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Salted Caramel Pie with Chocolate Sauce!

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This Salted Caramel Pie is very easy to make & doesn’t require a sugar thermometer.  The yin-yang flavour combination of the salted caramel is further enhanced with the dark chocolate pieces peppered through the biscuit base and the 2 ingredient chocolate sauce to serve.  It can be made ahead of time making it the perfect dessert for dinner parties!

 

An easy Salted Caramel Pie recipe, served with a dark chocolate sauce.

This week’s GBBO episode centred around the sweet luscious treat of caramel, a first for the series.  There were enough millionaires slices with thick layers of homemade caramel to keep those with a sweet tooth very happy!

The bakers in the GBBO tent were charged with making a caramel for their signature bake of 18 millionaires slices which were firm enough to hold their shape, but not too firm for it to become chewy when eaten.  It was clearly quite a technical challenge with the vast majority of them using a sugar thermometer, waiting for the mixture to reach soft ball stage.

But what if I tell you that the caramel in this Salted Caramel Pie recipe is really easy to make, and that it holds its shape without having to boil the sugar and cream mixture to a precise temperature, with your fingers crossed hoping that the caramel filling doesn’t ooze out in front of your dinner guests once it’s sliced into!

Are you ready to learn the secret of this easy homemade Salted Caramel Pie?  And when I tell you, feel free to share it with your friends and family, or even shout it from the roof tops!

How to make a salted caramel pie


It’s all down to the wonders of Dr Oetker’s Vege-Gel!

Dr Oetker’s Vege-Gel, as the name suggests, is a vegetarian powder which has the ability to set one pint of liquid (570ml) quickly and easily.  Living in a vegetarian household, it’s a product that I’m familiar with and have used in a number of sweet and savoury bakes which feature here on Only Crumbs Remain, from our Bilberry & White Chocolate Baked Cheesecake and Mini Trifle Cakes to our Vegetarian ‘Pork’ Pies and Vegetarian ‘Game’ Pie.

How to make a cheat's salted caramel pie

So when the lovely people at Dr Oetker contacted me to ask if I’d like to make one of their many recipes using Dr Oetker’s Vege-Gel I jumped at the chance, because I know that it’s such a great product.  They very kindly supplied me with some of their Vege-Gel to allow me to make this recipe, and they’re also being incredibly generous by bundling up a fantastic range of vegetarian baking products which I shall be offering to one of you lovely readers via a giveaway next week!  We’re calling it the Dr Oetker’s Baking Bundle and it’s perfect for all sorts of baking activities.

So do remember to call back next week!

Of course, being made with a gelling agent does give this Salted Caramel Pie a firmer consistency, but the ease at which it is made means that it’s perfect for those special meals and dinner parties.  One of the qualities of Vege-Gel is that it sets quite quickly, meaning you have to be organised during the bake.  But for me, that simply means the dessert can be served quicker than had an animal based gelatine been used!  I for one am all in favour of that!

Serve a salted caramel pie with a dark chocolate sauce

I’m sure you know that salted caramel is incredibly in vogue at the moment.  Although the sweet caramel and ‘salty’ salt are complete opposites with regard to flavour, it is this yin-yang effect which tantalises the taste buds bringing people back for more!

And although the original recipe doesn’t include any chocolate, I felt that the flavour sensation would be further enhanced with the introduction of dark chocolate.  It’s peppered through the crushed biscuit base and is also used in a two ingredient chocolate sauce!  If you’re not convinced about the dark chocolate, just think about the component parts of a Twix or millionaires slice, for instance.  Regular readers of Only Crumbs Remain may know that both Mr E and I aren’t huge fans of dark chocolate but Dr Oetker’s Dark Chocolate made with 54% cocoa solids was the perfect solution, being able to cut through the sweetness of the caramel without being too dark and bitter for our taste buds.

Cheat's Salted Caramel Pie recipe

So, here’s how to make a Salted Caramel Pie served with a chocolate sauce!

 

print recipe

Salted Caramel Pie with a Chocolate Sauce
by Only Crumbs Remain     September-21-2017
This Salted Caramel Pie is really easy to make, and doesn’t require
a sugar thermometer.  The yin-yang flavour combination of the salted
caramel is further enhanced with the dark chocolate pieces peppered through the
biscuit base and the 2 ingredient chocolate sauce to serve.  It can be
made ahead of time making it the perfect dessert for dinner parties!

Details

Hand on time: 30 mins Cook time: 0 mins + chilling time             Yield: 1 x 20cm or 22cm pie, serves 8

Specific Equipment
20cm or 22cm diameter Loose Bottom Tart Case (see note a below)
Heavy Based Pan

Ingredients

For the Biscuit Base

  • 240g Digestive Biscuits
  • 120g Lightly Salted Butter + extra for greasing
  • 60g Dark Chocolate (such as Dr Oetker’s 54% Cocoa mass) (optional)

For the Caramel Filling

  • 250ml Cold Water
  • 1 (6.5g) Dr Oetker’s Vege-Gel Sachet
  • 60ml Cold Water
  • 125g Caster Sugar
  • 30ml Golden Syrup
  • 50g Salted Butter
  • 100ml Double Cream
  • pinch of Sea Salt Flakes, to decorate

For the Chocolate Sauce (optional)

Method
1. Prepare the pie tin. Grease and fully line the tart case.2. Make the biscuit base. Finely crush the biscuits. Chop the chocolate. Melt the butter. Place the biscuit crumbs into a bowl and pour the melted butter over the top. Stir with a wooden spoon until the all the biscuit crumbs are coated with butter. Add the chopped chocolate and stir again. 3. Fill the prepared pie tin. Pour the buttery crumbs into the pie tin and press them down well to cover the base and 3-4cm up the sides using the back of a teaspoon or your knuckles. 4. Chill. Place the pie tin into the fridge and chill until required, or for at least 30 minutes.5. Prepare the vege-gel. Pour 250ml cold water into a jug. Add the vege-gel powder and stir. Set aside.6. Start to make the caramel filling. Put the sugar and golden syrup into a heavy based pan. Add 60ml of water. Place on the hob over a low heat allowing the sugar to slowly melt. Once the sugar has melted increase the heat to allow the sweet mixture to boil. Cook for around 5 – 8 minutes until it is a rich golden caramel colour.  Avoid stirring the mixture during this stage.7. Continue with the caramel filling. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the butter and cream. TAKE CARE! The coldness of the butter and cream will cause the hot sugar mixture to bubble up the pan. Stir until well blended.8. Set the caramel. Pour the vege-gel mixture into the caramel and mix well. Return the pan to the hob over a medium heat. Stir continuously until the mixture begins to boil.9. Fill the biscuit case. Gently pour the caramel into the prepared tart case (see notes b & c below). Work quickly as the jelly mixture will soon begin to set. Set aside and once completely cool place into the fridge for 2 hours before serving. 10. Make the chocolate sauce (optional).  Pour the cream into a small pan and set over a medium heat.  Allow the cream to heat through but avoid letting it boil. Meanwhile chop the chocolate into small pieces.  Place into a bowl.  Pour the heated cream over the chocolate.  Use a teaspoon to stir the sauce. Gradually the chocolate will melt and the sauce will become smooth.  Once the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth, set aside to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.11. Serve. Remove the salted caramel pie from the pie case carefully. Allow the crumbly biscuits to fall around the edge of the set caramel jelly. Slide the pie onto a serving plate. Sprinkle over a few flakes of sea salt just before serving. 12. Enjoy either with pouring cream or chocolate sauce.
Notes: a) We didn’t have a suitable pie tin to hand so used a 20cm springform cake tin which made removing the set tart quite easy.  Avoid using a pie case with a scalloped edge.  b) To avoid disturbing too much of the biscuit base beneath, pour the caramel over the back of a large metal or wooden spoon.   c) If there are one or two bubbles on the surface of the caramel after filling the pie dish quickly pop then with a cake skewer or the handle of a spoon before the caramel jelly begins to set.  d) Caramel is very hot, do ensure animal, babies, children and other vulnerable people are kept safe when making caramel.

 

 

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  2. Kirsty Hijacked By Twins

    September 26, 2017 at 4:04 pm

    Oh. My. Goodness!!! Angela this looks epic!!! I absolutely adore salted caramel so this would be the perfect pie for me and as nobody else here likes it I would have it all to myself! Thank you for sharing this epic dessert with #CookBlogShare x

    Reply

  4. Recipes Made Easy

    September 25, 2017 at 2:22 pm

    This looks amazing and I love the idea of not having to faff about making the caramel which i have to admit can be tricky. And who doesnt like salted caramel with chocolate.

    Pictures as usual look stunning too.

    Reply

  6. Jenny

    September 24, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    seriously good looking pie Angela. I love the look of it, with that crust all up the sides and the salted caramel with the chocolate mmmmm! I would love to try a slice. I have never tried vege-gel but it has made for a lovely firm filling. gorgeous photos as always too
    thank you for linking up with #GBBOBloggers2017 x

    Reply

  9. Johanna GGG

    September 22, 2017 at 11:51 am

    caramel and chocolate are made for each other – this looks wonderful and it is interesting to see you use vege-gel – I think I have some but never used it as I am so out of the habit of using gelatine that I never think to use this instead

    Reply

    • Angela - Only Crumbs Remain

      September 24, 2017 at 8:16 am

      Chocolate & Caramel are definitely a match made in heaven aren't they! Ooh you should definitely did out that vege-gel Johanna, it's such a great product and a far nicer thought to use in baking than an animal based gelatine! Though I must say, if you've never used vege-gel before, it does work differently to gelatine.
      Angela x

      Reply