My current top favorite toppings are Salted Caramel Sauce and Chocolate Ganache. Not only are they easy to make at home, but they are great with a lot of desserts such as churros or even a Banoffee Pie Pavlova. These are such versatile toppings that you could use them in any dessert or even to top off your ice cream! Plus, you only need 4 ingredients to make the caramel sauce and really good chocolate with some cream to make the ganache. 

Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

Don’t be intimidated with any form of caramel, like I was. Caramels are actually really easy to make but (like everything else) requires patience and attention. So, no checking Instagram or Twitter when making caramel. As boring as it is, keep watching your sugar. 

Because a split second could mean you end up with either a beautiful deep brown or a pot of burnt sugar.

Ingredients

• 1 cup / 200g Granulated Sugar or Brown Sugar
• 6 tbsp Unsalted Butter, cut into small cubes
• ½ cup / 120ml Heavy Cream
• ½ – 1 tsp Sea Salt

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, heat granulated sugar over medium-high heat. Be sure to constantly stir the sugar for 10-15 minutes. You’ll notice the sugar will start melting and clumping together. Remember to keep stirring.

2. When all the sugar has melted and formed a brown-amber colour, you can add in your butter. There’ll be some bubbling so be careful. You’ll also notice that the sugar and butter will have a hard time mixing with each other and seems rather separated initially. It’s normal! 

3. You can gradually pour in the heavy cream and continue to stir. When it’s fully incorporated, you will have a thick brown sauce in your saucepan. 

4. Remove from the heat and stir in your salt. Start with ½ tsp of salt but you can add more if you wish. Remember to taste before adding more salt. 

You can use it immediately or store it in a glass jar in your refrigerator. Remember to heat it for 30 seconds or so in the microwave before use in the future. 

Original recipe from Veronika’s Kitchen

Easy Chocolate Ganache

This has to be the easiest recipe ever. You can use milk or dark chocolate for this. I like to use half of each to have a more balanced taste. Most bakers use semi-sweet chocolate which contains 45% cacao. This means you have a not too bitter taste. But I used half milk and half dark chocolate. It’s important to add equal parts of chocolate and heavy cream. You could also use whipping cream but not milk because it has a much lower fat content that wouldn’t form a ganache. 

Ingredients

• ½ cup / 75g chopped Milk Chocolate 
• ½ cup / 75g chopped Dark Chocolate
• 1 cup / 240ml Heavy Cream

1. Chop your chocolates into fine pieces to ensure easier melting. If you’re using semi-sweet chocolate chips, be sure to use one of high quality. 

2. In a saucepan, heat your heavy cream to a gentle simmer. Be sure to not allow the cream to boil as it will burn the chocolate. Alternatively, you could heat in a microwave under medium setting for 1-2 minutes. 

3. Remove your saucepan from the heat and quickly add your chocolate. Stir the mixture until all the chocolate has melted. Enjoy! 

You can store your chocolate ganache in the fridge in an air-tight container. Bring it to room temperature when you want to use or gently heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds.