Hard Sauce

Sometimes a cake doesn’t need frosting; it needs sauce. A smooth, sweet and buttery one that tastes like warmth on a cool day. That’s what this hard sauce recipe is all about. Something to note about this recipe is that traditional British hard sauce contains alcohol, which is why it’s called “hard.” Minus the two flavored extracts this is a non-alcoholic version. Skip them if you need a completely alcohol-free version.  Hard sauce traditionally contains brandy, rum or whiskey but this recipe substitutes it with rum extract, nutmeg, allspice and vanilla extract to give it flavor. It’s simple to make and is a very nice topping for spice or fruit cakes.

Hard Sauce Ingredients

• Sugar: White sugar lets the other flavors shine in this sauce.
• All-purpose flour: This will help the recipe thicken as it cooks.
• Spices: Nutmeg and allspice give this recipe a very warm flavor that goes well with cake.
• Butter: The butter makes the texture of the sauce much smoother in addition to adding that lovely buttery flavor.
• Rum and vanilla extracts: Both of these extracts add flavor, but the rum extract especially makes this sauce taste a little more like a traditional alcohol-based sauce. Keep in mind that most extracts contain a small amount of alcohol, so look for extracts that use other base ingredients like oil if you need a completely alcohol-free version.

Directions

Step 1: Heat up the ingredients to make the sauce

Danielle Moore for Taste of Home

Combine the sugar, flour, nutmeg, allspice and some water in a small saucepan and mix until the combination is smooth. Bring the combination to a boil and then cook and stir for about two minutes, until the combination has thickened. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the butter plus the rum and vanilla extracts.

Hard Sauce Variations

Danielle Moore for Taste of Home

• Make a traditional British hard sauce: If you want to try a more traditional hard sauce that contains alcohol, change the sugar to 1-1/2 cups of powdered sugar and use a full stick of butter; omit the other ingredients and substitute a couple of tablespoons of brandy, whiskey or rum. A stand mixer or hand mixer makes this version a lot easier to complete. You can add a little vanilla extract if you wish.

How to Store Hard Sauce

Pour the remaining sauce into an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to three to four days. Make sure it is cooled down.

Can you freeze hard sauce?

You can freeze the leftover sauce. Just keep an eye on it while thawing or reheating it; you don’t want the butter to separate. Try spooning the leftovers into large ice cube compartments and then storing the frozen sauce cubes in a freezer-safe bag. Use within three months.

Hard Sauce Tips

Danielle Moore for Taste of Home

What can you serve this hard sauce with?

Cake is the best base for this sauce. Try serving it with unfrosted spice cake or bread pudding; it’s also a good topping for fruit cake. Keep in mind that it is perishable so once the cake or pudding is covered in the sauce, you’ll need to refrigerate the cake even if you were able to store it at room temperature before adding the sauce.

Can you use brown sugar instead of white sugar?

Using brown sugar only will change the flavor, so you might want to start out using a combination first. Try making the recipe as is and then use a quarter brown sugar and three quarters white sugar the next time you make it. If you like how the taste has changed, try a 50-50 split the next time.

Does it matter if the butter is salted or unsalted?

It matters if the butter is heavily salted. Some brands have a very detectable salty flavor; these are better for using on, say, buttered toast where a little salt doesn’t hurt. However, unsalted butter is better for recipes like this where you want a buttery taste but not a salty taste. Salted butter could work in a pinch if it is all you have. Always try the butter first to see how salty it is.