These baked, thick & creamy, easy custards are super quick to make with a few basic ingredients from your pantry. This recipe gives a velvety pudding which has a toffee like sweetness and smokiness from the caramel. It is almost like a flan but instead of having a salted caramel base, the custards are mixed with caramel sauce and baked off. They are immensely smooth to dive into & with some fresh fruit, one of the best desserts there can be.
My husband is a huge fan of ice-cream and custards and I make these often. Even the kids love it for there is caramel in there. A little bit of sea salt cuts the caramel perfectly. These are incredibly rich and creamiest - a small portion is enough to satisfy.
What is a Caramel Custard? A caramel custard is a creamy custard made with egg yolks, cream and milk. It is mixed with scratch made caramel, flavored with vanilla(you can add cardamom or saffron instead for a different flavor profile) and the baked at a low temperature in a water bath. Doing so leads to gentle cooking of the custard and makes sure that the eggs aren't curdled and the texture of the custard is smooth. I really love the golden color of these custards.
These custards keep well for 2-3 days in the fridge. Make sure you are using good quality ingredients, because when a recipe calls for very few, the best ingredients make it delicious.
Caramel Custard
Equipment
- Mixing bowls, sauce pan,whisk, baking tray
Ingredients
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoon water
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup whole milk (or 2%, dont use fat free)
- 6 egg yolks,(from large size eggs)
- ½ tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoon sugar (substitute with brown sugar for extra smokiness)
- Pinch sea salt (to finish)
Instructions
- To a heavy(important) bottom sauce pot, add the sugar and pour the water slowly so as not to scatter sugar on sides of the pot.
- Place the pot on a meduim stove and let the sugar melt. Dont stir. However when you see that the sugar is starting to melt, you can gently swirl the pot.
- Once the sugar starts to melt, keep a watch since it can quickly burn. Can take about 6-8 minutes for the sugar to melt.
- When the sugar is completely melted, it should be a nice amber color (and not too dark), remove the pot from the stove and continously whisking, add the heavy cream.
- Return the pot to the stove and cook whisking in between for another 3-4 minutes. Afterwards, switch off the stove, take off the sauce pot, mix ¼ teaspoon salt and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 300F. Place 4 ramekins in a baking tray(deep enough to fill water)
- In a large bowl, add the egg yolks and sugar and whisk for 3-4 minutes until pale and the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the milk and vanilla next and whisk again. By now, the caramel should have cooled down. Pour it over the egg mixture & milk mixture. Mix everything to combine.
- Strain the custard base using a soup sieve into a jug.
- Pour into the ramekins. Fill up the baking tray with hot water untill ⅓ red level of the ramekins.
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes until set and the centres are firm.
- Take out of the water bath once cooked, cool to room temperature. Cover the ramekins with cling film or foil and chill for atleast 6 hours before serving.
- Serve with a few sea salt flakes(optional) and fresh fruit.
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