Caramel and caramel sauce

Caramel is basically the combination of sugar and water. The actual method is very simple, but getting it right can be a little bit tricky. The only things you need are white granulated sugar and water and a stainless steel saucepan and of course a heat source. The amount of ingredients you need is purely based on how much you need.

Ingredients (caramel)
This is actually the Mary Berry recipe, but I've included a couple of things to make process easier from experience.

1. 160g white granulated sugar
2. 6 tbsps cold water

This recipe is enough for 6 creme caramels or caramel sauce to serve about 5 people depending on what you're using it for. So, to make the caramel, follow the very simple recipe:

• Fully dissolve sugar in water over low heat with a wooden spoon until you can longer feel any sugar in the water
• Take spoon away from saucepan once sugar has dissolved and KEEP IT AWAY!
• Turn up the heat until the mixture boils (DO NOT PUT SPOON BACK IN OR STIR AT ALL!!!)
• If you want to evenly distribute the heat over the whole saucepan, gently lift saucepan from one end and swirl carefully over heat source
• The mixture should continue bubbling, just keep heating and it will go from clear to light yellow to amber
• We want an orangey hue to the amber colour (light yellow will be very sweet and there won't be too much of a flavour, and too dark, then the caramel is burnt and will taste very bitter)
• When you're making this for the first time and not sure what colour you're expecting, take a metal spoon and dip it into the side of the saucepan and then put the caramel on a cold surface (preferably something you don't want like a piece of white used parchment paper), the perfect caramel should be a fairly dark amber colour and quite viscous and will solidify quicker than the lighter ones
• When it's at the right colour, quickly take the saucepan off the heat source and add a tsp of cold water to the caramel (the caramel will continue to darken for a little while when you take it off the heat, so it needs to be cooled rapidly to stop it from going bitter. Some people put the entire saucepan into a pool of cold water, but I find putting a tsp of cold water directly into the caramel to work better and actually stops the burning altogether)
• Now you have the perfect caramel, but note caramel harden quite quickly, so you will have to be quick and decide what to do next 

Caramel sauce
You will have to make the caramel first, surprise surprise! You will also need:

1. 80ml double cream
2. 60g unsalted butter

• Heat up double cream until it is hot, but not boiling
• Chop butter into small cubes
• DO NOT add cold water into saucepan once your caramel has reached the right colour
• Switch the heat on caramel right down
• Sift double cream directly into the caramel (Be very careful as the caramel and double cream can bubble up and go everywhere and can splatter) 
• Keep mixing until caramel and cream have combined well
• Take off the heat and pour the sauce into a clean bowl and add butter cubes into the hot sauce
• Mix well until all the butter has melted and mixed in 
• Leave to cool down and thicken, the sauce should be thick enough to be piped once it is set