Crème Brûlée

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Classic and elegant, smooth and creamy Crème Brûlée is a luscious, baked, rich vanilla custard, with a caramelised and crispy sugar topping. Literally translated as ‘burnt cream’, this wonderful French dessert is not difficult to make, in fact it is rather quick and easy, but the key to the perfect silky texture, is how you cook it and how long for. You then need to achieve a gloriously crispy caramelised sugar layer on top. This is the fun bit – simply use a blowtorch.

One of Andrew and Charlotte’s top three favourite desserts, I really wanted to make sure that I could reproduce it bang on each and every time. I therefore made it a number of times until it was just right and now I daren’t change a thing! I make it exactly the same every time, and I use exactly the same ramekin dishes, to ensure I can consistency produce it as we like to eat it.

Crème Brûlée is ideal if you want to prepare your dessert in advance. After cooking, it needs to be refrigerated for around 4 – 5 hours, but covered and kept in the fridge for up to 3 days is absolutely fine too. All you need to do before you serve it is add the sugar, blowtorch until caramelised and serve immediately. As you crack through the caramelised topping and dive into the soft and silky custard below, you’ll already be planning to make it again!

How to make Crème Brûlée

Collect your ingredients together:

For the custard –

• 300ml double/heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 3 egg yolks
• 30g caster sugar

Topping –

• 4 teaspoons caster sugar

How to make these delectable desserts:

1. Pour the cream into a small, heavy-based pan and add the vanilla paste. Bring to the boil over a medium-low heat.
2. Whilst the cream is heating, put the yolks and caster sugar into a bowl and stir until just combined.
3. When the cream begins to boil, pour on to the egg yolks and sugar stirring constantly to mix.
4. Put a sieve over a 1litre/2 pint jug and strain the custard.
5. Put your ovenproof ramekins in a baking tin or dish and divide the custard equally between them.
6. Pour boiling water into the tin until it comes two-thirds of the way up the ramekins.
7. Bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven for about 20 – 35 minutes until the custard is set – it should only wobble faintly when shaken. The timing will depend on the size of ramekins used. I use ramekins which are 8½ cm/3¼ diameter and 4 cm/2¾ in deep and hold a volume of 160ml/floz when completely full or 100ml up to the line where I pour the custard. I cook them for 25 minutes precisely.
8. Cool and then chill until cold.

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Topping:

1. Just before serving, scatter the tops of each cold Brûlée with 1 teaspoon caster sugar. Some recipes recommend Demerara sugar but I find caster sugar’s smaller granules caramelise more evenly.
2. Either, use a blowtorch to caramelise the sugar. OR
3. If you do not have a blowtorch, you can caramelise the tops under a grill – keep a very close eye as they may not all cook at the same rate and can catch fire very easily if over-cooked – I speak from experience here! If using a grill, you will need to put the brûlées back in the fridge to cool down before serving.

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Made this recipe?

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