Crème brûlée
Four ingredients, one of which is patience. The crack is the point.
- Hands-on
- 20 min
- Cooking
- 45 min
- Resting
- 240 min
- Total
- 305 min
- Oven
- 150°C / 300°F
- Difficulty
- medium
There is no technique here that a careful person cannot manage on a first attempt. What there is, is waiting: the custard must be cold, properly cold, before the sugar goes anywhere near a flame.
Ingredients
servings
For the custard
- 500 ml double cream
- 1 vanilla pod , split and scraped
- 6 egg yolks
- 75 g caster sugar
To finish
- 6 tsp demerara sugar , one per ramekin
Equipment
- blowtorch
- six ramekins
- fine sieve
Method
- Heat the oven to 150°C. Bring the cream and vanilla just to a simmer, then take it off the heat and leave it to sit for ten minutes.
- Whisk the yolks and caster sugar until pale. Pour the warm cream over, whisking, then strain.
- Divide between ramekins in a roasting tin. Pour boiling water halfway up their sides. Bake until barely set with a distinct wobble.
- Cool, then refrigerate at least four hours. Overnight is better.
- Sprinkle demerara evenly and blowtorch until dark amber. Rest two minutes so the sugar sets hard.
Per serving
- 486 kcal
- 42 g fat
- 22 g carbs
- 5 g protein