Chocolate caramel
A cooked-sugar centre in a chocolate shell. Keeps far longer than a ganache, which is why it dominates boxed selections.
What it is
Caramel fillings are cooked sugar with cream and butter, taken to a temperature that determines whether the result is a flowing sauce or a chewy solid. Unlike a fresh cream ganache, the sugar concentration is high enough to make caramel shelf-stable for months.
That is why caramel is so dominant in commercial boxed chocolates and why a caramel selection travels and gifts better than a truffle one. Salted caramel works on the same mechanism as salted chocolate: sodium suppresses bitterness and lifts perceived sweetness.
- Category kind
- A confection form — this describes how it was constructed
- Legal status
- Industry convention, not a legal definition
- Also called
- caramel filling, salted caramel chocolate
- Flavour families
- caramel, sweet
- Texture
- creamy, smooth
What the percentage means here
Refers to the shell chocolate, which is a minority of the piece.
Working with it
Cook temperature determines set: lower for a flowing caramel, higher for a chewy one. A caramel that will not set was not taken far enough.
Related
Pairs with
Commonly confused with
- Chocolate fudgeBoth are cooked sugar confections carrying chocolate. Fudge is crystallised on purpose and cuts firm; caramel is held amorphous and stays chewy.
Techniques that work with this
- Making chocolate caramelA sugar cook with chocolate added at the end. The temperature the caramel reaches decides whether it pours, chews or snaps.
Sources
- ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)