

How to make caramel

The main ingredient for making a caramel is sugar. A liquid caramel can be made using any quantity of sugar or water just as long as it follows the ratio of 2 parts sugar: 1 part water.


  • 400g of caster sugar
  • 200g of water


Pour the water and sugar into a wide-based pan and place over a low heat to dissolve the sugar. Make sure that the water doesn’t boil before it has dissolved
Once the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat (make sure you don’t stir during this process). Boil the syrup until it has an even golden colour and the temperature reaches 194°C. To encourage an even colouring, gently swirl the pan.
Once a golden colour is reached, pour water into the caramel, but be careful as this can spit. The amount of water used is the same as initially added to the sugar in step 1. Once added make sure the caramel is emulsified properly


Simon Hulstone varies the method above by adding double cream instead of water in step 3 to form a salted butter caramel. . If you are adding cream, you could try infusing it first with vanilla as Josh Eggleton instructs in his Caramel panna cotta recipe. Make sure to warm the cream before adding to the hot sugar.

Alcohol can also be used to add to the caramel. Phil Howard adds Madeira to his caramel, while Marcus Wareing suggests using rum – just make sure that the alcohol boils off.


Caramel is used in many classic desserts such as Salted caramel tart, Butterscotch sauce, Panna cotta and many more.