Hot Fudge - Homemade and Completely Natural

In my post about my Daughter's Birthday Dessert Cake I mentioned that I had made a Hot Fudge topping and that I would soon post about it. This is that post!

I have also previously posted about Hot Fudge or Choc Sauce but the difference is in the ingredients, in how it is made and most importantly how it tastes.

I've never really liked the fact that my first recipe uses Liquid Glucose / Corn Syrup to thicken the mixture. I kind of felt that it wasn't terribly healthy and to this day I don't really know what goes into Liquid Glucose. So, some time ago, I tried something out that has changed the way I make my Hot Fudge.

Rather than using a thickening agent like liquid glucose or corn syrup, I wondered what would happen if I started off with making something that was already thick and then thinning it down a little - something like a caramel sauce.


So I made a caramel, added in some butter, then some cocoa and then some milk. IT turned out brilliant and tasted like any store bought or restaurant found Hot Fudge. As I said before I've made this many times but I've never really measured anything out. This time I did and this is the recipe.

Ingredients
8 Tbsp Sugar
75g butter
10 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1.5 Cups Fresh Milk
2 tsp vanilla
Method
Melt the sugar in a saucepan with a little water to make a light caramel. As soon as it turns golden, reduce the heat and add in the butter, being careful as it may splutter. Stir well and add in the cocoa. Mixture will thicken considerably and may even get lumpy. Dont worry at this stage. Add in the milk and using a whisk, stir the mixture until well combined and smooth. Keep stirring over medium heat until the mixture thickens nicely. Add in the vanilla.

You may need more cocoa or sugar depending on your taste and this can be added in once the mixture has cooked and is thick. The Hot Fudge keeps really well in the fridge and you just need to zap it for a few seconds in the microwave or reheat it over low heat.



It's brilliant with ice cream or as an accompaniment for waffles, cake or practically anything that needs hot fudge! You can even add in some other flavouring instead of vanilla like orange essence or even some rum or brandy for extra flavour. Say goodbye to canned/bottled hot fudge or chocolate sauce and start making your own!

Homemade Hot Fudge Topping or Chocolate Sauce

I had always wanted to make my own hot fudge to serve with Ice Cream or as an accompaniment to various desserts. I tried many different recipes and each one never turned out quite right until I hit upon this creation!

Theres just something rather special about making your own hot fudge. You know exactly what goes in, there are no preservatives and it tastes good too. Time to get rid of your store bought chocolate sauce!



The Lovely Wife made some waffles the other day and I made this sauce to go with it. We served the waffles with bananas and chocolate sauce and it was really quite delicious!



This is how I made my chocolate sauce...

Ingredients

4 tsp butter
8 tsp cocoa
¼ cup sugar
½ cup milk
3 tsp Liquid Glucose (or use Corn Syrup if you like)
1 tsp vanilla

Method
In a double boiler, combiner butter and cocoa.
Melt together and stir so that it becomes a smooth paste
Add in sugar and continue to heat
Add milk. Mixture will look like chocolate floating on the milk.
Keep stirring over heat and mixture will eventually combine.
Add liquid glucose a little at a time until desired thickness is reached. Remember it will thicken more when cool
Remove from heat. Add vanilla and let cool

Needless to say, it was a huge hit with the kids. My little princess really enjoyed it and my son has added my chocolate sauce to his list of favourites.



You can add more cocoa to make it more chocolatety. It goes really well with ice cream too and tastes just like something you'd find in an ice cream parlour. Try it out - its really simple and tastes really professional too.