Sonal Ved■ ht.cafe@hindustantimes.com

Salted caramel has slowlyclimbed its way upfrom being anovelty that

was available only at five-star buffets tosomething that you nowfind at most city dessert outlets. It’s clearly the hotnew thing to try, and isbeing stocked in jars, soldat supermarkets, pipedonto cakes, pushed intodoughnuts and evenswirled with our coffees.

What differentiates itfrom regular caramel isthat, apart from being madewith sugar (like anycaramel is), the ambersauce is hinted with a fatpinch of salt. The salt usedcan be kosher, sea salt,table salt or fleur de sel —a French speciality.

According toKiran Salaskar, ownerof Mumbai-based bakery and gourmetstore Country ofOrigin, “Sincesaltedcaramelsaucehas a wellroundedflavour andis a perfect balance of sweetness andsalinity, it has found many takers.”Salaskar’s Napean SeaRoad bakery was one ofthe first to make use of salted caramel sauce in itsdesserts in March last year.

So we went on a desserthunt in the city, looking forthe best varieties madeusing salted caramel. Hereare five that you just haveto check out.

05Mumbai, Monday, February 25, 2013

htcafé city

WHAT: Salted Caramel VerrinWHERE: Yauatcha, Bandra Kurla Complex

Tall, dark and handsome’ gets a new meaning with a glassful of thisdessert. Verrin is a dessert of French origin and stands for

anything that comes layered in a mould. At this dim-sum and teahouse, the confectionery comes set in highball glasses and has multiple layers. Its bottom-most pit is filled with crumbs of hazelnutbrownie followed by a rocky layer of pounded peanuts. To balance outthese crunchy elements, the chef then tops it with a coat of smooth,salted caramel sauce that is brown and sweet with a salty overturn.And this is not the only savoury element in the dish. The dessert alsohas piquant pieces of gingerbread and a spicy cremeux (cream saucespiked with cardamom, star anise and cinnamon). Together, the elements work to take the sweet edge off the verrin and give it anaftertaste to remember.

PRICE: R175 CONTACT: 2644 8888

WHAT:SaltedCaramel CupcakeWHERE: Not Just Desserts bySabina, Wadala

Cupcakes are no longer a novelty. So the best way to

wow your audience is to servethem in unheard-of flavours.One such is baker SabinaGupta’s salted caramel cup-cake. The dessert is set on aregular base of chocolate cakebut the frosting sets it apart.Made by whisking together salt-ed caramel with butter cream,the brown icing is sweet with anovertly salty aftertaste. Theswirl has a topping of crispy, concentratedcaramel sheets that create textural contrast and elevate thesavouriness of the dessert.Apart from cupcakes, Not JustDesserts also sells saltedcaramel pudding set in little jars.

PRICE: R70 per cupcake andR300 per jarCONTACT: 2418 0655

WHAT:Salted Caramel Cake andMacaroons WHERE: Le 15 Patisserie, Elphinstone Road

If you are turning older, why shouldn’t your birthdaycake too? Keeping this in mind, baker Pooja Dhingra

has notched up the cake-cutting experience by making it more adult-like. To add a touch of unique-ness, she fuses chewy sheets of salted caramelbetween layers of chocolate sponge and ganache. Inessence, the caramel layer tastes exactly like mou (apopular French toffee made by cooking sugar). It’sthen flavoured with fleur de sel. The final cake comesgarnished with pieces of roasted almonds that play upthe textural drama by adding crunchiness. Apart fromcake, Le 15 Patisserie uses salt to flavour their chocolate and caramel tarts and sea salt macaroons.

PRICE: R650 for 500 gm of salted caramel cake, R95 per tart and R60 per macaroon.CONTACT: 97692 86544, 98204 87727

PHOTO: KUNAL PATIL

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WITH A PINCHOFSALT

Saccharine-sweetdesserts are passé.This season, makeroom for sweetsthat come lacedwith salted caramel sauce

Golden Dragon, with itsclaims of being India’sfirst authentic Sichuan

restaurant, has just turned 40.In four decades, Taj MahalPalace’s signature restauranthas made a mark on India’sculinary scene. To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the eaterywill revive some of its oldfavourites and classics such asthe Song of the Dragon, MapoTofu and Chocolate Dimsums.For further information, call 6665 3272.

Golden Dragon turns 40AROUNDTOWN

WHAT: Salted Caramel andCookie Dough JarWHERE: Country Of Origin, Napean Sea Road

Whether you are having a movie night withyour girl gang or getting over a bad break-up,

give ice cream tubs a ditch and grab a dessertjar instead. Filled to the brim with lethal layers of cookies, cream and salted caramel sauce, thejar from Country Of Origin cheers you up in notime. While the first two layers of this dessert(cookies and cream) are tame and cloyinglysweet, the last one is wild, sel-hinted caramelsauce. The dessert has a portion size that isgood enough for four people and is also available in an eggless version.

PRICE: R750 per jar CONTACT: 2364 2221

WHAT:Salted CaramelWaffles WHERE: Fenix, The OberoiMumbai, Nariman Point

It’s not a Sunday unless it is spentlazing around a lavish brunch buf-

fet. Available as part of Fenix’sweekend spread, the SaltedCaramel Waffles are quite the showstealers. While the morning cake istypically served with maple syrup orhoney, at Fenix, it comes with a driz-zle of deep, brown and brinycaramel emulsion. The additiongives patrons a chance to dig intosomething unique and providesrespite from typical accompani-ments. Height-wise, the waffles area storey shorter than the fluffyBelgian variety, but their taste and pairing makes the biteworthwhile.

PRICE: R375CONTACT: 6632 6205

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PHOTO: PRODIP GUHA