Crème Caramel

I’ve come quite late in my life to appreciate the contrast of the dark almost burnt caramel coating the softest baked vanilla custard that you can imagine. To fully appreciate this unassuming pudding you have to try a really good one, trust me on this one. The caramel shouldn’t be on the burnt side, hence some attention is needed. The custard, should be smooth and creamy, with no lumps, and a lovely wobble when moving the plate.

If that seems impossible to come across, you can make it at home, as I do now. I follow the recipe by Matthew Ryle from his fabulous book „French Classics”.  Matthew is extremely generous with the vanilla seeds in his recipe, at home I reduce the suggested amount roughly by half, but feel free to add as many vanilla sticks as may take your fancy.

Serves four:

You will need four small ramekins, each 9 x 5 cm.

• 140 g of caster sugar
• 20 ml of hot water
• 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 200 ml of whole milk
• 100 ml of whipping cream
• 1 vanilla pod, cut lengthways and seeds scraped out (you can add less or more – depending on the accessibility) or two teaspoon of a good vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 130 C fan.

Make the caramel.

Put 100 g of the sugar into a heavy-based saucepan in an even layer.

Add the measured hot water and allow the sugar to absorb it for a few minutes, then set over a medium heat and leave to dissolve. You can help it along by shaking the pan, but do not stir.

Once a syrup forms, it will turn golden and then to a rich caramel colour.

Once the caramel is ready take it off the immediately and pour into four ramekins.

Whisk the eggs, egg yolk and the remaining 40 g of sugar in a bowl.

Bring the milk, cream and vanilla seeds (or vanilla extract) to the boil in a saucepan, then pour slowly over the egg mix, whisking all the time.

Pass through a small sieve into each ramekin.

Place the ramekins in a roasting tin and fill it with hot (but not boiling) water to come halfway up each ramekin.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until just cooked and still wobbling.

Cool the ramekins for about 20 minutes in the roasting tin, then on a wire rack.

Once cooled chill the crème caramel in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight, which is what I prefer to do.

You can serve the pudding in the ramekins, but it looks more elegant reversed onto a plate. To do that run a knife around each ramekin separating very delicately the set custard from the edges.

Turn out onto a plate with a rim and watch the caramel spread out.