Dinner party perfect.
About three years ago, my friend Sandra and I decided to do some serious cooking together in the kitchen. We’re both cooking buffs and this was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon together. After much deliberation, we settled on three recipes. One of which was this burnt caramel pudding.
Don’t know about you but I really LOVE caramel. Caramel ice cream, caramel lollies, caramel sauce, caramel anything. There’s something mysterious about the flavour that I just can’t describe. But caramel is truly delicious. That’s why this particular recipe caught my eye. Burnt caramel pudding using simple ingredients to make this dinner party dessert.
When it comes to puddings, those thickened with cornflour make great comfort food. However, desserts such as this one which uses egg yolks as its only setting agent, elevates a humble pudding to dinner party-perfect. With any egg-based custards, the key is careful tempering.
What is tempering?
Tempering is just a fancy word to say you need to mix two liquids of different temperatures together to stabilise them. This is so you don’t alter the texture of the liquids such as curdling, or in the case of eggs, scrambling them. To temper eggs, you need to SLOWLY add a little hot liquid to the egg mixture, whisking to combine. Then take the egg mixture and add it to the hot milk and whisk. It’s an important part of the process otherwise you’ll end up with burnt caramel flavoured scrambled eggs… not terribly appetising!
When it comes to making this dessert, you need to take the sugar syrup as far as your nerves will allow. This means you cook it until you reach a deep amber colour before adding in the cream to stop the cooking process. You’re not actually burning the caramel – this is not really inaccurate. You want to take the syrup as close to it as possible without taking it too far. Watching the syrup like a hawk is absolutely key.
So after three years, I’ve decided it’s time to share this recipe with you all. If you too love caramel, without a doubt love this dessert!
Want another delicious recipe?
If you like this recipe, you’ll also love others available here. From pastas to risottos, cookies to desserts, and bliss balls to gluten-free options with everything in between. There is truly something here for everyone. I have developed this website to provide family-friendly recipes where I maximise both fresh produce while minimising cost.
Burnt Caramel Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 large egg yolks, room temperature
- fine sea salt, optional
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 150°C.
- Pour the cream into a small saucepan. Add the vanilla paste. Turn the heat to low to gently warm the cream.
- Reserve 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Pour the remaining sugar and 1½ tablespoons water into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and set over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Then turn the heat to high and let the liquid bubble away. Don't stir, just swirl the pan occasionally until the liquid turns dark amber. This takes about 4 minutes, but watch closely because it happens fast.
- Moving quickly, slowly stir the warm cream into the caramel over medium heat. Once it comes to a boil (it will fast), turn off the heat and let the mixture cool for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Temper the eggs by whisking a little of the cream/caramel mixture into the egg yolks. Gradually add the rest until all incorporated.
- Strain the mixture into a large measuring cup then pour into four ramekins. Place the ramekins in a shallow pan half-filled with cold water. If you like your caramel a bit salty like me, sprinkle a few extra grains of sea salt on top of each one.
- Cook for about 60-75 minutes. Remove from oven, then chill in fridge for at least 3 hours but overnight is best.
- Serve with whipped heavy cream.