12/02/2013

Crme caramel recipes | Dan Lepard | Life and style | The Guardian

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Dan Lepard's crme caramel recipes

There's a reason crme caramel is one of the all-time great puddings
Dan Lepard The Guardian, Friday 1 5 June 2 01 2 2 2 .59 BST

Dan Lepard's crm e caram el: It's one of those blessed dishes that sits happily in the fridge until needed. Photograph: Colin Cam pbell for the Guardian

A good crme caramel is possibly one of my favourite desserts, not least because it will sit happily in the fridge for a few days, to be flipped out in a perfect state when it's needed. You can serve fruit with it but, really, it's better to push the flavours and complications into your main course and let the custard be a subtle and soothing finish. Also, it's one of those puds that you can serve with dessert wines or spirits without a blip of hesitation, because there's no fear of a clash.

A basic crme caramel

To work out how much caramel and custard to make for a crme caramel, here's what you do. For the caramel, tip caster sugar into your dish (or ramekins) so it covers the base by 0.5cm, then use this to make your caramel. For the right amount of custard,
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Crme caramel recipes | Dan Lepard | Life and style | The Guardian

simply work out the volume of the dish and mix the amount of custard needed to fill it. To get the smoothest set, bake the dish in a roasting tin with a moat of boiling water around it (aka a bain-marie), because this prevents the temperature going much above 100C. That said, you can also bake it straight in a low oven the only damage will be a slightly rubbery edge marked with bubbles. Perhaps that's a mark of a truly unfussy homemade one. Anyway, go with whatever works best for you. For just over a litre of custard, I used a deep, round, 20cm Pyrex dish, but use metal, if you prefer, and a wider dish, so long as it's fairly deep. Ideally, make this the night before, to give the caramel time to dissolve on the custard. 100g caster sugar, plus extra for the caramel 6 medium eggs 1 vanilla pod (or a few drops of good-quality extract) 500ml milk, whole or semi-skimmed 50ml double cream 4 tsp brandy or rum, optional Measure how much sugar you need for the caramel (see introduction), then put this in a saucepan, add a splash of water and boil over a fierce heat until it turns to a dark, reddish caramel. Pour into an unbuttered dish and swirl it around to cover the base. Sit the dish in a roasting tin, have a kettle of boiling water ready and heat the oven to 160C (140C fan-assisted)/320F/gas mark 2. Meanwhile, make the custard. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, the seeds from the vanilla pod and 100g caster sugar until smooth but not frothy. Beat in the milk and cream, and pour into a saucepan ideally the one you made the caramel in, if it's big enough. Heat until barely finger hot but not cooked, remove from the heat, pour through a sieve on to the caramel and place the roasting tin in the oven. Pour boiling water around the dish so it reaches halfway or two-thirds up the sides (you may need another kettle's worth of water), and bake for about 35 minutes for a one-litre dish, until fully set with barely a wobble. Take the tin from the oven, carefully lift the dish from the water, leave to cool, then chill. To serve, run a knife around the edge of the dish, place a plate on top and, with a confident flip, upturn it quickly. It should drop on to the plate.

Soft cheese crme caramel

Just like a velvety-smooth, dense cheesecake, and about as rich and fattening as desserts get. In other words, perfect. It sets very firm, so it needn't be served very cold. Again, this makes about a litre of custard.
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Crme caramel recipes | Dan Lepard | Life and style | The Guardian

Sugar, for the caramel 6 egg yolks 2 medium eggs 397g tin sweetened condensed milk 200g packet cream cheese 150ml double cream 25ml Cointreau or Grand Marnier Prepare the dish and caramel as in the previous recipe, then beat the yolks and eggs with the condensed milk and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the cream and Cointreau, pour into the dish once the caramel has set and bake just slightly longer than in the previous recipe, because the custard went in cold. danlepard.com/guardian

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