If, like us, you’ve eaten your weight in salted caramel in the past year or so, you’ll be relieved to hear that there is a new treat to add to your arsenal: burnt caramel.

According to proponents of the trend, the burnt quality of the caramel adds a pleasing bitterness to sweet treats. It works particularly well in ice cream, but we’ve also stumbled across burnt caramel pots du crème, and burnt caramel icing (which is apparently something of a nightmare to spread).

While we were initially sceptical, we hear the trick is to only slightly burn the caramel, to avoid destroying your pan or creating a totally acrid, burnt mess, not to mention fire hazard.

We hear that the team at The Table at De Meye has served a burnt caramel ice cream – with their Molotov cake –in the past,  but to date haven’t seen it widely available in local restaurants.

Rest easy: We’ll keep you up to date as the trend develops.