May 27, 2016

Tuxedo Crème Brûlée

Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Cooling time:: 1 hour
The crème brûlée has a layer of chocolate ganache on the bottom and then a layer of vanilla custard followed by caramelized sugar.
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Crème brûlée is what spurred my love of cooking and my love of experimenting with food. It is one of the first things my Uncle taught me to make. I traveled to Belgium with my family when I was about 10 (and a very picky eater) and had crème brûlée for almost every meal. It was either that or Belgian waffles. I am not quite sure what my parents were thinking letting me do that, I was probably consistently on a sugar high.

This variation on classic crème brûlée is based on the dessert at Geoffrey’s in Malibu. Geoffrey’s is an upscale coastal restaurant with one of the best views overlooking the ocean and has been shown on multiple TV shows including Modern Family and Keeping up with the Kardashians (don’t ask me how I know that).

The crème brûlée has a layer of chocolate ganache on the bottom and then a layer of vanilla custard followed by caramelized sugar. Don’t discard the vanilla bean after use, let them dry then add them to your granulated sugar; it infuses the sugar with a great smell and flavor!

Tuxedo Crème Brûlée

Key Ingredients in This Recipe

  • Semi-sweet chocolate – Semi-sweet chocolate is a dark chocolate made up of a at least 35% cacao. Semi-sweet chocolate can be used interchangeably with bitter-sweet chocolate. Cream is poured over the top to create the ganache. Use either high-quality chocolate chips or chop up chocolate bars.
  • Eggs – This custard is comprised mostly of egg yolks to create a rich creamy texture. Reserve the whites to make meringue or frittata.
  • Vanilla beans –  In this recipe a vanilla bean is added to the base of the custard to infuse it with pure vanilla flavor. The vanilla bean is actually the pod from the plant. It can be swapped with 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract if needed.
Tuxedo creme brulee with kitchen torch

How to Make Tuxedo Creme Brûlée

For the chocolate ganache:

  1. Make the ganache. Coarsely chop the chocolate. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the cream and bring to just a boil. Add the chocolate and salt and whisk to combine until the chocolate has melted and the mixture becomes smooth and shiny.
  2. Freeze ganache in ramekins. Divide the chocolate ganache among the ramekins so they are filled ¼ of the way full. Place the ramekins in the freezer and freeze for one hour.

To make the crème brûlée:

  1. Heat oven. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150ºC).
  2. Make the custard. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring heavy cream and vanilla beans to a simmer. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, egg yolks, 1¼ cups sugar and salt together until well blended. Slowly whisk the hot cream into the egg mixture and remove the vanilla beans.
  3. Fill ramekins. Remove the ramekins from the freezer then divide mixture evenly, filling each ramekin so that it is ¾ of the way full.
  4. Add to water bath. Set the ramekins in a baking dish and pour boiling water so that it’s halfway up ramekins. Carefully place the baking pan in the oven, making sure that the water doesn’t spill into the ramekins.
  5. Bake the custard. Bake until the custard is set, about 35 to 40 minutes. Remove each ramekin from the pan, and refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 1 hour.
  6. Torch the sugar and serve. To serve, sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of sugar over each ramekin of custard. Using a small kitchen blowtorch, slowly torch sugar from about 6” above the custard until it melts and caramelizes. If you hold the torch too close to the sugar it will caramelize too fast and burn. Serve immediately.
Tuxedo creme brulee recipe

Tips and Tricks for This Recipe

  • I use a kitchen torch to quickly and evenly caramelize the sugar on the top of the custard. You can find the kitchen torch that I have from Amazon here.
  • If you do not have a kitchen torch then I recommend going the classical route and using the oven broiler. Set the custard on a rack in the top 1/3 of the oven as close as possible to the broiler. You want to broil them quickly enough that the custard below remains chilled.
Tuxedo creme brulee recipe with spoon

Other Recipes to Try

If you enjoy this creme brûlée recipe, I recommend checking out some of these:

Tuxedo creme brulee with chocolate ganache vanilla custard and torched sugar

Tuxedo Crème Brûlée

Print Pin
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 50 minutes
Cooling time: 1 hour
Serves 8 (6-ounce) ramekins

Equipment:

Ingredients:

For the chocolate ganache:

  • 9 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

For the crème brûlée:

  • 3 cups heavy cream
  • 2 whole vanilla beans, sliced lengthwise
  • 2 whole large eggs
  • 10 egg yolks
  • cups granulated sugar, divided
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

For the chocolate ganache:

  • Coarsely chop the chocolate. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the cream and bring to just a boil. Add the chocolate and salt and whisk to combine until the chocolate has melted and the mixture becomes smooth and shiny.
  • Divide the chocolate ganache among the ramekins so they are filled ¼ of the way full. Place the ramekins in the freezer and freeze for one hour.

For the crème brûlée:

  • Preheat the oven to 300°F (150ºC).
  • In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring heavy cream and vanilla beans to a simmer. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, egg yolks, 1¼ cups sugar and salt together until well blended. Slowly whisk the hot cream into the egg mixture and remove the vanilla beans.
  • Remove the ramekins from the freezer then divide mixture evenly, filling each ramekin so that it is ¾ of the way full.
  • Set the ramekins in a baking dish and pour boiling water so that it’s halfway up ramekins. Carefully place the baking pan in the oven, making sure that the water doesn’t spill into the ramekins.
  • Bake until the custard is set, about 35 to 40 minutes. Remove each ramekin from the pan, and refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 1 hour.
  • To serve, sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of sugar over each ramekin of custard. Using a small kitchen blowtorch, slowly torch sugar from about 6” above the custard until it melts and caramelizes. If you hold the torch too close to the sugar it will caramelize too fast and burn. Serve immediately.

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