When you’re looking to give your dessert a delicious upgrade, you might drizzle some sweet caramel or butterscotch syrup on top. While these two confections look and taste quite similar, there’s a difference between the two that you should know, especially if you want to make one or the other instead of buying it at the store.

Caramel is made with white sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and sometimes sea salt. Hardened caramel candy is made by heating white sugar at 340 degrees F and adding butter, milk, or vanilla to soften it, while caramel syrup uses the same ingredients, but is cooked at a lower temperature around 230 degrees F.

Butterscotch, on the other hand, is also made from butter and cream, but uses raw dark brown sugar instead of white granulated sugar. The brown sugar has a deeper color, richer flavor, and makes butterscotch moister than caramel, and therefore harder to burn, making it a more accessible option for amateur candymakers.