THIS PHOTOGRAPH: ANDY GRIMSHAW. FOOD STYLING: ALICE OSTAN
As it comes, white chocolate can be a bit bland in flavour, simply serving creamy (some say cloying) sweetness with a hint of vanilla. Caramelising it, however, transforms it into something far greater. The sugars turn to caramel, the colour turns to gold and the flavour turns toasty, nutty and, well, caramel-like.
If you’ve eaten any of the ‘gold’ chocolate bars out there, you’ll know how good it is, but you’ll also know how sweet it is, whereas white chocolate that’s been caramelised at home is slightly different – dare we say better? Manufactured gold chocolate bars tend to be a mixture of white chocolate and sugary caramel, rather than caramelising the sugars already present in the chocolate, hence caramelised white chocolate is slightly less sweet than its ready-made counterparts.