A good set of digital kitchen scales and some measuring spoons.

If using a wooden spoon, make sure it hasn’t been used to stir savoury stuff (unless of course, you like onion-infused vanilla fudge).

Large heavy-based saucepan, wooden or firm silicone spoon and a hob.

The key equipment list (not including the setting tin)… You will, however, need more than a bowl and a microwave to make it… Traditional Vanilla Fudge may not be a ‘throw in a bowl and melt in the microwave’ job (although equally, it’s possibly more sophisticated and definitely not as sickly), but the way it’s made is still pretty simple. What equipment is needed for this recipe?

White Chocolate – Just a handful, but enough to enhance the flavour above and beyond! Choose chocolate which is good quality and which melts well… I use Callebaut White Chocolate Callets, because they are gluten free and superb for baking.

Vanilla Bean Paste (or Vanilla Bean Powder or the seeds from a Vanilla Pod)… But not vanilla extract… Extract is honestly not powerful enough and will just add unhelpful liquid to the mix.

Don’t skip this ingredient if you want perfect fudge! Glucose can sometimes be derived from wheat or barley, but is ( according to Coeliac UKand other Coeliac organisations around the world) gluten free.

Glucose – This supports the texture by helping to prevent the sugars from re-crystalising.

Double Cream (heavy cream) – This is very much an ‘all cream’ richly-sumptuous recipe.

I use standard white caster sugar to get vanilla fudge that is pale cream in colour… I’ll be honest, visually I prefer it to the brown stuff.

Caster Sugar (super-fine sugar) – Its crystals are smaller and dissolve more quickly.

The list of ingredients needed to make this traditional Vanilla Fudge is comfortingly short (and the method is reassuringly simple). What Ingredients are needed to make this Vanilla Fudge at home? The results speak for themselves… A ‘grown up’ fudge that is (despite the sugar content) not over-sweet, rich with vanilla and quite addictively divine.

The recipe includes a handful of perfectly vanilla white chocolate to add richness and flavour.

This is also essential to ensuring the smoothness and decadence that a good fudge deserves.

Once the fudge mixture has been boiled and is ready to cool, it MUST be beaten for at least 10 to 15 minutes (as it cools).

No rushing… No cutting corners because you didn’t give yourself enough time to make it… Only by dissolving the sugar crystals slowly (BEFORE it reaches boiling point) will you achieve the smoothest and fudgiest of textures.

The very clear emphasis and direction to dissolve the sugar and blend with the other ingredients (stirring CONSTANTLY) at stage one, very VERY slowly.

The key differences in process are the following: Because what I learned from Nick Dudley-Jones changed the way I make ‘traditional’ fudgefor good… If you think fudge is fudge then think again. But it seemed good (and full of professional wisdom) and people were raving about it. The recipe he shared (and which I share again here, with very minor changes) was in fact passed down by a pastry tutor before him. What I found was a recipe by Nick Dudley-Jones… a professional pastry chef with a passion for fudge. And (as always) I turned to the internet… Wind on 30+ years and a hankering to make fudge again led me to hunt for the perfect recipe… Decadent, flavoursome, up-to-date, simple to make and (of course) rich and creamy. But back then, the sugar seemed more important to our tastebuds than the texture or flavour… Its yellowing pages with endlessly 70’s pink and green sugar-filled images seem quite disappointing. While I still have that cookbook, it is now very dated.

And of course, fudge-making was often on the agenda, not least because it made perfect presents for those I loved. When I was a child, I loved making sweets! From marzipan to marshmallows… toffee to truffles… I had a special cookbook and all the required paraphernalia.

The search for the Perfect Vanilla Fudge recipe… Guide to Safe Eating & Cross-Contamination.Food – A Guide to Safe Eating & Cross-Contamination.Travel Tips & Planning (Abroad or at Home).Pasta Dishes, Sauces and All Other Things Pasta….Main Meals (inc Casseroles and Slow-Cooked).Batter : Pancakes, Blinis, Waffles & More.Sweet Extras : Icings, Fillings, Ganaches, Sauces etc.Tray Bakes, Brownies, Blondies & Flapjacks.

Easy vanilla fudge recipe