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Chemistry

The chemistry behind making a perfect caramel sauce

Bake Off finalist and chemical biologist Josh Smalley shares his recipe for the perfect caramel sauce with Catherine de Lange

By Catherine de Lange

25 September 2024

Making caramel

Great British Bake Off finalist Josh Smalley’s swiss roll, topped with caramel sauce

David Stock

Salty, nutty and irresistibly sweet, caramel can be made in minutes from just a small mound of plain old sugar. The perfect accompaniment to cakes and desserts, caramel is a gourmand’s go-to, and we have a jar of it in my house at all times. Working with sugar can be off-putting, however, because it is so easy to burn it (or yourself) and it can also form grainy crystals rather than smooth, glossy sauce.

So this month, I turned to the professionals for…

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