Madagascar vanilla crème caramel

This vanilla crème caramel is a timeless French classic, brought to life with Madagascar vanilla extract: a silky, melt-in-the-mouth custard crowned with a deep amber caramel.
 

Serves: 6

Baking: 35 min

Resting: 6 hrs minimum

Products used:

Vanilla crème caramel with Madagascar vanilla and amber caramel

Caramel

Ingredients

  • 200 g caster sugar
  • 60 g water

Method

  1. Combine the caster sugar and water in a heavy-based saucepan.
  2. Cook over a medium-high heat without stirring, simply swirling the pan from time to time so that it cooks evenly.
  3. Continue cooking until you obtain a dark amber caramel, around 175–180 °C.
  4. Immediately divide the caramel between the 6 metal moulds.
  5. Quickly tilt each mould to spread the caramel evenly over the base and slightly up the sides.
  6. Set aside at room temperature until the caramel has fully hardened.

Vanilla custard

Ingredients

Preparing the custard base

  1. Preheat the oven to 140 °C.
  2. Prepare a bain-marie by bringing a sufficient quantity of water to the boil.
  3. In a saucepan, combine the whole milk and the cream.
  4. Heat until simmering, without bringing to a rolling boil.
  5. In a mixing bowl, combine the whole eggs, yolks, sugar and fleur de sel with a whisk.
  6. Mix without over-whisking, to limit the amount of air incorporated.
  7. Gradually pour the hot milk and cream mixture over the egg mixture in a thin stream, whisking gently, to temper it progressively.
  8. Add the vanilla extract and stir gently.
  9. Strain the mixture through a fine chinois, then strain it a second time to obtain a perfectly smooth preparation.
  10. Carefully remove any foam or bubbles from the surface.

Filling the moulds

  1. If necessary, allow the mixture to cool slightly.
  2. Gently pour the mixture into the caramelised moulds over the back of a spoon, so as not to disturb or hollow out the caramel.
  3. Fill the moulds evenly.

Baking in a bain-marie

  1. Place the moulds in a sufficiently deep, rimmed dish.
  2. Place in the oven.
  3. Carefully pour the boiling water into the dish until it comes about halfway up the moulds.
  4. Bake at 140 °C for about 35 minutes, depending on the size and material of the moulds.
  5. Check for doneness: the edges should be set while the centre keeps a slight wobble.
  6. Checkpoint: avoid overbaking. Too high a temperature or too long a bake will give a grainy, less silky texture.

Cooling and setting

  1. Carefully remove the moulds from the bain-marie.
  2. Leave to cool at room temperature on a wire rack.
  3. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, ideally overnight.
  4. This stage allows the custard to finish setting and the caramel to gradually liquefy.

Turning out

  1. Take the custards out of the fridge just before plating.
  2. Carefully run the blade of a thin knife between the custard and the side of the mould to gently loosen the edges.
  3. Place a chilled serving plate on top of the mould.
  4. Invert in one swift, controlled movement.
  5. Lift the mould gradually so that the custard releases naturally.
  6. Check that the caramel has spread evenly around the custard.