Homemade Old Fashioned Hot Fudge Sauce

Homemade hot fudge on ice cream is one of life’s guilty pleasures. This recipe is very easy to make and the results are classic Americana. This is what hot fudge sauce tasted like at every corner ice cream shop before the days of processed convenience. The flavor is easy to control.  I sometimes make this Mexican Style Hot Fudge Sauce by adding a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne pepper. You can play around with this sauce to make your very own creation by adding orange extract, zest or Grand Marnier, peppermint extract, or even instant espresso grounds for a deeper, earthier rich fudge flavor. Begin by preparing it in this basic way to get the flavor profile and then add other ingredients if you wish, or keep it as it is.

Add all of the ingredients to a heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Stir occasionally until all the ingredients are mixed.

The sauce will come together pretty quickly. Once all of the ingredients are melted, the sauce is ready to use. For best results, remove the pan from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. The fudge sauce is best when slightly warm, not hot. For any leftovers, store in a airtight container in the refrigerator. The sauce will become solid when cold, but you can microwave or quickly heat up the amount you need on the stove top.

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Homemade Old Fashioned Hot Fudge Sauce

This is a basic ice cream parlor hot fudge sauce. It is perfect on its own, but can be modified with any flavor you choose, such as rum, brandy, orange liquor, raspberry liquor or with chile pepper.

Course Dessert Sauce

Cuisine American

Keyword Hot Fudge Sauce

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Total Time 13 minutes minutes

Servings 12 people

Author David of Sunset & Sewanee

Ingredients

• 8 oz chocolate, unsweetened and chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup corn syrup, light
• 8 tbsp butter, unsalted salted or sweet cream butter can be substituted, just omit the salt at the end
• 1 tbsp vanilla, extract pure
• 1 tsp cinnamon, ground (optional) mexican or Vietnamese Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt, kosher
• 1 cup water

Instructions

• Add all of the ingredients to a medium size saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Cook, while stirring constantly with a metal whisk until the sauce comes together and is shiny and smooth. Reduce heat and keep warm. The sauce is ready to use. 
• You can save the leftovers by letting the sauce cool completely and storing in an airtight container. To warm up, microwave or heat in a small pan while stirring. Serve immediately.
  

Notes

For best results let the hot fudge actually cool down a little from off the stove. Traditionally served warm in old fashioned ice cream shops so it would not melt the ice cream too quickly. This sauce can be used on Bundt cakes, cupcakes and with brownies. It has a more limited use than most other recipes I've published, but I thought it would be good to get a baseline for hot fudge sauce. While this sauce is very delicious, I will publish more modern versions in the future.

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