Crème caramel is a "self-saucing" custard dessert. Once you unmould the Crème caramel it literally covers itself in caramel sauce. This recipe is far from traditional and I have two versions thereof.
Equipment
- Crème caramel or Dariole moulds
- Deep oven dish
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- 50 ml Water
- 6 Tbs Sugar
- 250 ml Single cream
- 250 ml Full cream milk
- 3 large eggs
- 10 ml vanilla essence
- 1 tin condensed milk (385g)
Instructions
- Start by making the caramel. Add 50ml of water to a saucepan with 6 Tbs of sugar and cook over moderate heat.
- Cook the sugar syrup until it caramelizes to a dark golden brown.
- Quickly divide the caramel into the dariole moulds and leave to set.
- Preheat oven to 150'C. Note that home ovens are not always very accurate. I have to set my oven at 170'C to get an actual temperature of 150'C. A good trick is to cook the creme brulee for 45 minutes, then switch the oven off and leave it to cool in the oven for 30 minutes. This gives me a perfect set every time.
- Whisk all the rest of the ingredients together and pour through a fine sieve.
- Scoop off the excess foam and pour the mixture into the prepared moulds.
- Prepare a bain-marie by placing the creme caramels in a deep oven dish and fill halfway up the sides with water.
- Cover with foil and perforate with a knife. The idea is to protect the tops from scalding and forming skin, but you also do not want to trap the steam.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes, until just set. The crème caramel should be set with a slight wobble. Overcooking will result in an eggy flavour.
- Remove the dessert from the bain-marie and leave it to cool. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
- Carefully loosen the edges using a small knife. Turn the mould upside down on a plate and shake slightly to remove crème caramel.
- Enjoy!
