Friends, if you want to learn to make the best possible creme brulee at home, please stick with me.
This is more a class in making creme brulee more than it is just a recipe, so if you want to know all the ins and outs of making perfect creme brulee, you’re in the right place!
You may also want to take a look at my butterscotch creme brulee. And for ease of browsing, you can find all my custard recipes in one place. Now let’s jump right in.
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Creme Brulee, At a Glance
✅Skill Level: Intermediate
✅Skills: Tempering eggs, baking in a water bath, using a kitchen torch
✅Type: Individual Custards
✅Number of Ingredients: 4
✅Prep Time: 20 minutes
✅Fridge Time: overnight for the custard, and overnight (ideally) after baking and before torching
✅Cook Time: about 45-50 minutes
✅Yield: 6-8, depending on volume of ramekins
Additional Reading: All About Custard
Jump Straight to the Recipe
Welcome to My Creme Brulee Class
And I’m not just saying that. Here’s a comment from reader (and creme brulee maker) Gayla:
Thank you so much the wonderful details you have given here! I had made creme brulee once before and it was very good. Following your recipe and instructions this time, it was absolutely fantastic! I appreciate very much your taking the time to post this, what is actually, in effect, a class on making creme brulee. Thanks for sharing your expertise!
Reader Gayla
Like Gayla, if you read this post all the way through and follow all my tips and tricks, you will be rewarded with a perfect creme brulee. Hooray!
And if you just want the recipe and are ready to go for it, please jump down to the recipe.
What Is Crème Brûlée?
Crème brûlée is a classic French still custard.
By still, I mean it is cooked undisturbed in the oven unlike stirred custards such as pastry cream and pudding that cook on the stove top.
The name literally means “burnt cream,” but in reality, the only “burnt” part is the sugar you sprinkle on top and then melt and caramelize with a handheld torch or under your broiler.
The classic flavor is vanilla bean, but you can easily make variations by steeping different spices and flavorings into the cream in the recipe.
What Makes the Perfect Crème Brûlée?
A perfect crème brûlée is a delight. Rarely do you find a perfect one.
Follow my tips, and you’ll soon be making your own perfect creme brulee. Probably even better than ones you’ve had in restaurants.
The Best Ramekins to Use
Ever seen crème brûlée served in ramekins like these?
If this is what you have, go ahead and use them, but my preferred ramekins are shallow and wide like the ones in my photographs.
Using ramekins that are shallow and wide ensures that you get a bite that runs from cold at the bottom through warm and then hot at the top and from silky smooth to crunchy with the lovely, thin, glass-like caramelized sugar topping, all without being so rich it’s hard to enjoy.
And it’s hard to deny that you get more delicious caramelized sugar crunch with wider ramekins.
So save your “souffle-style” ramekins for other desserts like lemon pudding or flan.
What Kind of Torch To Get to Brulee Your Fancy French Custard
Here’s the Bernz-o-matic torch I have. It makes me feel like a badass.
You can also purchase these types of torches at your local home improvement store, along with the canisters.
Make sure to purchase the type of canister rated to go with the nozzle you buy.
If you’d like something a bit more understated for occasional use, consider a butane torch model.
You will need to purchase the butane canisters separately. You can get them at camping and outdoor stores, or go to your local Asian grocery store.
I can’t believe how perfect your recipe and instructions were!! Kudos and many thanks. First time making a creme brûlée and it was perfect!
Pinner Sudeepta
Tips for Making Crème Brûlée
- Do not leave out the salt. You will need approximately 1/4 teaspoon salt per 2 cups of cream. If you leave it out the creme brulee will taste very flat and won’t have a lot of character. The salt will bring out the sweetness, the vanilla, and the eggy goodness. Seriously, don’t leave it out.
- Crème brûlée should be served in shallow and wide ramekins. It’s rich, so 4-6 oz. is plenty.
- It should be brûléed (torched) right before service because part of the joy of the crème brûlée is the sensation of warm on top/cold on the bottom and the juxtaposition of the warm crisp sugar brûlée with the creamy cool custard.
To reiterate, I am Very Serious about NOT leaving out the salt. Learn why salt is necessary in desserts.
Vanilla Beans vs Vanilla Extract
I have made creme brulee with vanilla extract and with vanilla beans, and I am not sure I have a preference.
Since vanilla is the predominant flavor, if you’re going to use an extract, use an excellent quality extract. And if you like the look of specks of vanilla suspended in the custard, use a vanilla paste or an extract that features vanilla bean flecks in it.
Personally, I love Mexican vanilla, so I steeped a whole slit and scraped Mexican vanilla bean in the cream.
If you’d like to try Mexican vanilla extract, try Blue Cattle Truck. It’s one of the best I’ve found.
If you want to try some excellent Mexican vanilla, go with the Blue Cattle Truck Trading Company, based in the US, they source all their beans from a small farm in Mexico. This is the real deal, friends, and worth buying. Use it to make Mexican flan or to flavor the flan layer in chocoflan. You won't regret it!
How to Make Crème Brûlée, Step by Step
As I said at the beginning of this post, crème brûlée isn’t necessarily hard to make, but like many French desserts, the magic is in the details. Here’s how to make it like a pastry chef.
- Heat dairy.
Bring the dairy to a simmer. If you are steeping anything in it, such as a split and scraped vanilla bean, lemon zest, a cinnamon stick, etc, put those in the hot cream and let them steep for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour. You can also pour your cream into a bowl, add your split and scraped vanilla bean (or whatever your using), and let it infuse for 24-48 hours in the fridge before heating anything up. - Divide sugar between the dairy and the yolks.
Add half the sugar to the steeped cream and reheat to a simmer. Whisk the yolks together with the rest of the sugar and the salt. Whisk this mixture occasionally to keep the yolks nice and creamy. - Temper your cream into the eggs.
While whisking the yolk mixture constantly, pour the hot cream (and whatever you’re steeping) into the yolks to bring the temperature up gradually. Once you’ve added about half the hot cream, you can pour the egg mixture back into the pan and whisk well. Resist the urge to continue to cook the custard until it thickens. You’ll end up with creme Anglaise and it will never set up in the oven. - Chill custard overnight.
To get the smoothest, most gorgeous crème brûlée, cover the bowl and chill overnight. If you don’t have the time, you can continue with the baking, but you’ll get the silkiest custards by chilling the mix for at least a few hours.
Jenni Says: Chilling the custard overnight, or ripening it, ensures that it is completely cold before putting it in the oven. As I’ve said, the slower you cook it, the creamier it will be, so starting with a super chilled base makes sense.
Step-by-Step in Photos
For those of you who love a good visual, I’ve made some collages of some of the more important points of making creme brulee.
For each subheading, you’ll get an overview, a collage of numbered images, and, below the collage a detailed description of each photo.
Chilling Custard and Filling Ramekins
After you make the custard, ideally you’ll chill it overnight. Here’s what happens next:
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- After making your custard, tempering in the eggs, and pouring into a bowl, let it cool to warm, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Strain the custard through a fine-mesh strainer and into a pitcher. DO THIS even if you didn’t steep anything in it. You want the custard to be as smooth as possible.
- Arrange your ramekins on a half-sheet pan on an oven rack (pulled out) in your preheated oven. NOTE: You can line the pan with a kitchen towel to minimize splashing when you add the hot water. Fill each ramekin to within about 1/8″ of the top.
- Carefully slide the rack back into position–there may be some sloshing. It happened to me. It’s fine. Carefully pour boiling water in to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. NOTE: When my rack is pulled out, it tilts down just a bit, so I filled the pan a little way, then pushed the rack in so it would be level before adding the rest of the water. That way I don’t accidentally add too much.
As you can see in the photo collage above, I had to use a couple of souffle-style ramekins since I only had 6 of my shallow, wide ramekins.
Don’t be like me, and make sure you have at least 8 shallow ramekins for this recipe.
Go Deeper: Filling the Ramekins and Getting That Water Bath Going
Water baths can be intimidating. You don’t want hot water to get on you or to splash into your custard or all over your oven. This is the best way I’ve found to get the custard into the ramekins, the ramekins in the pan, the pan in the oven, and hot water into the pan all without making a mess.
- Heat your oven to 250F-300F (depending on how much time you have).
- Bring a kettle of water to a boil (or heat a quart of water to a boil in the microwave).
- Line a shallow baking pan such as a half sheet pan with a kitchen towel. (Optional. But using a towel can minimize accidental splashing.)
- Place the empty ramekins into the pan on top of the towel.
- Pour the custard mixture into each ramekin to within 1/8″ of the top.
- If there are any bubbles on the surface of your custard, pop them by running your torch over each one.
- Pull out the center rack in your preheated oven.
- Carefully place the tray onto the rack and slide it back in.
- Once the rack is back in place, slowly pour the boiling water into the tray near the edge, away from the custards to keep it from splashing. Pouring slowly and pouring onto the towel will also help keep it from splashing.
- Fill the pan with water until it comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Close the oven door.
- Tada! No mess!
Pro Tip: To ensure the surface of your custard is completely smooth with no bubbles, briefly run your torch over the surface before baking to magically pop them.
Baking and Removing from the Oven
Filling your water bath and pushing the rack back into the oven is the hardest part. Now, to bake and get them out of the hot water without hurting yourself or dropping anything!
- The custards will bake for roughly 45-50 minutes at 300F. Check them at about 40 minutes, and jiggle them a bit.
- The custards are done when they wobble but don’t slosh. Another good indicator is that any egg mixture that ended up in your pan will also be done. You may also be able to tell that they are a bit more yellow when baked.
- Pull the oven rack out, and lift each ramekin out of the hot water with a spatula. Get the ones in front and then place them on a dry pan, starting at the side away from you. This will minimize any accidental dripping into other custards while “de-water bathing.”
- Allow the custards to cool to warm, and then refrigerate until cold. DO NOT cover with plastic wrap until they are cold. This minimizes condensation. This is important, because for even torching, the tops of the custards must be dry.
Getting Ready to Torch!
Can you serve creme brulee without torching it? Yeah, but then it’s not bruleed. You may as well just make vanilla pudding.
The torching part doesn’t have to be intimidating. Let’s run through it together.
- Use a spoon to sprinkle a generous amount of sugar on top of your chilled and DRY custards.
- Tilt the custards and tap them to spread the sugar evenly. When the first one is done, dump the excess onto the next one, adding more sugar as necessary.
- Once the custards are nicely coated with a thin layer of sugar, wipe off the rims so you don’t get burnt sugar on your ramekins.
- Torch! Hold the torch about 2″ (5 cm) from the custard and keep it moving. Move fairly quickly, but don’t rush.
If you want a thicker layer of sugar, repeat steps 1-4, but do it quickly. Remember, we still want the custard to be chilled on the bottom and warm at the top.
Troubleshooting the Caramelized Sugar
Using a torch, especially a big guy from the home improvement store, can be a little bit fraught. It’s a little heavy, and it takes a little time to get a smooth and even layer of caramel.
Here are a couple of issues that can come up and also how to prevent or at least minimize them.
Because, face it, even a less than perfect creme brulee is way better than having no creme brulee at all.
- In the first image, I have just started to torch that guy. Notice that little bits are starting to burn. That’s because the surface of the custard wasn’t completely flat–I think I must’ve accidentally run parchment over it and messed it up a bit.
- In the second photo, I’m holding the torch still in the center for just a second or two. Too long! I did this for y’all. But it’s a reminder to keep that torch moving in little circles while holding it far enough away from the custard that the sugar has time to melt before it caramelizes.
- The two “problem children.” The one on the left has burned sugar in the center. It’s still edible, but it will definitely be a little bitter there in the middle. And the one on the right? The brulee is actually kind of beautiful, but it’s not perfect since the custard didn’t have a smooth, flat surface.
Crème Brûlée Questions & Answers
The two types of custards are similar, but they do have some differences. Flan is generally baked in deeper ramekins. The custard is a bit less rich (not necessarily made with heavy cream but with a mixture of cream and milk, or half and half). The custard mixture for flan gets poured into ramekins lined with caramelized sugar. This sugar melts during baking and refrigeration, and when you invert the flan to serve, the caramel serves as a sauce. Creme brulee is served in its ramekin and flan is served turned out onto a plate. Flan is served chilled through while creme brulee is served cold on the bottom and warm on top.
Do you cover crème brûlée when baking?
It isn’t necessary to cover the custards as they bake. Do make sure you place the ramekins in a shallow water bath. I like to use a half sheet pan lined with a kitchen towel. Once the custards are on the tray and the tray is in the oven, I carefully pour in boiling water to come about halfway up the sides of the ramekins, so really only about 1/2u0022 since the ramekins are so shallow.
I love the simplicity of just serving the ramekin of creme brulee without any garnish. A few perfect raspberries would be a nice accompaniment, though.
If your creme brulee is warm all the way through, you’ll be missing some of the magic. Chill the custards well, carefully blot up any water from the tops (if there is any condensation on them), and then add a very thin layer of sugar. Torch quickly and evenly. You can add an additional layer of sugar and brûlée again, quickly and evenly.
The goal is to make sure your sugar has caramelized but that the very bottom of the custard is still cool. You can help to ensure it stays that way by placing the custards on a chilled tray while quickly brûléeing the tops.
It isn’t a matter of being served at one or the other temperature. A perfect crème brûlée is served warm at the top of the custard (nearest the torching) and cold on the bottom.
Crème brûlée needs to be torched right before serving and taken out of the fridge just moments before torching it. Again, this is all to make sure the custard is cold on the bottom and warm on top when you serve it.
You want to make sure your custard is thoroughly chilled, so allow at least 4 hours before torching and serving. I like to refrigerate mine overnight.
You can, but most likely the lovely, glass-like topping of caramelized sugar will get all sticky and/or runny, and you won’t be able to re-torch it, either. While it will still taste good, you won’t have the temperature or textural contrasts.
This is a good reason to only torch the exact number you need, and do it right before serving. Keep extras in the fridge and only torch when you’re ready to serve them.
How Do I Know When It’s Done?
This is a great question and one that often trips people up.
You can rely on visual cues–that the custard shimmies rather than sloshes–but if you’ve never made it before, you may not be able to tell when the slosh ends and the shimmy begins.
To be perfectly sure, cook your creme brulees to an internal temperature of 165F. Just stick the probe of you instant read thermometer into the center of the custard.
Don’t worry. Any stab marks will be covered by the layer of sugar you brulee on top.
A Decadent Variation
What do you do to make a creme brulee even more decadent than it already is?
Add cream cheese and Greek yogurt and turn it into a cheesecake creme brulee.
If you love the original, you owe it to yourself to give this version a try!
Questions?
If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.
Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.
If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.
A Note About Measurements
My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.
For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.
I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.
This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
Love This? Please Rate and Review
It will help me and other readers so much if you take a moment to rate and leave a review for this recipe.
You can use the stars to rate 1-5 (5 is best), and leave a review in the comments. It helps me make adjustments if any are needed, and comments help others decide whether the recipe is worth making.
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Thank you so much for taking the time!
Crème Brûlée
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 quart heavy cream 907 grams
- 200 g. sugar 7 oz or a scant cup
- 10 egg yolks
- flavoring (steeped vanilla bean is traditional, but steep cinnamon, zest, espresso beans or herbs or use any extract or liqueur you’d like)
- ½ teaspoon Morton's kosher salt If using a different salt, weigh at 2.5 grams
- Enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins
Instructions
- Put cream (and vanilla bean or anything else you’re steeping in it) and half the sugar in a heavy saucepan.
- Whisk yolks, salt and rest of sugar together thoroughly in a stainless steel bowl. Do not leave out the salt. Please. If you do, your creme brule will taste flat and dumb instead of complex and amazing.
- Bring cream mixture to a simmer. Turn off heat and let whatever you’re steeping steep for 30 minutes, otherwise, just keep going.
- If you’ve steeped something, bring the cream back up to a simmer and temper into the yolk mixture. Whisk thoroughly. It is not necessary to put the mixture back on the heat since you’ll be cooking it more in the oven. If you can’t help yourself and you put it back on the heat and stir until it thickens, it won’t work. The eggs will have thickened as much as they can. The best you’ll be able to do is get a skin on top of what is now basically Creme Anglaise. Nasty.
- Strain your mixture into a bowl placed in an ice bath and cool quickly. Add extracts at this time.
- Chill custard overnight. This is not strictly necessary, but it will give you a better, creamier finished product. If you don’t have the time, just keep going; it’s up to you.
Day Two (or just later)
- The next day, arrange your little ramekins in a large roasting pan with a tea towel in the bottom. Don’t let your ramekins touch.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees, F. at a higher temperature, but again, your finished product will be better if you do it slowly. If you have the time, you can even go with 250F.
- Carefully fill your ramekins almost to the top with the custard. If there are any bubbles on top, pop them with your torch. This is fun, plus, your end product will look better without any bubbles to mar the top before torching.
- If you have the time, let the custards sit at room temperature for a couple of hours. If not, just keep going.
- Pull out your oven rack, set roasting pan with filled ramekins on the rack, then slowly pour in hot water. There will be less chance of splashing if you pour onto the towel. (It is also there for extra insulation).
- Bake until custards are set but still shimmy just a bit. The whole surface of the custard should move as one with no waves or wiggling. This will take a long time, so check them after 40 minutes and then go from there. In a conventional oven 300 degrees, it takes 45-50 minutes. At 250F, it could take over an hour.
- Creme brulee is done when they reach an internal temperature of 165F. Another way to check is to carefully shake the ramekins. When they're done, they'll shimmy without rippling. Think soft-set Jello and not water.
- Remove them from the water bath and let cool for an hour at room temperature, then refrigerate uncovered overnight or up to 2-3 days. (Cover them once they are refrigerator temperature). This should help with any nasty condensation that could inhibit caramelization. NOTE: The safest way to remove them from the hot water is to carefully shove a spatula under each ramekin and move it carefully to a cooling rack.
To Brûlée
- Remove the custards from the refrigerator and check for condensation. If you see any, blot it off with a lint-free towel of some sort.
- Sprinkle a relatively thin layer of granulated sugar evenly over the surface of the custard. Tilt each one to evenly distribute the sugar and pour the excess over the next ramekin of custard.
- Hold the flame of your torch a couple of inches from the custard, constantly moving it in even little circles to melt the sugar evenly, then brown it evenly. If your flame is too hot or too close to the custard, you'll end up with carbon on top of granulated sugar, and that's not at all what we're going for here. Keep your torch moving and don't get too close to the surface of the custard, and you'll be fine.
- If you'd like, you can brûlée in two layers. Sprinkle on a second layer of sugar, and repeat the previous step. Work quickly so the bottoms of the custards stay cold.
- Let sit for a minute or two for the caramel to harden into the characteristic crisp shell, then serve. Heaven.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Nutrition
And that’s it, friends. Enjoy your delicious, creamy French custard. Thanks for spending some time with me today.
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BRAVO! After reading dozens of recipes and watching multiple videos… I was completely frustrated until I found yours.
I am an accomplished cook and always research multiple recipes before attempting a new one.
This is the ONLY recipe I found that was so well written and detailed that it gave me the to make it for a very special occasion.
It got RAVE reviews!
I wish that more chefs would stop assuming that we should just know what they are talking about! I want to know what the texture should be, what the mistakes that are made from small errors and what the best techniques for each detail are.
I must say that after many years of cooking and meeting many famous chefs in the Napa Valley as an event designer, I have never found anyone who really took the time to explain everything in detail and describe the techniques of each step.
Thank you for your diligence and your obvious effort to teach an art that is out of reach if you didn’t attend culinary school.
I will be making this more often and feel completely confident after just one try.
If you haven’t written a cookbook… it’s time!
Fabulous, delicious and beautiful…
I added a few raspberries and mint leaves to decorate the top and they were beautiful.
100 stars.
Leslie, thank you so very much for your comments. I am so thrilled you are confident in making creme brulee and that I played even a small part in that. My goal with this site, which has evolved quite a bit over the last 17 years, is to make it possible for anyone, no matter their skill level coming in, to find success with my recipes. Not everyone wants to learn all the foundational skills and science, but everyone wants to make something delicious. Not everyone loves my super detailed approach, but when someone like you *does* and takes the time to let me know I helped you, it truly means the world. Thank you, thank you!
I haven’t made creme brulee in a long time, so I needed a refresher. I thought, Hey I bet Jenni has a recipe! And indeed you did! This technique is fabulous. Worked perfectly. I’m so glad you posted a temperature for the custard. I baked at 275 for roughly 50 minutes. I steeped walnuts and vanilla beans and made a caramelized walnut and maple topping. Yummy! Thanks again for a great recipe! Dawn
Oh, man, Dawn, that sounds fantastic! I’m so glad you like the base recipe and procedure, and I love that you made it your own in such a delicious way!
Thank you so much for this amazing tutorial! I made these for my family for Christmas and everyone LOVED it! Including several who had never had it before. I was so thrilled with how these turned out.
Tammy, Merry Christmas! I’m so very glad the post and recipe were helpful and that everyone loved the cream brulee. Very cool that you could introduce some folks to it for the first time, too!