Cardamom Crème Brulee
| Published: 15th October 2007 16:24 |
A fragrant Indian twist on a British classic. The original Burnt Cambridge cream was invented at Trinity Collage, Cambridge. The cardamom and rosewater perfume the custard beautifully, if you want to surprise your guests leave out the cardamom and rosewater and add ½ a very finely chopped red chilli and the zest of 2 limes.
Servings: 6
Preparation Time: 10 minutes, plus 3 hours to chill
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
650ml Double cream
4 Cardamom pods
2 tsp Rosewater
6 Egg yolks
80g Caster sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
10 tsp Fine unrefined Sugar, for caramelising
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 150oC and have a full kettle of hot water ready.
2. In a saucepan over a medium heat, mix the cream, crushed cardamom pods and rosewater with the caster sugar and cook about 4-5 minutes until steam rises, stirring continually.
3. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and vanilla essence together. Gradually pour the hot cream onto the yolks, stirring constantly. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve set over a bowl and pour into the ramekins.
4. Line a 7cm-deep baking tray with a clean tea towel, place six ramekins in the pan and pour in enough hot water to fill the pan halfway up the side of the ramekins. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the centers of the custards shake gently when the pan is shifted.
5. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the ramekins to cool slightly. Then remove the ramekins from the pan, cool to room temperature and chill thoroughly in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.
6. Just before serving, sprinkle each custard with 2 teaspoons of sugar and caramelize the topping with a kitchen torch. If you don't have a torch, you can place the ramekins under a high grill, 5-7cm from the heat source for 3-4 minutes, but watch carefully.
If you have an ice cream maker you could, instead of baking the custards make a fragranced ice cream.
By Emma Allsopp
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