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Whatever your thoughts on Valentine’s Day (i.e. Celebration of Love or Hallmark Manufactured Holiday), it just wouldn’t be celebration at all without something sweet. From my milk chocolate loving mother to my ice cream hound of a father, everyone I love seems to have a sweet tooth even if it hides deep and buried away from view.
My boyfriend, for instance, can go weeks without dessert, standing strong in the face of temptation whether strolling by the latest neighborhood cupcake store or being plied with an architecturally designed finish to a fancy meal from the latest hot restaurant. But no matter how easy he seems to find dessert abstinence, put a bag of black licorice in front of him and it will disappear in mere minutes.
With sweet tooths seeming to have near universal existence, it is no wonder that one of our favorite ways to express love and romance is through sinfully saccharin desserts. For the ultimate romantic gesture then, it would make sense to cook your love’s favorite sweet. Then again, it may be nice in thought but less wise in practice; Jacques Torres probably makes chocolate truffles better than you or I ever will and black licorice is probably best left to all those experts in Australia.
But there is a simple solution for those of us less adept in the pastry arts, a way to gussy up everything from simple cookies to store bought cake or even a dish of ice cream. The answer is simply sauce.
There is really no need to buy caramel or chocolate sauce from the store when all you really need is ten minutes in the kitchen and a decent ability to focus on the stove. Sweet sauces like “Salted Caramel” and “Chocolate Ganache” sound about a hundred times more difficult than they are. And yet each of these sauces form the base of many sweets and can turn a basic dessert into something fabulous.
Take ganache. This is no more than chocolate melted with heavy cream. And yet a smooth ganache can turn a plain chocolate cake instantly elegant when poured over the top. Cooled, spooned, and rolled, ganache goes from sauce to truffle. And when imagination fails, nothing makes an ice cream sundae more delicious than a good scoop doused in rich chocolate.
Like the ganache, magic sauce number two, caramel, is pretty basic: sugar, water, butter, and cream. Add some flaky sea salt in at the end and you have the latest salty-sweet dessert trend. Once the sauce has cooled, proceed to dip apple slices, swirl in pretzel sticks, or eat it straight out of the jar. Spoon that sauce over a vanilla pudding and you have a dessert worthy of a fancy restaurant. If pudding sounds like too much work, there is always vanilla ice cream.
When it comes to sweets, there is a little dessert loving kid in everyone we love. Sometimes that kid wants fancy chocolates, sometimes black licorice. But everyone loves sweets, just a little, just enough that a simple sauce of chocolate ganache or salted caramel might be enough to guarantee a yes, to the Hallmark-age old question, Will you be my Valentine?
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1228-sweet-tooths/
Just a Little Bit Sweet
Whatever your thoughts on Valentine’s Day (i.e. Celebration of Love or Hallmark Manufactured Holiday), it just wouldn’t be celebration at all without something sweet. From my milk chocolate loving mother to my ice cream hound of a father, everyone I love seems to have a sweet tooth even if it hides deep and buried away from view.
My boyfriend, for instance, can go weeks without dessert, standing strong in the face of temptation whether strolling by the latest neighborhood cupcake store or being plied with an architecturally designed finish to a fancy meal from the latest hot restaurant. But no matter how easy he seems to find dessert abstinence, put a bag of black licorice in front of him and it will disappear in mere minutes.
With sweet tooths seeming to have near universal existence, it is no wonder that one of our favorite ways to express love and romance is through sinfully saccharin desserts. For the ultimate romantic gesture then, it would make sense to cook your love’s favorite sweet. Then again, it may be nice in thought but less wise in practice; Jacques Torres probably makes chocolate truffles better than you or I ever will and black licorice is probably best left to all those experts in Australia.
But there is a simple solution for those of us less adept in the pastry arts, a way to gussy up everything from simple cookies to store bought cake or even a dish of ice cream. The answer is simply sauce.
There is really no need to buy caramel or chocolate sauce from the store when all you really need is ten minutes in the kitchen and a decent ability to focus on the stove. Sweet sauces like “Salted Caramel” and “Chocolate Ganache” sound about a hundred times more difficult than they are. And yet each of these sauces form the base of many sweets and can turn a basic dessert into something fabulous.
Take ganache. This is no more than chocolate melted with heavy cream. And yet a smooth ganache can turn a plain chocolate cake instantly elegant when poured over the top. Cooled, spooned, and rolled, ganache goes from sauce to truffle. And when imagination fails, nothing makes an ice cream sundae more delicious than a good scoop doused in rich chocolate.
Like the ganache, magic sauce number two, caramel, is pretty basic: sugar, water, butter, and cream. Add some flaky sea salt in at the end and you have the latest salty-sweet dessert trend. Once the sauce has cooled, proceed to dip apple slices, swirl in pretzel sticks, or eat it straight out of the jar. Spoon that sauce over a vanilla pudding and you have a dessert worthy of a fancy restaurant. If pudding sounds like too much work, there is always vanilla ice cream.
When it comes to sweets, there is a little dessert loving kid in everyone we love. Sometimes that kid wants fancy chocolates, sometimes black licorice. But everyone loves sweets, just a little, just enough that a simple sauce of chocolate ganache or salted caramel might be enough to guarantee a yes, to the Hallmark-age old question, Will you be my Valentine?
Serves/Makes: 2 cups
- 1 cup vanilla sugar (sugar that has been sitting with a vanilla bean for awhile) or regular sugar
- 2 tablespoons corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons water
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in cubes
- 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt
Place sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium heavy pan over medium heat. Stir to combine once the sugar starts to melt, then do not stir again.
Watch vigilantly for the next 6-10 minutes while the sugar changes color. Use a pastry brush dipped in water to wash down any sugar crystals that form on the side of the pan. The sugar will turn dark brown rather suddenly.
Remove from heat immediately and whisk in the heavy cream. Whisk in butter. Stir in sea salt. If clumps have formed, consider pouring it through a fine mesh strainer before transferring to a jar or container.
Let cool in the refrigerator before using.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1228-sweet-tooths/