Hot fudge sauce, not too syrupy

September 26, 2021 11:02 AM

Last time I made hot fudge sauce, the flavour came out way too syrupy for my tastes. I want to make it again, but I'm not sure what parts of the recipe or ratios to tweak to make it taste closer to the way I want it.

Previously I tried the Smitten Kitchen best hot fudge sauce recipe, using golden syrup rather than light corn syrup or honey as that was what I had to hand at the time. The resulting flavour profile was way too light/bland sweet for my preferences, and it tasted overwhelmingly of golden syrup and not enough of chocolate.

I want to make it again, but closer to my flavour preferences this time - I still want it to be sweet (it's hot fudge sauce, after all), but I'd prefer the sweetness to be richer, darker & more complex, and for the chocolate flavour to come out a lot more strongly. This recipe doesn't use syrup, but it also doesn't use real chocolate (my preference is to use both). I'm looking for either recipes or suggestions for recipe tweaks that will get me a hot fudge sauce outcome that's densely sweet and deeply chocolatey.

I'm not interested in recipes that call for condensed or evaporated milk, as I don't have any in the house at the moment and don't want to acquire some just to make this, plus I suspect they'll both be too light-sweet for the kind of sauce I want to make. I have heavy cream, butter, dark brown sugar, high-quality dark & milk chocolate, high-quality cocoa powder and vanilla; I also still have some golden syrup and don't mind using a little if it helps with the texture, but 170g as per the SK recipe is way too much for me flavour-wise. Please tell me how to combine these things into an ultra-rich, not-too-syrupy, complex-sweet hot fudge sauce!

Bonus question: would browning the butter help with the intensity of flavour that I'm seeking, or would losing the butter water screw up the texture somehow?

posted by terretu to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

I literally make hot fudge with semi or bittersweet chocolate, 1 cup rough chopped, about a 2-3 teaspoon light corn syrup, and dairy. I microwave chocolate until it’s warm, but not melted and then add any dairy I feel like and corn syrup. Works with buttermilk(yum), any regular milk. Half and half or heavy cream might be too stiff. I add enough dairy to just cover the chocolate. Corn syrup helps with texture. Stronger chocolate (e.g. 80s) will make stiffer result.

Microwave until dairy begins to crawl up the container from boiling.

Whisk brings it together. It will look a mess coming out of microwave.

Result is very intensely chocolate hot fudge that can get quite stiff when cooled. To loosen it up more add more dairy (or even a little water). To stiffen it up if it’s too loose use cocoa powder.

Will be bitter, but balances with ice cream sweetness.
posted by creiszhanson at 11:24 AM on September 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

You don't need to follow a recipe. Read a bunch of recipes and pick out the traits that you like from each.

Browning the butter will add a complexity of flavor in a good way, but it's not necessary. Replace any butter water lost with espresso/coffee.

Coffee gets added to chocolate recipes to deepen flavor exactly as you're describing. If you don't want your syrup too watery, use instant coffee or make really concentrated stuff.

Don't bother using the milk chocolate unless you're trying to use it up. You've got cream, butter, and sugar. The milk chocolate is just duplicating those. Mainly what you're getting from your dark chocolate that you're not getting from the cocoa powder and sugar is the cocoa fats (cocoa butter).

Add the vanilla very last; it loses flavor when you cook it and you'll have to use more.

Add all ingredients to taste.
posted by aniola at 11:25 AM on September 26, 2021

I feel like the golden syrup is never going to get the right flavor and texture and corn syrup is the most foolproof, but this recipe does use brown butter. It is all-cocoa - I personally don't mind this, the ones I've preferred in the past were all or mostly cocoa but there is a...shimmeryness, I guess, from the cocoa butter that chips or bar chocolate provide that will be missing here.

In any case, the less water the better generally so I think you could try the SK version with brown butter if you want.

Agreed with the others that a tiny bit of coffee, or espresso powder (or I just use instant coffee granules, which I always have), will always be welcome in any chocolate recipe if you like yours on the darker slightly more bitter side.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:31 AM on September 26, 2021

This is the best hot fudge recipe ever. This is still the best recipe I’ve ever made, and it doesn’t have any syrups- just the good stuff. The fact that I’m linking this recipe despite my deepest of personal reservations about the company should let you know how good it is.
posted by Champagne Supernova at 11:45 AM on September 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

I have an extremely basic hot fudge recipe that is very easy but also very difficult, because it is one of those "by feel" sorts of recipes. It's also easy to make in single-dessert quantities, which is my usual method.

All that is in it is:

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Milk
• Butter

I usually get small dish (in my case a custard cup), put in ~1/4c of chocolate chips, and then enough milk to go up about halfway the height of the chocolate, and about a tablespoon (or a little less?) of butter.

Then I put it all in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds, and stir with a fork until it's all saucy. Too liquidy? Add more chocolate. Too stiff? Add more milk. Feel free to add a tiny bit of vanilla, or some sugar if it's not sweet enough.
posted by that girl at 8:18 PM on September 26, 2021

Something you can do to improve my sauce is to use a proper good chocolate (dark or milk as is your preference).
posted by that girl at 8:29 PM on September 26, 2021

https://app.ckbk.com/recipe/thes35650c08s006r011/chocolate-fudge-sauce

This is the only hot fudge sauce I have ever made... because it is EXCELLENT.
posted by athirstforsalt at 5:20 AM on September 27, 2021

The brown sugar in that SK recipe sticks out like a sore thumb to me. It seems like it would amp up the golden syrup rather than the chocolate, as you describe. Using the SK recipe, I'd opt for plain corn syrup, white sugar, and bittersweet chocolate and see what that gets you. Personally I think browning the butter will not get you what you want. And anyway, my philosophy is to make the most standard version of a recipe to see how it turns out before making it more complicated for yourself. To further deepen the chocolate flavor, increase the quality of the chocolate, decrease the milk content of the chocolate, or coffee or espresso as others have mentioned.
posted by cocoagirl at 5:42 AM on September 27, 2021

When friend Betty Cary got married in 1948, all she knew how to cook was beef roast and chocolate sauce for ice cream. Her husband ate that chocolate sauce -- happily! -- for the next 54 years.

5-7 squares bittersweet chocolate
1 lb confectioner's sugar
1 block butter
3/4 cup cream or milk to make a good consistency
1 tsp vanilla

Double boiler for 2 hours or so. If you start it before you make dinner, it will be just in time for dessert.

Store in the fridge in a glass jar -- which you can then drop back in a double boiler to heat up the next time.
posted by olopua at 9:37 AM on September 27, 2021