creme caramel

After sampling some beautiful desserts in Mallorca recently, I really fancied recreating some of them. One on the hitlist was creme caramel, so I gave it a go. I used this recipe of James Martin’s, and didn’t change a thing.

It turned out brilliantly! I was sure it would be lumpy and gnarly, but the mixture was smooth, the caramel golden and the whole thing sweet and jelly-like. I was gobsmacked!

Creme caramel (serves 4):

4 eggs

1 egg yolk

120 g caster sugar

500 ml milk

1 drops vanilla essence

For the caramel:

150 g caster sugar

50 ml water

1. Preheat the oven to 140°C/gas 1.
2. Whisk the whole eggs, egg yolk and sugar together in a bowl, then mix in the milk and vanilla essence. Pass through a fine sieve into a clean bowl.
3. To make the caramel, boil the sugar and water together in a small pan without stirring until the syrup thickens and caramelises, turning golden brown.
4. Pour the hot caramel into 4 dariole moulds.
5. Pour the egg mixture into each caramel-filled moulds. Place the darioles in a roasting tray and pour hot water in around the moulds until it reaches half-way up the side of the moulds.
6. Bake the crème caramels in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.
7. To serve, turn out of the moulds on to serving plates.