The taste of this dessert solely depends on the caramel. Care should be taken not to burn the caramel as it will taste bitter and ruin the flavour of the dessert. A darker caramel with slight bitterness is preferred to offset the sweetness of the custard rather than a pale caramel which is too sweet.
Caramel custard can be steamed or baked in a water bath, also known as the bain-marie. Served chilled, this classic dessert is so soft that it melts in your mouth. An all time favourite loved by everyone.
(Serves 8)
Caramel
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons water
Method:
In a saucepan, heat sugar with water. Do not stir sugar but swirl the pan. Cook till sugar is dark amber in color. Pour caramel in a baking dish or pan ensuring to spread caramel along the bottom and sides of the dish. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 300 F or 150 C.
Custard
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups milk
4 eggs
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method:
Beat eggs with sugar in a bowl, then add vanilla extract. Simultaneously, heat milk in a saucepan. When slightly warm, pour milk gradually into the egg mixture while whisking continuously to prevent eggs from cooking. This is called tempering where the temperature of the eggs are raised without heating them through. Do not add warm milk all at once. Strain the egg mixture through a sieve into the prepared baking dish or pan. Ensure that the caramel is cool and set before pouring the egg mixture.
Bake in a water bath or bain-marie until the custard has set all around with a slight jiggle in the centre. Baking time varies depending on the size, type and brand of the oven. Alternatively, the custard can be steamed.
Once set, lift the baking dish or pan carefully out of the water and cool. Cover and chill overnight in the refrigerator. When serving, run a knife all round the edge of the custard and with your hands, gently move baking dish or pan both clockwise and anti-clockwise to loosen custard. Invert onto a dish, cut into wedges and serve.
Note:
- A water bath or bain-marie is a method of heating desserts gradually. A wide deep pan (preferably a roasting pan) that can accommodate a smaller baking dish or pan is used. The smaller pan with the dessert mixture is placed inside the large one. Hot water is poured in the large pan till it reaches halfway up the outside of the smaller pan. The large pan with the hot water and smaller pan containing the dessert mixture is carefully placed in the oven. The water bath method heats the dessert gently, preventing it from burning, drying or curdling.
- Custard distributed in 6 ramekins (above) and baked in a water bath for 30 minutes.
- For a creamy consistency, substitute 2 1/2 cups milk with 1 1/4 cups milk and 1 1/4 cups cream.
- Caramel custard can be prepared in any shaped mould to give it an elegant look. Here I have used a heart-shaped cake pan with the caramel prepared directly in the pan over a stove (see step by step pictures below). Set the pan aside for the caramel to firm and cool, while you prepare the custard.