Guillaume's créme caramel

A classic, decadent French dessert with a rich vanilla caramel, chilled through and turned over to serve in its own sauce.

• serves

  1

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 100 g caster sugar
• 10 ml filtered water
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

Crème custard

• 185 ml full-cream milk
• 150 ml pouring cream
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
• 70 g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 egg yolks

Chilling time: 3 hours - overnight

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 140°C
2. Place the sugar and water into a small fry pan over medium heat and simmer until it reaches a golden caramel colour. Working quickly while the caramel is still hot, pour into bottom of your large ramekin. Chill in the fridge.
3. Heat milk, cream and vanilla and bring to a simmer.
4. Meanwhile, place the eggs in a separate bowl. With a fork, mix the eggs gently to blend yolks and whites. Do not beat to avoid incorporating air.
5. Add the sugar to the eggs and fold gently until combined. Slowly add in the milk and cream in stages. This must be done slowly to avoid your eggs becoming scrambled. By adding in increments, you bring the temperature of the eggs up without them becoming solid.
6. When all mixed, pass through a fine chinois.
7. Spray the sides of the ramekin very well with baking spray then pour the custard into the large mould.
8. Place the crème caramel in a water bath (a baking tray, with warm water about ¼ way up the ramekin) and cover the ramekin with aluminium foil. Cook in oven at 140°C for around 1 hour until the custard has set (a little wobble in the middle is ok).
9. Rest at room temperature for half an hour, then put in the fridge until chilled through and fully set.
10. To serve, turn out the crème caramel onto a plate.

 

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.