While many are familiar with the iconic French Crème Brûlée, allow me to introduce you to its equally captivating Spanish cousin: Crema Catalana. This traditional Catalan dessert offers a delightful twist on the classic baked custard, boasting a lighter, often citrus-infused flavuor profile and a distinct caramelised sugar crust. It’s a dessert steeped in history, traditionally enjoyed on Saint Joseph’s Day, but truly perfect for any occasion.
Crema Catalana shares the same satisfying crack as its French counterpart, but its preparation often involves cooking the custard on the stovetop rather than baking it, relying on starch for thickening. This subtle difference, along with the bright notes of orange, lemon and cinnamon, gives it a unique charm.
In this post, we’ll guide you through the authentic preparation of Crema Catalana, demystifying the process and ensuring you achieve that perfectly smooth custard and signature crisp topping. Get ready to explore a delicious piece of Spanish culinary heritage and add this elegant dessert to your repertoire!
Ingredients
- Whole Milk – Choosing the correct dairy is going to determine the flavour, body and texture of the custard. Whole milk delivers in all areas giving you the ideal smooth, rich and flavourful custard.
- Egg Yolk – We use egg yolks for it rich fattiness for additional flavour and for structure as it will aid in thickening the custard.
- Cornflour – Only a small amount of cornflour is needed here, we just want it to aid in thickening.
- Caster Sugar
- Orange Zest
- Lemon Zest
- Cinnamon Stick
- Demerara – We want to use a sugar that has large granules, demerara or granulated it best. I prefer demerara since it isn’t as sweet as granulated sugar plus there the benefit of the flavour from demerara. Use whichever you prefer.
All the equipment you will need
- Heavy Bottom Saucepan
- Mixing Bowls
- Microplane or Zester
- Ramekins – My ramekins are 10cm in diameter and 3cm deep. They roughly hold about 110ml of water and needed 130g of the crema catalana custard, this recipe is enough to make 4 servings. Be sure to check the volume of your ramekins to determine how much custard to make for the number of servings.
- Silicone Spatula
- Fine Mesh Sieve
- Blowtorch
Storage of Crema Catalana
Crema Catalana can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. Keep it surfaced wrapped with cling film to stop a skin forming.
Crema Catalana
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Zest orange and lemon into the pan with whole milk along with the cinnamon stick.
- Place the pan onto the stove and bring to a boil. When it reaches a boil remove off the heat and let it infuse for 10 minutes.
- In the mean time, add egg yolk, cornflour and sugar to a bowl and combine until a paste is formed.
- Strain the milk through a fine mesh sieve into the egg mixture and combine.
- Add it back into a clean pan and place on the stove on a low-medium heat, continuously stirring until the custard thickens, cook out for 2 minutes.1
- Decant straight into you ramekins and surface wrap with cling film to stop a skin forming. Leave to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before placing into the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours.
- When ready to serve, add demerara sugar to the top and swirl until you have evenly coated the top and decant any excess. With a blowtorch, carefully caramelise your sugar and serve immediately.2
Notes
- Use your best judgement when cooking the custard. You just want to cook it long enough for the cornflour to cook out, without scrambling the mix
- A blowtorch is ideal here because of the water content in the custard. Applying too much heat will draw the moisture out of the custard and cause it to split. Serve immediately, again the moisture in the custard will dissolve the sugar very quickly.
- You could also use this flavour in my crème brûlée recipe, follow the brûlée recipe as is but instead of vanilla add the zest and cinnamon stick to the dairy and allow it to infuse after boiling.
- My ramekins are 10cm in diameter and 3cm deep. They roughly hold about 110ml of water and needed 130g of the crema catalana custard, this recipe is enough to make 4 servings. Be sure to check the volume of your ramekins to determine how much custard to make for the number of servings.