Crème Brûlée: Dessert Showstopper
This article contains affiliate links. We may receive compensation if you make a purchase using one of these links at no additional cost to you. See our Disclaimers and Terms of Use for more information.
Crème brûlée, a restaurant staple, is legendary around the world. Despite that status, it’s possible to make the classic dessert at home with a handful of simple ingredients and a kitchen torch. It’s a party showstopper!
You’ve already eaten the main course, and it’s time to look at the dessert menu. You see the usual favorites: comforting peach or apple crumble, decadent flourless chocolate cake, a grand saucy berry thing and the usual quartet of sorbets and ice creams. But you’re really not in the mood for any of that stuff. You need something luxurious but simple – a marriage of crunchy caramelized sugar and voluptuous cream with a hint of vanilla. In other words, you need crème brûlée.
But what about eating crème brûlée at home?
For many, making the simple crème anglaise-based dessert seems unapproachable. Maybe it’s the blowtorching or maybe it’s the thought of making the custard. However, for those brave enough to make the dessert once, it inevitably becomes a dinner party fixture. While the classic dessert is an undeniable showstopper, it’s super easy to both make and serve. You can literally bake the custard on Thursday and wow your guests on Saturday.
Discover more global desserts.
A Short History of Crème Brûlée
While there’s no definitive origin story behind crème brûlée, some events were vital to its path to greatness.
It’s a dessert that wound its way through Europe before jumping the pond and spanning the globe. Various countries have a version. Spain has crema catalana. Portugal has leite creme. Even England embraced the creamy dessert when its version was served in the 19th century to Cambridge University students under the guise of Trinity cream. But it’s France that has documented crème brûlée recipes that date back to the 17th century.
Discover more French desserts.
While Sirio Maccioni ushered in an American crème brûlée renaissance at the restaurant Le Cirque during the 1980s, our personal history with the dessert came later. Daryl recalls enjoying a wonderful version of crème brûlée infused with pistachios while in Paris during his initial journey to Europe. Later, when we served crème brûlée at dinner parties in Philadelphia, the dessert was always a hit.
As we’ve learned over the years, the crème brûlée recipe is simple despite the precise technique that it requires. The key is to faithfully follow its steps. The more we make this dessert, the better we get at it. The same will happen to you.
Ingredients
Crème brûlée custard is fairly forgiving and its recipe requires ingredients that are easy to find at just about any supermarket. Here’s every ingredient you need:
Ingredient quantities are detailed in the printable recipe card below.
While most of the required kitchen tools are standard, you may need to buy the following items:
How To Make Crème Brûlée
There’s no such thing as an original recipe for crème brûlée, and it can be made a couple of ways: one with a mixture of cream, milk and whole eggs and another with a generous amount of cream and egg yolks. Being decadent people, we opted for the latter method.
We adapted our recipe from the yellow Gourmet Cookbook, and it can be scaled up for six or eight servings. It has four essential steps: (1) simmering the cream, (2) mixing the hot cream and egg yolk/sugar mixture, (3) baking the custard and (4) torching the tops.
To start the recipe, preheat a conventional oven to 325°F / 160°C or to 300°F / 150°C if you’re using a convection / fan oven and then pour the heavy cream into a small saucepan. Split a vanilla bean and scrape out the inside of the pod. Drop both the scraped-out center and the pod’s shell into the saucepan.
Cook the heavy cream and vanilla bean over low heat until the cream begins to simmer. (You’ll see a light bubbling on the edge.)
Pro Tip
If you’re using a digital kitchen thermometer, stop cooking the cream when it reaches 175°F or 80°C.
While the cream mixture is cooking, mix the egg yolks, sugar and salt in a bowl until incorporated.
Once the cream starts to simmer, take the saucepan off the stove. Remove the vanilla bean and pour the cream into the bowl in a thin, steady stream. Stir the egg yolk and cream until combined. Pour the resulting mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a separate bowl.
Once the cream/egg mixture is combined and strained into a new bowl, use a ladle to pour the mixture into ramekins. Transfer the filled ramekins into a baking dish and then place the baking dish onto a rack inside the preheated oven. While the oven is open, make a bain-marie by pouring boiling water into the baking dish halfway up the ramekins.
Check the ramekins after 25 minutes. If the mixture is just set, pull the ramekins from the oven. If not, give the ramekins another five minutes in the oven.
Pro Tip
You’ll know that custard is done if it jiggles just slightly.
Remove the jiggly custards from the oven and place the ramekins on a cooling rack. Once cool, refrigerate them until they’re cold, which should take three to four hours.
Pro Tip
You can leave the cooked custard in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
When you’re ready to serve the chilled custard cups, it’s time to execute the final and most fun step. First, spread turbinado sugar evenly on top of each custard cup using a small spoon. Next, torch the turbinado sugar until it starts to bubble and brown.
Pro Tip
The desired color should be dark brown, not tan or black.
Optionally top each ramekin with fresh fruit or other garnishes. We like to top our crème brûlée with raspberries and blueberries, but you can top yours with fruit like pineapple or cherries. You can even top the creamy dessert with nuts and marshmallows if that floats your boat. Fresh mint provides a nice touch too.
If you serve the crème brûlée at a party, instruct your guests to break the tops of the brûlée by counting 3, 2, 1…
Don’t be surprised if the room becomes quiet while your guests eat their custard cups. Instead, consider the silence to be proof of your culinary success.
Crème Brûlée Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 whole vanilla bean (split)
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 pinch table salt
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (enough to cover the top of each custard)
- fresh fruit (optional garnish)
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat a conventional oven to 325°F/160C° or to 300°F/ 150°C if you're using a convection/fan oven.
- Pour the cream into a small saucepan. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the inside of the pod into the saucepan and then drop the scraped bean into the saucepan.
- Cook the cream and vanilla bean over low heat until the cream begins to simmer. (You'll see a light bubbling on the edge.) If you're using a digital kitchen thermometer, stop cooking the cream when it reaches 175-180°F/ 80°C.
- While the cream mixture is cooking, mix the egg yolks, sugar and salt in a bowl until incorporated.
- Remove the cream mixture from the heat when it starts to simmer and remove the vanilla bean pod. Pour the cream mixture in a steady stream into the bowl using a fine mesh strainer. Stir the egg yolk and cream mixture together until combined.
- Using a ladle, pour the combined cream/egg mixture into four ramekins. Place the filled ramekins into a baking dish. Place the baking dish onto the rack of the preheated oven and, while the oven is open, pour boiling water into the baking dish halfway up the ramekins.
- Check the ramekins in 25 minutes. If the mixture is just set, pull the ramekins from the oven. If not, give the ramekins another 5 minutes in the oven. (The goal is for the mixture to jiggle just slightly.)
- Remove the jiggly custard from the oven and place each ramekin on a cooling rack. Once they're cool, refrigerate the ramekins until the custard is cold (approximately 3 to 4 hours). You can leave the ramekins in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Once the custard is cold, it's time to execute the final and most fun step. Spread turbinado sugar evenly on top of each ramekin. Torch the sugar until it starts to bubble and turns brown. You want the color to be dark brown, not black.
- If you're serving the crème brûlée at a party, advise your guests to break the tops with a spoon at your countdown of 3, 2, 1… Enjoy!
Notes
- If you live in a European country, such as Portugal, use M/L (medium/large) eggs.
- You can keep the finished, untorched custard ramekins in the fridge for up to three days.
- If you refrigerate the ramekins for more than four hours, dab each with a paper towel to dry the top of the custard before torching.
- You can garnish the crème brûlée with anything you desire including fresh fruits, nuts or even small candies.
Nutrition
💡 Frequently Asked Questions
Crème brûlée is essentially a form of crème anglaise or dairy-based custard that’s cooked in a ramekin, topped with sugar and then ‘burned’. The burning caramelizes the sugar and creates a crunchy, flavorful top that yields to luxurious cream.
There’s no documented origin story for crème brûlée and the creamy dessert has been refined and reinvented over the years. The first written recipe for the dessert can be traced to 19th-century France. More recently, restaurateur Sirio Maccioni made the dessert a modern sensation in the 1980s at Le Cirque in New York City.
Crème brûlée is made from heavy cream, egg yolks, vanilla bean, salt and sugar.
While you can prepare and chill the custard three days in advance, the dessert must be served as soon as it’s torched. Otherwise, the crispy top will become mushy.
Heck no! Its decadence makes it special.
📍 Pin This Recipe
