This is my kind of hot fudge recipe. It's the kind of hot fudge sauce that gets deliciously sticky and chewy when poured over ice cream.

It's fantastic slightly heated and poured over vanilla ice cream (or caramel ice cream, or strawberry, or chocolate, or peanut butter, or... pretty much any flavor), but also try it on cheesecake or poured over pound cake.
Best of all, this homemade hot fudge sauce is incredibly easy.
You might never settle for store bought hot fudge sauce ever again.
Hot Fudge is a Building Block Recipe
Building block recipes are tried-and-true recipes that I consider foundational to great home baking. They are the kind of recipes I come back to over and over again, sometimes baking them as is, but often using them as a jumping off point to create something new. > Scroll through all Building Block recipes.
📖 Recipe
Hot Fudge Recipe
This homemade hot fudge sauce recipe is so good you might never settle for store bought hot fudge again. It's the kind of hot fudge sauce that gets deliciously sticky and chewy when poured over ice cream.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup granulate sugar
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup hot water
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- ¼ teaspoon white vinegar
- 4 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 4 tablespoon (½ cup) butter
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large, heavy bottom saucepan, stir the sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, salt and cinnamon with a wire whisk until blended.
- Slowly pour in the hot water, whisking until smooth. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring often. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream, corn syrup, vinegar and 2 ounces of the chocolate. Stir until smooth and then cook over medium-high heat until the syrup is thick and sticky and the surface is covered in small bubbles, about 225 degrees on a candy thermometer.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 2 ounces of chocolate, butter and vanilla. Stir until the chocolate and butter are melted and the hot fudge sauce is smooth.
- Serve at once, or let cool and then cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Reheat in a heavy saucepan over low heat, or in the microwave in 30 second intervals.
© Of Batter and Dough. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe. Some of the links above are affiliate links, which pay me a small commission for my referral at no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting Of Batter and Dough.
Anna says
Hi Rebecca, I’m in the middle of making this recipe for the swirled cheesecake and I have my hot fudge cooling (and it tastes so delicious I want to take a bath in it). . I’m realizing that In the instructions, you say to put in the vanilla twice and never mention where the white vinegar goes. I’m wondering if you have any clarifications?
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi Anna! So sorry I didn't see this comment earlier. And, I apologize for the error in the hot fudge recipe. I'm sure you've already figured this out, but the vinegar goes in with the corn syrup. I just corrected it in the recipe, thanks to you. 🙂 How did the cheesecake come out for you?