Vanilla fudge recipe

Our recipe for vanilla fudge uses five simple ingredients. Sugar, butter, milk, evaporated milk, and vanilla extract. You can use vanilla bean paste if you prefer or scrape the seeds from half to a whole vanilla pod depending on how intense you want the flavour to be. 

You can do the cold water test. Fill a glass with cold water and drop a small amount of the fudge into it from a teaspoon. As it falls through the water the syrup should form into a ball.

If it dissolves or forms into threads, it's undercooked. Try again with a clean spoon and new water in a couple of minutes. If it forms a ball, fish the ball out of the glass and press it between your fingers. It should be soft and easy to flatten. If it's hard, the fudge is overcooked.

If your fudge is over-temperature or forms a hard ball in the cold water test, it can make the results hard and brittle. Pour the fudge syrup into a clean pan and add 3-4 tbsp cream. Stir gently but continuously until the sugar crystals are all melted, then boil until it reaches 115-116C again.

As it’ll last 2 weeks at room temperature and 3-4 weeks in the fridge, you can make it in bulk and store it ahead of gifting. Storing fudge in the fridge however may dry it out a little so make sure you wrap it in waxed paper. Store in an airtight container either tin or plastic.

Although it can be tempting to quicken the setting of your fudge by chilling it, we don’t recommend putting fudge in the fridge or freezer. The moisture in the fridge will make the fudge sticky and tends to give a more crumbly, brittle texture compared to soft and chewy. Therefore it’s better to set the fudge at room temperature. 

If your fudge is grainy it may be because you didn’t mix it for long enough. It could also be down to the fact that the sugar didn’t fully dissolve before boiling the mixture.

You also need to make sure you have the right amount of fat in the fudge mixture too. Following the method as closely as possible and timing everything to perfection will make delicious fudge every time.

This classic fudge is perfect as a homemade food gift for Christmas - or any time of year. The easiest way to present it is to pop a handful of fudge pieces into a cellophane bag and tie it with a ribbon.

If you want something a little more extravagant, use a shallow box, about 2cm deep. Line it with greaseproof paper and add the fudge neatly in a single-layer grid. If you want to personalise the gift, you can add someone's name to the fudge using a chocolate writing pen. Otherwise, you can add a personalised note inside for when they lift the lid. Line the back of the note with a piece of greaseproof paper before you place it in the box.