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Smoking Chimney

Recipes from a working kitchen · Cape Town

Creme Brulee

By Marna Ross Updated 12 August 2026 4.57 from 7 ratings French
Crème Brûlée is one of the first desserts you hear when people talk about French Desserts. Crème Brûlée means ‘burnt cream’. There are many recipes available on crème Brûlée and I would like to share this one with you. What makes this crème Brûlée recipe more special is because you add some almond essence to it. At a later stage I will also share my milk tart recipe with you - there the almond flavour also gives it a special extra taste. More about that later. Crème Bûlée has always been very special to many people. When you search or visit popular restaurants you will most of the time get Crème Brûlée on the dessert menu. When I was working at a boutique hotel/guest house establishment about 2 years ago, wedding brides were always keen to take it as a dessert option. We used to serve Italian Almond Biscotti with it and a beautifully strawberry coulis. It can be enjoyed as a light lunch dessert or a dinner dessert and is the perfect way to end off your meal. You can also decorate this dessert with beautiful summer fruits and icing sugar on the plate. The secret to this recipe is that the custard part of the dessert must be creamy and not too runny. The topping must be thin, but hard so that it can be enjoyed together. A dessert spoon must easily go through when you knock against it. Enjoy this lovely dessert.
A smooth creme brulee dessert with a perfectly caramelised, brittle sugar crust on top.
Prep 30 min
Cook 20 min
Total 50 min
Serves 4

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Ingredients

  • 500 ml cream
  • 1 vanilla bean/pod, cut lengthwise, seeds scraped
  • 5 ml vanilla essence
  • 1-2 drops almond essence
  • 100 g caster sugar

Method

  1. Place the cream in a saucepan over low heat. Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds

  2. Add the vanilla pod and the seeds in the saucepan and heat the cream just underneath boiling point, remove from the heat and set aside

  3. Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius.NOTE: You will later remove the vanilla pod. It just gives extra flavour to the milk while cooking

  4. Separate the eggs - you are just going to use the egg yolks

  5. Whisk the egg yolks and the caster sugar together until light and fluffy. It will go thicker the more you whisk and the colour will become lighter

  6. Take the vanilla pod out of the cream mixture and add the cream to the whisked egg mixture while you still keep whisking

  7. Pour the mixture through a sift into the ramekins. Place the ramekins in a large baking dish covered with water halfway up the ramekins.Bake it for 20-25 minutes, depending on the seize of the rameklins

  8. Crème brulée is ready when the texture looks like jelly. Don't bake it for too long as the mixture will curdle

  9. Let it cool to room temperature, cover with clingfilm and keep in the fridge until further set

  10. Sprinkle a layer of caster sugar over the cold Crème Brulée,Use a blue torch to caramelize the sugar to a light caramel colour. It can also be done underneath the oven grill

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