Caffe Mocha Creme Brulee Recipe | The Best Chocolate Creme Brulee (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of crème brûlée? ›

Baking crème brûlée in a water bath, also known as a “bain-marie” in French cuisine, is a gentle and precise cooking method that helps ensure the custard cooks evenly resulting in a creamy, and velvety custard with a perfect texture. The water bath helps prevent overcooking and promotes even heating.

Tips for the Perfect Caramelized Topping:

Cover custard completely with sugar: You want to cover the top of each custard completely with a thin layer of sugar, because any exposed custard will curdle when you torch it. The amount of sugar will depend on the width of your ramekins.

It could be your sugar. I find sugar in the raw to be the easiest and most even burning sugar for creme brûlée. You could also combine equal parts brown sugar and white sugar. When burning the sugar make sure to keep moving the torch evenly across the sugar.

For the caramelized sugar crust, we recommend turbinado or Demerara sugar. Regular granulated sugar will work, too, but use only 1 scant teaspoon on each ramekin or 1 teaspoon on each shallow fluted dish.

Overbeating crème brûlée compromises texture

What many may not be aware of, however, is that it also demands restraint — from overbeating. As MasterClass explains, beating the custard mixture requires only just enough vigor to "fully incorporate" its ingredients.

Undercook the creme brulee and it will still be liquid. Overcook it, and it might curdle. It's why during this step you carefully cook the egg yolks. In a creme brulee you want the entire filling to be set, smooth and firm.

Sprinkle one sugar packet evenly across each crème brulee. Place baking sheet on oven rack 1- 2 inches from boiler element. Broil for 3-6 minutes or until top is golden brown.

If there's too much sugar, the crust will start to burn before it melts evenly. Too little, and it will just melt into the custard. Brûléeing the sugar in two steps leads to a more uniform melting of the sugar granules and a nice even caramel color.

How do you burn the top of creme brulee without a torch? ›

Sprinkle the sugar over the top of the custard to create a thin layer of sugar. Broil the crème brûlée. Set the oven to broil and the temperature to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the ramekins on the top shelf and let them broil until they become lightly golden or for about one minute.

Undercooked: It's possible that you didn't bake it long enough. Crème brûlée should be set around the edges but still slightly wobbly in the center when you take it out. It will continue to set as it cools. Too much liquid: Make sure you're using the right proportion of cream to egg yolks.

The first printed recipe for a dessert called crème brûlée is from the 1691 edition of the French cookbook Le Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeois by Francois Massialot, a cook at the Palace of Versailles. That version was a sweet custard of egg yolks and milk with a burnt sugar crust.

To make crème brûlée, you'll need just a few simple ingredients: heavy cream, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Vanilla is the primary flavor in crème brûlée, and it comes in different forms: whole vanilla beans, vanilla bean paste, or vanilla extract.

Crème brûlée perfect texture: The texture should be like a very thick yogurt, rather than set so it is sliceable like cake or even like a soft set jelly.