Creme Caramel

There are few desserts I find more satisfying than a Crème Caramel. Smooth, sweet and creamy, it’s a taste sensation. Creme Caramel put simply is a baked custard sitting on a syrup sauce...... as opposed to creme brulee, which is custard with a hard caramel top.

Recipe from Woman's Day magazine, Issue 3: January 17 2011, page 55

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups caster sugar
¼ cup water
300ml carton cream
1 cup milk
3 eggs
3 egg yolks

Method

Preheat oven to moderately slow, 150°C

In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup cold water. Stir over low heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and bring to the boil. Cook, without stirring, brushing down sides of pan occasionally with a wet pastry brush, for 5-7 minutes or until the mixture is a deep golden caramel colour.

Pour caramel toffee mixture evenly between 8 x ½ cup ramekins, swirling each so that it comes about 2cm up the sides of the ramekins. Place in a baking dish. Set aside to cool completely.

In a medium saucepan, combine cream, milk and remaining sugar. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then remove from heat. Cool for 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and egg-yolks together.
(In this photo it looks like I have 8 egg yolks but 2 of the eggs that I used just so happened to have twin yolks!)

Whisk in milk mixture. Pour custard into ramekins and add enough hot water to baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. The hot water creates an even distribution of heat, which helps the custard to set gently and evenly.

Bake for 30 minutes until set. Remove from pan and cool completely. Chill overnight. Dip ramekins in boiling water for 30 seconds to loosen. Turn out onto a serving plate to serve.







Notes & Tips

Pour the custard through a strainer when adding it to the ramekins, to remove any sediment. This will make the custard silky smooth.


Variation

To make coconut crème caramel, substitute the milk with light coconut milk and add 1 teaspoon coconut essence. Garnish with toasted shredded coconut and lime rind

Creme Brulee

Hubby bought me a blow torch as a wedding anniversary gift. I was so excited to receive another kitchen toy to use and decided to test it out by making some crème brulee. It works pretty well and caramelised the sugar quite nicely :)

Recipe adapted from Masterchef 2010, Masterclass 4 season 2

Serves 4

Ingredients

600ml thickened cream
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
6 egg yolks
¼- ½ cup caster sugar
120g demerara sugar

Method

Step 1: Preheat oven to 120°C.

Step 2: Place the cream, vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to scalding point, then remove from heat. Remove vanilla bean and discard.

Step 3: Whisk together egg yolks and caster sugar in a bowl for 2-3 minutes or until thick, creamy and pale.

Step 4: Pour hot cream over egg yolk mixture, continuing to whisk until well combined. Strain mixture into a jug, evenly divide between 4 x 200ml ramekins.

Step 5: Carefully place ramekins in a deep roasting pan. Pour boiling water into pan to come halfway up the sides of ramekins. Cover pan loosely with foil.

Step 6: Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the custard has just set (custards should still have a slight wobble when done). Remove ramekins from the water bath, and set aside to cool. Refrigerate, covered for at least 4 hours.

Step 7: Sprinkle demerara sugar evenly over the surface of the baked custards. Run a kitchen blowtorch over the custards, or place under a preheated grill until the sugar bubbles and caramelises. Set aside for 5 minutes or until toffee sets. Serve.

Notes & Tips

Placing custards in a dish full of ice keeps the custard chilled and stops it overcooking while the sugar caramelises under the grill (or blowtorch). Placing the custards as close as possible to the grill also speeds the process. If using the grill, position the grill rack as close to grill as possible and preheat it to medium high.

Chocolate & Custard Torte

This cake's base is made with hot cross buns and then it's chilled in the fridge, so you won't have to use the oven. I made this cake during Easter last year and it was a huge hit!

Serves 8

Ingredients

⅓ cup caster sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthways
500-600ml thickened cream
4 egg yolks
200g good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
100ml thin cream
4 bought hot cross buns, thinly sliced vertically
2 tbs warm water
2 ½ tsp gelatine powder
1 tbs good quality cocoa powder

Method

1. Place the sugar, vanilla bean and half the thickened cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a gentle boil. Strain through a fine sieve into a medium heatproof jug. Discard the vanilla bean.
2. Place the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the cream mixture. Return to the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until the custard coats the back of a spoon. Transfer to a heatproof bowl. Place in the fridge for 1 hour to chill.
3. Meanwhile, combine the chocolate and thin cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan half filled with simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water). Use a metal spoon to stir until the chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.
4. Line the base of a round 24cm (base measurement) springform pan with non stick baking paper. Arrange half the hot cross bun slices, in a single layer, over the base of the pan. Spread half the chocolate mixture evenly over the base to cover completely. Repeat with the remaining hot cross bun and chocolate mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour or until set.
5. Whisk the remaining thickened cream in a bowl until soft peaks form. Use a large metal spoon to gently fold the cream into the custard mixture.
6. Place the warm water in a small heatproof jug. Sprinkle with gelatine and whisk with a fork until the gelatine dissolves. Gently fold the gelatine mixture into the custard mixture. Pour over the chocolate base. Cover and place in fridge for 3 hours or overnight to set. Dust with the cocoa powder to serve.

Ginger Milk Custard

I was watching Episode 70 of MasterChef Australia the other day and saw that one of the contestants on the show, Poh had made a ginger milk custard as part of her cooking challenge. Realising that this dessert was actually something I had been shown how to make by my auntie in the past, hubby was quite keen on me making him some to taste :p

Ginger milk curd (Chinese: 薑汁撞奶), also known as ginger-juice milk curd or simply ginger milk, is a Chinese dessert. The main ingredients are ginger and milk.

It should taste like "tofufa" but with a nice kick of ginger. This tasty dessert is nice to eat at anytime of the day or night :)

So, here's my auntie's recipe for how to make Ginger Milk Custard:

Serves 1

Ingredients:

125ml milk
1 tsp sugar
1 - 2 tsp ginger juice
a few drops of white vinegar (to help curdle the milk)

Method:

1. Put ginger juice and vinegar into a mug.

2. Heat milk with sugar in a small saucepan and stir until sugar dissolves. Once the milk reaches a simmer (when little bubbles form on the surface), take saucepan off the heat IMMEDIATELY.

3. Stir for one to two minutes with a wooden spoon. (This is to lower the temperature).

4. Pour milk mixture into the mug containing the ginger juice and vinegar. Then, using another mug (of equal size), pour the liquid in and out of the two mugs 10 times. When completed, pour the milk into a serving bowl and leave it to set. Do not disturb the mixture for around 10 minutes.

5. Once mixture has curdled, serve it warm. (Texture should be very soft, kinda like a “tofu-fa” )

Notes and tips:

To get ginger juice, you need to firstly grate the ginger (without the skin) and after that squeeze the grated ginger through a fine cloth or filter to get it's juice. Alternatively, grate the ginger into a bowl and then use the back of a spoon to press the grated ginger against the bowl to squeeze the juice out.

For a stronger ginger taste, I would recommend adding 2 teaspoons of ginger juice to this dish