Blood Orange Caramel Sauce
Just in time for Pancake Day, I have you covered. This blood orange caramel sauce is the most delightful and decadent thing outside of salted caramel. It’s not only the perfect accompaniment to your pancakes, but it’s just what your ice cream needs too.
Pancake day is one of the nation’s favourites. It’s certainly one of mine. Pancakes make memories. Who doesn’t remember tossing pancakes and the ensuing mess? Or even the thrill of success?
What Are Blood Oranges?
Blood oranges are mostly grown in Italy and Spain. As the name suggests, they’re actual real oranges. But the main difference is that the flesh is crimson. You can’t necessarily tell from the skin as it looks much the same as regular oranges, although you can sometimes see a red tinge. They’re sweet with a particularly intense flavour and a hint of raspberry. It’s well worth seeking them out.
The season is a short one, however, so don’t miss out. It runs from December to March, depending on what variety you buy.
The red colour comes from high levels of anthocyanin which is a powerful antioxidant. It’s claimed that anthocyanin has anti-inflammatory properties that help to prevent all sorts of diseases. But the general advice these days is to eat a rainbow of colours and get as much diversity into your food as possible. These blood oranges fit the bill nicely.
Not everyone likes the name blood oranges, so you may need to hunt around and ask. I bought mine under the name of blush oranges, which is a total fudge. I assumed, from the name that there would just be the odd fleck of pink to the flesh. But actually when I finally took the plunge and bought them, they were full on red.
With one beautifully crimson blood orange, I made two recipes. I used the juice for this blood orange caramel sauce. But with the zest, I made a batch of these spicy orange brownies.
Blood Orange Caramel Sauce
Caramel is a lot easier to make than you might imagine. And it only takes fifteen minutes from start to finish. Every time I make it, I wonder why I don’t do so more often. It’s probably something to do with the calories rather than anything else.
The sauce is complex and full of flavour with lots of tastes popping around in the mouth. It’s both sweet and tart and, not surprisingly, orangey. A pinch of salt stops it from being cloyingly sweet and a touch of honey adds to the overall flavour profile.
You don’t have to use blood oranges to make this aromatic sauce, but they do give a little additional depth and colour. The sauce will vary depending on what type of orange you use. Bitter oranges such as Seville, might work really well for a more sophisticated flavour.
Top Tips For Making Caramel Sauce
- Crank the heat up to medium high for the caramel. I had mine on 4 out of a possible 5. Leave to boil for 3-5 minutes or until the large bubbles become much smaller and it looks as though the mixture is starting to caramelise. Keep a watch on it continuously as it can burn very easily.
- Warm the double cream up in a small pan. It doesn’t need to reach boiling point, but this helps to stop the mixture seizing when you add the cream to the caramel.
- Either use the sauce immediately whilst still hot, or pour into a jar and leave to set. It will thicken as it cools. Seal with a lid when cool and keep in the fridge for up to a month. Reheat to serve it warm and runny or just pile spoonfuls over the top of whatever you fancy.
- This blood orange caramel sauce would be lovely accompanied by some vanilla ice cream on top of these wholemeal pancakes.
Other Recipes for Sweet Sauces You Might Like
- Bailey’s chocolate sauce
- Blackcurrant sauce
- Chocolate sauce
- Coffee cardamom chocolate sauce
- Lemon sauce
- Manuka honey and crème fraîche chocolate sauce
- Maple tahini sauce
- Peanut sauce
- Salted caramel
- Stout caramel sauce
- Vegan salted caramel sauce with optional smoky notes
- White chocolate sauce
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this blood orange caramel sauce, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Blood Orange Caramel Sauce. PIN IT.
Blood Orange Caramel Sauce – The Recipe
Blood Orange Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 90 g golden caster sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
- pinch fine sea or rock salt
- juice from one blood orange
- 150 ml double cream
Instructions
- Place everything but the cream into a large pan and leave on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Stir from time to time to see how it’s going.
- Warm the double cream up in a small pan, but it doesn’t need to reach boiling point. This helps to stop the mixture seizing when you add the cream to the caramel.
- Crank the heat up to medium high. I had mine on 4 out of a possible 5. Leave to boil for 3-4 minutes or until the large bubbles become much smaller and it looks as though the mixture is starting to caramelise.
- Turn the heat off and pour the warm cream into the pan, scraping out any left behind and stir vigorously until the caramel stops bubbling.
- Either use immediately whilst still hot, or pour into a jar and leave to set. It will thicken as it cools. Seal with a lid when cool.
Notes
Nutrition
Sharing
I’m sharing this blood orange caramel sauce with Recipes Made Easy for #CookBlogShare.
Iris TILLEY
25th February 2020 at 1:17 pmBlood orange and caramel sounds amazing delicious
Choclette
25th February 2020 at 1:43 pmIt really is Iris and it really doesn’t take long to make. Guess what we’re having on our pancakes tonight?
angiesrecipes
25th February 2020 at 1:39 pmI adore blood oranges! Such a fun and great idea of using it in the caramel sauce.
Choclette
25th February 2020 at 1:46 pmI absolutely can’t claim this sauce is in the least bit healthy, but my goodness it’s delicious.
Jacqui – Recipes Made Easy:Only Crumbs Remain
25th February 2020 at 2:31 pmI really really like the sound of this although I don’t have any blood oranges at the moment I might just have to buy somemore. I found the early ones I got this year had very little red but the ones I’m getting now are as red as can be. Thank you for linking to #CookBlogShare
Choclette
25th February 2020 at 3:39 pmIt’s so annoying when you buy something you think are blood oranges and they only have a tinge. That’s why I held off buying these blush ones for so long. But they were fabulous.
Love Keil
25th February 2020 at 5:30 pmI can totally see myself pouring this Blood Orange Caramel Sauce on my waffles, looks incredibly delicious!
Choclette
26th February 2020 at 8:47 amOh it absolutely is incredibly delicious. We polished it off last night with the last of our pancakes.
mohan kumar
26th February 2020 at 5:14 amYour recipe sounds good with honey. Great recipe loved by all, so simple to make and tasty.
Choclette
26th February 2020 at 8:47 amHoney is so good at adding complex flavours to dishes. I love the stuff.
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder
26th February 2020 at 10:00 amOh wow Choclette this sauce sounds fantastic! I’m a huge blood orange fan and get them almost weekly in my organic fruit and veg box throughout the season and love them but it would have not cross my mind to make caramel sauce with them, genius! I will just have to make it now, won’t I, just to make sure it really works 😉
Choclette
26th February 2020 at 12:16 pmOoh blood oranges every week. How fabulous. Please do make it and let me know how it went. We finished this jar off last night. Spread it on pancakes which we then rolled up. They were so good.
Priya Srinivasan
26th February 2020 at 4:16 pmWow, that sauce sounds really yumm! love your description about the sauce, i would definitely love to try this sauce when i find these pretty blood oranges!!!
Choclette
26th February 2020 at 5:09 pmThank you Priya. I hope you find them soon. The season is a fairly short one.
Leslie
26th February 2020 at 7:56 pmI’m loving the idea of putting this on ice cream! Flavor sounds amazing! I’m also really intrigued by your spicy orange brownies!
Choclette
27th February 2020 at 7:18 amIt has a fabulous flavour and makes a nice change from salted caramel. The brownies are lush too.
Corina Blum
27th February 2020 at 12:29 pmI can see this being really popular in our house! It looks so good and I know my kids would devour it on ice cream!
Choclette
27th February 2020 at 6:00 pmThe adult kid in this house devoured it even without the ice cream. But it is very good.
Jenny Walters
27th February 2020 at 3:02 pmWhat a lovely sounding combo! My husband would love this I’m sure. Lovely pics too x
Choclette
27th February 2020 at 6:01 pmThanks Jenny. Are you not a caramel fan?
Louise Fairweather
27th February 2020 at 7:55 pmOh this sounds amazing!
Choclette
29th February 2020 at 5:25 pmIt’s really good Louise and really easy to make.
Chloe
1st March 2020 at 4:03 pmOh this looks absolutely gorgeous!