Hot Fudge Sauce Recipe - These Old Cookbooks (2024)

FAQs

Why is my homemade hot fudge sauce grainy? ›

Grainy Fudge

The sugars probably crystallized, a common mistake when making candy like fudge or caramel. If the melting sugar splashes onto the sides of the pan, it turns back into crystals and causes the fudge to seize up. To avoid this issue, swirl the pan instead of stirring it with a spoon.

In fact, hot fudge sauce is just a fudge that never sets! Cream or milk, sugar, and butter are slowly boiled down until slightly thickened and light caramel-colored. This boiling-down process not only gives the sauce it's great gooey texture, but also contributes that special “fudgey” taste to the chocolate.

Hot fudge is made by boiling together cream, sugar, chocolate, and sometimes butter—the traditional ingredients for fudge—into what is essentially just an undercooked, unset version of the confection.

Typically, homemade hot fudge sauce can be stored in an airtight container and will retain its quality for up to three weeks when refrigerated. The durability of hot fudge sauce is attributed to its ingredient composition, which often includes cocoa powder, sugar, butter (how long does butter last?), and milk or cream.

You have to control two temperatures to make successful fudge: the cooking temperature AND the temperature at which the mixture cools before stirring to make it crystallize. Confectionery experiments have shown that the ideal cooking temperature for fudge is around 114 to 115 °C (237 to 239 °F).

Once a seed crystal forms, it grows bigger and bigger as the fudge cools. A lot of big crystals in fudge makes it grainy. By letting the fudge cool without stirring, you avoid creating seed crystals. Stirring would help sucrose molecules "find" one another and start forming crystals.

"The Government recommendations regarding sugar also played a part in the removal." A McDonald's spokeswoman added at the time: "The removal of sundaes from our menu makes room for the mini McFlurry and promotional favourites like the Smarties McFlurry, which have proved incredibly popular with customers."

Fudge is best stored at room temperature for 2 to 3 weeks wrapped up in its original wax paper. NEVER REFRIGERATE your fudge as this will draw out the moisture and leave you with dry, crumbly fudge.

Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks. Enjoy on top of ice cream, in a chocolate or Oreo milkshake, in a dessert crepe, fondue, or with a spoon!

Hot Fudge Sundae Topping

Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, glucose syrup), Water, Milk ingredients, Hydrogenated palm kernel oil or hydrogenated coconut oil, Cocoa, Salt, Disodium phosphate, Potassium sorbate, Natural flavour (plant source), Polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, Soy lecithin. Contains: Soy, Milk.

Does hot fudge melt ice cream? ›

Hot fudge is, well, hot!

This is not a genius observation by any means, but hot fudge starts melting the ice cream way too quickly, turning the sundae into a soupy mess. That nice contrast of warm and cold is gone.

Hot fudge sauce is served hot because as it cools it becomes very thick, fudgey and un-pourable. If you're serving this hot fudge sauce over ice cream, the hot sauce will melt some of your ice cream, and the cold ice cream will make the some of the sauce even more thick and fudgy – making the perfect combo!

If fudge experiences a change in temperature, it can melt or develop a slimy texture on the surface. If it is exposed to air, it can dry out and become hard. Specific add-ins to fudge have the potential to grow mold or give off a bad odor, and at that point, the fudge should be avoided.

Your hot sauce won't immediately spoil. Just remember to keep it in the fridge moving forward. Once you've opened and put your sauce in the fridge, you can keep it in there for six months to a year (if you don't finish it before then).

And truthfully, if you're eating hot sauce that's too old, all you're typically consuming is a little bad yeast or mold. You certainly don't WANT to consume that, and it could give you an upset stomach, but it's most likely to just cause an imperfect taste with no long-term damage.

OMG My fudge is grainy, what do I do? -

Pop the grainy fudge back into the pan along with some water and a little cream and melt the fudge back down to a liquid and re-boil it to temperature. Heat slowly to begin with and make sure the mixture goes completely smooth before bringing it to the boil.

Funnily enough, it's super simple. First boil some water. Second, very slowly, as in 1-2 tsp at a time add in the boiling water and whisk the chocolate vigorously until the mixture is smooth again. The hot water will essentially melt the clumps back to a liquid consistency.

All you have to do is cool the broken sauce, add a tablespoon of lemon juice (or white wine, if you don't mind the flavor), and whisk vigorously.