Caramel can split or separate for a variety of reasons. Fixing split or separated caramels is possible, but let’s discuss how it can happen in the first place. By doing so, hopefully you can prevent it in the future! For those that don’t know what this means, it’s when the oils and fats separate and leave an oily mass on top. Some reasons this can happen is as follows:

• If the recipe has incorrect fat ratios. This is more common now with amateur sharing recipes when they don’t understand the science involved in cooking. Be wary of those that promise a lot less sugar than the standard ratio. Caramel can only be so healthy. Start out with a solid recipe like this one.
• You don’t stir constantly like the recipe calls. This is common with those that use canned milks or lower fat. Heavy creams are less likely to split.
• The temperature either drops or rises too quickly. Strong shifts in temperature is never good for candy making. You risk things like splitting, grainy texture, crystallization and burning. Low and slow is best with candy making until you have a lot more experience.
• Heating the milk or cream too fast which causes the whey proteins to break down too quickly. Let things mellow a while on a low and slow heat.
• Lastly, no matter the cause of your broken caramel, there is hope!

Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, something goes wrong.  I made caramels and I poured in the cream just a little too fast or didn’t stir enough and it split the butter and sugar into a…well disgusting mass.  Fixing split or separated caramels can be done. So don’t despair!

I could have cried and threw it out like I wanted to and have in the past. It was pretty gross looking.  Like a serious curdled mess.  I took a bite of the cooled part and it still tasted like caramel. To this day, I still can’t believe I ate a bite of that goopy mess!

Since the caramel still tasted wonderful, I played around with it after I let it set and cool enough to handle. I knew from past experience reheating the caramel risked even further separation as the whey proteins were already very weak so that was out of the question.

What if I tried stirring it? Nope, that didn’t work. The oils just sat on top. Then I thought: what if I knead it like dough?  It was quite sticky and oily at first.  And looked a bit like stretchy curdled milk.  But then something magical started to happen.  It became silky and taffy like.  As I folded, squished and stretched, it took on a nice sheen and came together. It wasn’t perfect caramel, but it was very decent caramel at this point.

I spread it on a sheet and let it sit until it finished cooling. And it worked.  The split caramel is not a nice solid, piece of candy.  Give it a go next time your caramel splits.  Worst case scenario, you already thought you had to start over.  Fixing split or separated caramels is worth at least trying. After all, it’s very possible you can fix yours this way, too!