Watch the web story for my Absolute Best Hot Fudge Sauce, you guys!

What makes this the best?

This ice cream sauce is not the best because it has the fewest ingredients. No, that prize goes to good old ganache which makes a fine ice cream topping, clocking in at 2 or maybe 3 ingredients.

If you’re looking for good, old-fashioned hot fudge sauce, though, you need look no further.

Here are the things that make this fudge sauce the best:

• It gets a thick and a bit chewy when cold.
• You have to heat up in order to pour it.
• It has deep, rich flavor that is exactly what is needed to set off a perfect vanilla ice cream. Or coffee ice cream.
• There is enough salt in it to round out the flavors, counteract any bitterness that might be present if you use a really dark chocolate and to make the sauce sparkle on your tongue.
• You can vary the flavor based on your preferences.

It is truly an old fashioned fudge sauce with deep, rich chocolate flavor.

Rave review

Laura Schrock made this recipe and shared her photo on Instagram!

I am so excited that she made and loved it, and I know you’ll love it too!

Ingredients and Substitutions

NOTE: Please keep scrolling down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe. In this section, I’m just letting you know what you’ll need.

The ingredient list is actually relatively long, but the process is pretty straightforward. Here’s what you’ll need:

• butter: the fat helps to carry the flavor and provide body. If you don’t have unsalted butter, use salted, but you may have to dial back amount of additional salt you use
• sugar: provides the sweetness and helps to give the sauce the traditional “chewy” texture of old time soda fountain hot fudge sauce. You can substitute light brown sugar, 1:1, if you would rather
• corn syrup: light or dark. Helps to prevent crystallization and provides more of the chewy texture we’re going for
• heavy cream: provides body and volume as well as additional milk fat. The dairy solids in the cream will brown as you cook the base, adding to flavor complexity
• salt: enhances the flavor and counteracts any bitterness from the cocoa powder
• milk: provides more volume without adding much additional fat. Also adds more dairy solids that will brown as they cook
• cocoa powder: provides the chocolate flavor. Use the best quality you can get, although honestly any will do. I make mine with Hershey’s and it’s fantastic
• water (or coffee): gives you something to make the cocoa powder paste with. If you use coffee, it will help to deepen the chocolate flavor just a touch
• light rum: adds enough alcohol to bring out alcohol soluble flavors without being a prominent flavor itself. You can certainly sub in your favorite liquor or liqueur here, depending on what flavor you’re going for
• vanilla: chocolate’s complement. Must have! You don’t have to use the top quality stuff, but adding vanilla helps to round out the flavors
• semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate: adds additional chocolate flavor plus some cocoa butter for body

Procedure

The process for making this sauce is pretty straightforward:

1. Bring butter, sugar, corn syrup, heavy cream, salt, and milk to a boil.
2. Whisk cocoa powder, rum, water (coffee) and vanilla into a paste.
3. Add the chopped chocolate/chocolate chips to a bowl along with the cocoa paste.
4. Let the sugar/milk mixture boil until a light caramel color, stirring frequently.
5. Pour the caramelized sugar/milk mixture into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Whisk until smooth.
6. Strain and store.

Fudge Sauce Variations

This sauce can be flavored in many ways. Here are some ideas to try:

• Add a bit of orange zest and/or cinnamon to the boil
• Switch out the rum for orange liqueur.
• Use your favorite alcohol-a liquor or liqueur.
• Add some peppermint extract.
• Whisk in powdered freeze-dried raspberries or other freeze-dried fruits.
• Add some heat in the form of chipotle pepper or smoked hot paprika

Play with this sauce and make it your own.

When you want to relive your visits to the soda fountain where the fudge sauce was thick and rich and tasted of fudge and not “brown,” then please make it according to the original recipe which calls for light rum and vanilla.

Tools and equipment you might need

I always advocate for weighing your ingredients. It allows for consistent results. I love my Escali Primo and after 17 years, it is still going strong.

You’ll also need a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan, a nice large bowl for mixing up the cocoa paste, and a fine mesh strainer.

Pros and Cons of Making the Best Hot Fudge Sauce

Pros

• Rich chocolate flavor
• Old-fashioned fudge sauce “chewiness” mouthfeel
• Thick enough to coat your ice cream (or whatever) with a generous amount of fudge sauce
• Use any alcohol that goes well with chocolate, or leave out the alcohol and use coffee instead
• You probably have everything you need to make this sauce

Cons

• This sauce takes about 30 minutes to make. If you want a quick hot fudge sauce, this isn’t the recipe for you.

Serving Suggestions

Aside from pouring it over ice cream, you can also use the sauce to make chocolate milk or hot chocolate. Just stir enough into hot or cold milk until you like the chocolate-ness level and enjoy.

Here are some other ideas:

• Top a cheesecake with it
• Serve it with cake or drizzle it over an iced cake to get that “drip” effect
• Use it as the fudge layer in my chocolate cheesecake pie (Please do this!)
• Use it to layer with soft ice cream before freezing to make a swirled ice cream
• Top an ice cream mud pie like my friend Laura did
• Make chocolate pound cake or some fudgy brownies, top with a scoop of ice cream, and then drench the whole shebang with fudge sauce
• Please pour it over this French vanilla ice cream. I implore you!
• Even though you might want to eat it straight from a spoon, consider making some chocolate pudding instead!

Why is there alcohol in this ice cream sauce?

Even just a bit of alcohol, whether it be rum or Kahlua or Godiva chocolate or whatever, brings out the alcohol soluble flavors that would otherwise remain locked away.

The entire recipe, and it makes just over a quart, uses only 2 Tablespoons of alcohol. You can’t taste it, but you would miss it were it not there.

Hot Fudge Sauce Q & A

Do I have to caramelize the dairy mixture?

No, you don’t. But if you don’t take the 20-30 minutes to cook the dairy until it has caramelized, you will not have made the best hot fudge sauce in the world.

You will have made a very good one, but it won’t be the best.

Caramelizing the sugar/dairy does a couple of things:

• It evaporates out some of the water, concentrating the flavor and allowing for a thicker sauce and that old-fashioned chewy texture that is so incredibly addictive.
• The caramelized sugar and milk solids lend a deep, complex base flavor that you would not get if you don’t take this step.

What Temperature Should I Cook the Dairy To?

Reader Lindsey was kind enough to take the temperature of her dairy as it caramelized.

For her, the magic temperature was just shy of 235F (soft ball) stage.

Shoot for between 228F-234F, depending on how thick you want it to be when it cools.

So if you don’t want to go by color, use your instant-read thermometer and cook to Lindsey’s recommendation. (Thank you, Lindsey!

Pro Tip

The hotter you cook your sauce, the thicker it will be upon cooling. Cook to about 220-225F to have a thick but still liquid sauce when it cools. Cook up to about 234F to have a more “solid” fudge sauce once it cools.Unless you plan on eating it straight from the jar with a spoon, always reheat the sauce before serving.

Can’t I just buy some at the store?

Well, yes, you could. And I’m sure you can find one you really like.

However, I encourage you to make your own. If you don’t have time to boil a big old pot of ingredients on the stove for a long time, you can just make some ganache.

I also recommend trying my Quick Hot Fudge Sauce Recipe that takes a couple of shortcuts to get to long-cooked flavor in way less time.

You could also try this great quickie version from my friend Chris. It’s an excellent blender hot fudge sauce, so it comes together super fast.

And if you want to go really old school, make some chocolate syrup. I swear it is So Good either on ice cream or in chocolate milk.

Enough talk! Please go and make some of this sauce. And then come back and tell me how much you love it. Make a sundae, and don’t forget to put the cherry on top. I promise you will feel just like a kid again.

If you have any questions about this recipe or any baking/pastry issues, please get in touch. You can comment here, or shoot me an email. I promise to get back in touch quickly. Honest!

Questions?

If you have questions about this post or recipe, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can leave a comment on the post and I will get back to you within about 24 hours.

If your question is more urgent, please shoot me an email, and I will respond within 4 hours, unless I’m asleep.

A Note About Measurements

NOTE: Most of my recipes are written by weight and not volume, even the liquids. Even though I try to provide you with volume measurements as well, I encourage you to buy a kitchen scale for ease of measuring, accuracy, and consistency.

This is the scale I use, love, and recommend:

Thank you for spending some time with me today.

Enjoy the fudge sauce, and have a lovely day.