Creme Brulee II (2024)

FAQs

How to get the perfect crust on crème brûlée? ›

Uncover ramekins; if condensation has collected on custards, place paper towel on surface to soak up moisture. Sprinkle each with about 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar (1 1/2 teaspoons for shallow fluted dishes); tilt and tap ramekin for even coverage. Ignite torch and caramelize sugar.

This is a key step to making perfect crème brûlée – baking your custards in a water bath. A water bath is a pan of water that the ramekins are placed in to bake. A water bath provides some insulation from direct heat which allows the custards to cook gently, evenly, and prevents cracking.

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.

This is most likely due to underbaking. Creme Brulee is perfectly baked when it is set and firm around the edges but still has a wobble / jiggle in the middle when shaken.

The traditional method of cooking creme brulee is to bake it in a low-temperature oven in a water bath for even heating (see our post, Thermal Secrets for Crème Brûlée). Even with this gentle method, it's still possible to over bake the custards, resulting in curdled texture.

If the creme brulee is underbaked, it will still taste delicious. As a note, you can also rebake the creme brulee at 300 F for a few minutes, but it's more likely that the edges of the creme brulee will overbake.

I will say the trickiest part of making a creme brûlée is deciding when to pull it from the oven. It is ready when the middle jiggles, but the edges are set, like in my video. If the whole thing is still super jiggly, it needs more time, check every 10 minutes after. If the none if it jiggles, it is overcooked.

Crème brûlée is an easy dessert served in individual ramekins with a rich custard base made out of eggs, sugar, heavy cream and vanilla. The topping is made out of a thin layer of granulated sugar which is caramelized with a torch to create textually contrasting hard candy-like shell.

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.