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Crema Catalana

Discover Crema Catalana, the Spanish cousin to crème brûlée. This vibrant, citrus-infused custard offers a silky texture and a signature caramelized sugar crust, perfect for an elegant dessert.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chill Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 25 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 400g Whole Milk
  • 60g Egg Yolks 3-4 Medium Eggs
  • 10g Cornflour
  • 60g Caster Sugar
  • 8g Orange Zest 2 Oranges
  • 4g Lemon Zest 2 Lemons
  • 1 Cinnamon Stick
To Finish
  • Demerara Sugar

Equipment

  • Heavy Bottom Saucepan
  • Silicone Spatula
  • Microplane or Zester
  • Fine Mesh Sieve
  • Ramekins
  • Blowtorch
  • Mixing Bowl

Method
 

  1. Zest orange and lemon into the pan with whole milk along with the cinnamon stick.
  2. 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.
  3. In the mean time, add egg yolk, cornflour and sugar to a bowl and combine until a paste is formed.
  4. Strain the milk through a fine mesh sieve into the egg mixture and combine.
  5. 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
  6. 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.
  7. 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

  1. 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
  2. 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.
  3. 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. 
  4. 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.
Crema Catalana will hold in the fridge for up to 3 days.