My Big Secret About Crème Brûlée

French crème brûlée: I think it is about time that somebody demystifies this recipe!  That amazing crème de la crème with a caramelized topping.  Mmh… I am sure you want one now and I will help you to make that happen.   Promise.

Although the whole process is simple. I made a Youtube video tutorial to explain it all step by step.

When I tell people who I prepared a crème brûlée, they are always ”wowed” and think I am a super chef because of that.  And sometimes because I am French too.

So that secret…

While I am happy to take that credit and those compliments, I have to share the secret with you, it is way too simple.  My go-to-recipe is FROM a book!  Of course, I am like you.  I am not going to re-invente the wheel, specially when it is just perfect.

The book I am referring to is in French so I will have to translate it but to be fair and give the credit to the right person, here are, some details of it ”Café gourmand” from Sandra Lucchini and Stéphane Glacier – SAEP.  Even if you do not read French, look it up, the pictures are really mouth-watering.

There.  You have it.  You can now prepare a real crème brûlée like a French chef!  Cocorico!  I forgot to mention that the preparation before going in the oven is about 10-15 minutes, you really have no excuses now.

Print Recipe

Chocolate Crème Brûlée

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time45 mins

Total Time1 hr 5 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Keyword: chocolate, creme brulee, custard, egg, french, heavy cream, valentine’s day

Servings: 6 ramekins

Author: Mélanie

Ingredients

• 250 ml Heavy Cream 35%
• 250 ml Milk
• 5 Egg yolks Large
• 1/2 cup Sugar 100g
• 1 bean Vanilla
• 2 tbsp dark chocolate powder

Instructions

• Prepare your ingredients.
• Bring the milk to boil with the vanilla, if that is the flavour you chose.
• Remove from the stove and add the cold cream to the milk.
• Beat the eggs with the sugar.
• Add the chocolate to the mix.
• Stir well.
• Add the milk/cream to the mixture.
• Stir well.
• Take a baking sheet that has little borders, place your ramequins filled up with the preparation.
• Bake bain-marie (add water on the baking sheet so the ramequins are baking in water so it's a water-bath basically). Bake for 45 minutes at 300F.
• Allow to cool down and keep refrigerate for 2 hours. Sprinkle some sugar on top of the crème and with a baking torch, caramelize it. Otherwise, the book says that you can broil it in the oven for 4 minutes.

Edit December 2018: YouTube tutorial available + Important update at the end of the recipe!