Chocolate Creme Brulee Recipe (2024)

I’ve made thisCreme Brulee recipemany times now, at one point making it 3 times in one week. Oh, the rigours of recipe testing. Let me tell you a secret, Chocolate Crème Brulee is easy to make. Like, the same revelation I had when I discoveredhow-easy-panna-cotta-was-to-makekind of easy.

If you love custards and puddings you’ll love this recipe. You’ll also love these similar recipesSalted Caramel Pots De Creme,Easy Dark Chocolate Potsand theseFrangelico Chocolate Custard Pots.

What is it?

Creme brulee is a rich baked custard dessert with a crisp layer of caramelised sugar on top. After baking the dessert is chilled and the sugar top is caramelised right before serving.

You may also have heard of chocolate pots de creme? Another lovely French term,pots de creme are basically a creme brulee without the caramelised sugaron top. Pots de creme also tend to be a little less ‘set’ than creme brulee as they’ll often use milk in place of some or all of the cream. You can certainly make these into chocolate pots de creme just by not creating the sugar crust on top.

Ingredients you’ll need

Crème brulee is a mixture of 4 very simple ingredients.

• Cream
• Egg yolks
• Sugar
• Vanilla

That’s it and if you’re anything like me you have those ingredients on hand, ALWAYS.

For this chocolate crème brulee recipe, I swap out the vanilla and add chocolate. You can actually still add 1 teaspoon of vanilla if you like though,

You must use dark chocolate (50% – 70% cocoa) and try to use a very good quality eating chocolate – not a baking or compound chocolate. You only need 100g / 3.5oz but, being that there are only 4 ingredients going into this, good flavour and texture is a must. It won’t make them bitter, I promise.

The recipe – step by step

Making creme brulee is extremely easy. For this chocolate version;

1. You start by heating the cream and some sugar, then pouring it over finely chopped dark chocolate (almost as if you were making ganache). Let that sit for about 5 minutes before giving it a stir until you have a smooth chocolate cream. (photos 1,2,3)

2. Beat the egg yolks and the remaining sugar until light and creamy then very slowly, pour the chocolate cream into the egg yolks while beating on low. Don’t mix it all in at once, otherwise you’ll end up with scrambled eggs.

3. Strain the chocolate custard (image 6) then pour it into ramekins and bake on very low heat for 1 ¼ hours. Don’t be tempted to increase the heat or the texture will suffer.
4. Cool in the fridge overnight.
5. Sprinkle sugar on top and use a kitchen torch tocaramelise it right before serving

I nearly forgot to mention but point 4 above means,BONUS, this is a make ahead dessert, perfect for if you’re having friends round. You can make these glorious little baked chocolate custard pots a couple of days ahead and then brulee the tops right before serving. Brulee-ing the tops can take a minute each, so maybe just small dinner parties, not parties of 30 people 🙂

7 comments Leave a Comment »