Silky Custard + Perfect Glassy Crack

Learn how to make crème brûlée with a silky vanilla custard and a thin, shatter-crisp caramel top. The perfect make-ahead dessert for entertaining. Easy step-by-step recipe.

Nicky’s Notes

Creme brulee is one of my absolute top desserts! I find it so hard to resist when we eat out (it always comes down to either creme brulee or Sticky Toffee Pudding).

I think I love them both equally!

Chris has been working hard at perfecting this recipe at home, and I’m 100% here for it. He got the recipe spot on, and it’s safe to say I’ve eaten probably a years worth of it in the last month, and it’s so good that I’ve persuaded him to make it for Christmas day.

What makes Chris’s creme brulee so good?

It’s a beautifully creamy, silky custard. No lumps or eggyness.
The crisp sugar topping is perfect (demerara sugar is best, but golden caster sugars works well too).
It’s make ahead! Perfect for when you’re entertaining. You just need to add sugar and caramelise it before serving – which only takes a minute and results in lots of oohs and ahhhs.

Ingredients for Crème Brûlée

***Full recipe with detailed quantities in the recipe card below***

Ingredients for a creme brulee dessert recipe including eggs, double cream, milk, Demerara sugar, caster sugar, and vanilla bean paste on a wooden surface.

The sugar for the brulee

Demerara sugar is my recommendation for a thicker, crisper “glass” with a lovely deeper flavour – thanks to the larger crystals slightly molasses flavour—so you get a satisfying creme brulee crack and a gentle toffee note.

You could swap this out for caster sugar (superfine sugar in USA) which will give you a smooth glass, and a nice clean flavor. Also caster sugar melts fast so its good if you’d rather use a hot grill/broiler rather than a blow torch. Golden caster sugar is better than regular white caster sugar as it gives a darker colour and slight molasses-toffee flavour.

Three small bowls on a wooden surface, each holding Demerara Sugar, Golden Caster Sugar, and Caster Sugar, labelled accordingly.

Note on the vanilla

Use good quality vanilla extract, or you can use vanilla bean paste (same quantity).
Alternatively you can use a vanilla pod.

If you use a vanilla pod, you want to slice it lengthways down the centre and scrape out the seeds. Then place the seeds and pod in the milk and cream and leave for 20-30 minutes to allow the flavour to develop before heating.

Note: If using vanilla bean paste or pods, then you will have vanilla seeds in the creme brulees. These tend to sink towards the bottom half of the dishes, but do still look nice.

Abbreviated Recipe

***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card below***

Whisk eggs yolks and caster sugar and put to one side. Add cream, milk and vanilla extract to a pan and heat until just steaming. Pour over the egg-sugar mixture while stirring with a whisk. Sieve the mixture and pour into ramekins. Then place ramekins in a roasting tin. Add just-boiled water to the tin and bake the creme brulees. Once baked, cool and refrigerate. When ready to eat, sprinkle over sugar and gently blow torch to form a deep amber glossy topping.

Recipe Tips

Strain the custard mixture before pouring into the ramekins. This will ensure a lovely smooth custard.
Serve the creme brulee within a couple of minutes of blow-torching the top. This is when the crispness is at it’s best. After 10 minutes or so, the sugar topping can start to soften.

Six glass ramekins filled with smooth, yellow custard are cooling on a black wire rack set on a light-coloured worktop.

Caramelizing the top

When adding the sugar, tilt the ramekins to ensure an even coverage of sugar before using the blow torch to caramelise.

A person holds a small glass dish of custard with sugar sprinkled on top, with more custard dishes cooling on a wire rack in the background.

Blow torch the tops by moving the blow torch round constantly. This ensures the sugar melts and browns evenly, so you don’t get burnt spots.

Several ramekins of crème brûlée are shown, with a kitchen blowtorch caramelising the sugar on top of one, all on a cooling rack.

Once done dress with some fresh mint leaves and a few fresh raspberries

Small glass ramekins of crème brûlée are topped with raspberries and mint leaves, arranged on a dark surface.

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What to serve it with

Fresh raspberries are a classic topping, but you could replace with sliced strawberries.
You could also serve alongside some shortbread biscuit rounds or rolled wafers (chocolate filled tubes or the buttery cigarillo-wafers)

A spoon lifts a bite of crème brûlée from a glass dish, topped with caramelised sugar, fresh raspberries, and mint. Two more servings appear in the background.

Make ahead Guide

You can make the custard bases up to 24 hours ahead (they need a minimum of 4 hours in the refrigerator). Remove from the refrigerator and add the sugar, then blow-torch right before serving.

Preheat the oven to 130°C (265F) fan.
To a bowl, add egg yolks and caster sugar, and whisk gently until the sugar dissolves. We want to whisk gently to try not to incorporate lots of air.

5 large egg yolks, 70 g (⅓ cup / 2.5 oz) caster sugar
Add cream, milk and vanilla extract to a saucepan. Place the saucepan on the hob (stovetop) and heat the cream and milk mixture on a medium to low heat until just steaming and until bubbles are starting to form at the edges.

450 ml (1 ⅞ cups) double cream (heavy cream), 50 ml (3 tbsp + 1 tsp) full-fat milk, 2 tsp vanilla extract
Slowly pour the cream mixture over the yolks while whisking lightly until thoroughly combined.
Pour the custard through a fine sieve into a jug then skim any foam (to prevent bubbles).
Arrange ramekins in a deep roasting tin. Divide custard evenly into the ramekins.
Pull out the oven shelf and place the roasting tin on the shelf. Pour recently boiled water into the tin to come halfway up the ramekins. Carefully push the oven shelf back in and close the oven door.
Bake 30–40 minutes until edges are set and centres still wobble like jelly when nudged (no liquid slosh).
Carefully lift ramekins from the water, cool to room temp, then chill at least 4 hours (or up to 24).
When you’re ready to serve sprinkle each ramekin with 1 tsp sugar, tilting it around to completely coat the surface of the set custard.

6 tsp demerara sugar
Caramelise the sugar with a blowtorch until it’s a deep amber (or put under a hot grill/broiler if you’re ramekins are grill-proof — watch them closely).
Let the tops harden for a minute, then serve. I like to top mine with fresh raspberries and mint leaves.

12 fresh raspberries (3 per ramekin), fresh mint leaves

The vanilla extract

Use good quality vanilla extract, or you can use vanilla bean paste (same quantity).
Alternatively you can use a vanilla pod.
If you use a vanilla pod, you want to slice it lengthways down the centre and scrape out the seeds. Then place the seeds and pod in the milk and cream and leave for 20-30 minutes to allow the flavour to develop before heating.
Note: If using vanilla bean paste or pods, then you will have vanilla seeds in the creme brulees. These tend to sink towards the bottom half of the dishes, but do still look nice.

Nutritional information is approximate, per serving (this recipe serves 6).

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

This creme brulee recipe was first posted in Dec 2025.

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