Recipe Description
Anyone who’s had crème brûlée before would attest to the pleasure of cracking the crispy top, before indulging in the velvety smooth custard perfumed with shards of caramel. Anyone who’s made crème brûlée before would attest to how easy it is to prepare that you can also enjoy the pleasure of playing with the torch to create the crispy top.
Crème brûlée is a custard with a layer of hardened caramelised sugar. Although most people are familiar with its French name, it is known as burnt cream or trinity cream in England and may have its origin in the 14th century as crema catalana in Spain. Traditionally flavoured with vanilla, it may also have other flavourings such as cinnamon, lemon or lavender, and may be garnished with fruit.
There are several methods of making the custard, but I’ve found that this recipe creates the smoothest and fluffiest crème brûlée. The other methods either prescribe the use of a bain marie, which I found created a custard that was too airy and didn’t set, or the cold cream method which gave me a custard that was too stiff.
The only investment that you need to make in order to serve crème brûlée at home is the torch. If you can get hold of a butane torch, you’ll enjoy the firepower that the butane gas provides. Otherwise, a propane-powered one will be sufficient for home users. The cost of owning one has dropped so dramatically that you can get a good metal one from a bakery supply shop for less than RM30. I couldn’t believe how affordable they had become when I had to replace the plastic one that had cost me RM80 at a speciality shop.
Although you may torch castor sugar for the top, I prefer brown sugar because it lends a bit of a smoky flavour to the caramel. Make sure that it’s the dry brown sugar that you can pour and not the soft brown sugar that you pack into a cup for baking. When preparing for this dessert, all the women in my office got a ramekin each. One of them remarked that a dessert like this really appeals to them. Since it was made with Mother’s Day in mind, I hope you will try making it and give your Mom a treat. Happy Mother’s Day.
Recipe Ingredient
- 950ml heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 225g castor sugar
- 6 large egg yolks
- 8-12 tsp brown sugar
Instructions
- Heat cream in a saucepan over medium until it almost comes to a boil, add vanilla essence, then allow the cream to cool down a bit.
- Add sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until fluffy. Strain a little bit of the hot cream into the egg mixture and continue whisking to temper the eggs. Then, strain the remaining cream into the egg mixture and whisk until they combined.
- Pour the custard mixture into 8 to 12 ramekins depending on the size of the ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large roasting pan. To keep the custard from curdling, pour boiling water into the pan until the water comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake in a 160°C oven for 35 to 40 minutes until the crème brûlée sets but still wobbly in the centre.
- Remove the ramekins from the water bath and wrap each individually with cling film. Chill them in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and continue storing them chilled for up to 3 days. Bring them out to room temperature 30 minutes before torching to allow any condensation to dissipate or it will interfere with the caramelisation of the sugar.
- To serve, spread 1 teaspoon of brown sugar over the top of each crème brûlée, tapping to get an even layer. Using a torch, melt the sugar to form a crispy top. Allow the crème brûlée to sit for about 5 minutes to harden the caramel before serving.
