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Crème Brûlée — cartoon recipe illustration
Dessert

Crème Brûlée

Serves 4 Prep 15 mins Cook 40 mins Total 4 hours

Crème Brûlée is a dessert staple we keep on Scoops & Dishes because it rewards a clear metric method: grams and millilitres, Australian cups (250 ml), and steps you can follow without scrolling past a novel. As written it serves 4. Budget about 15 mins to prep and 40 mins to cook or bake, roughly 4 hours all up, across 4 ingredients and 4 method steps. Key building blocks: thickened cream, vanilla bean and egg yolks. If you need a substitute, change one thing at a time and expect the texture notes below to matter more than the timer. Good for puddings after roast night, birthdays, and bring-a-plate invites. Portion generously; leftovers keep if covered in the fridge. Keep Australian cup measures (250 ml) so the ratios match what we tested on the page. We write dessert recipes so you can cook from your phone on the bench: large checkable ingredients, numbered steps, and notes you can skim while the pan heats.

Ingredients

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 150°C. Heat cream with vanilla until just simmering.
  2. Whisk yolks and sugar. Slowly pour in hot cream, whisking. Strain into 4 ramekins.
  3. Bake in a water bath 35–40 minutes until just set. Chill 3 hours.
  4. Sprinkle sugar on top and torch until caramelised.

Tip: No torch? Grill under a hot grill for 1–2 minutes watching carefully.

Notes

  • Serving ideas without fluff: serve warm or chilled depending on the style. Keep accompaniments simple so the dish stays the hero — a green salad, steamed veg, rice, mash, or crusty bread depending on the style. Metric measures stay consistent across Scoops & Dishes, so once you trust the cups and scales here, the rest of the site cooks the same way.
  • Dessert notes: sweetness should taste balanced, not sugary-sharp. If you are adding cream or fruit, whip cream only to soft peaks so it spreads without splitting. Chill or rest when the method asks — structure sets in the fridge more than on the bench. Serve Crème Brûlée at the temperature the recipe implies (warm pudding vs cold slice).
  • From our tested tip, expanded: No torch? Grill under a hot grill for 1–2 minutes watching carefully. Treat that as the non-negotiable. If something still feels off — too wet, too pale, too tight — adjust one variable at a time (heat, liquid, or bake time) rather than changing three things at once.
  • Putting it together for Crème Brûlée: work clean, taste as you go, and do not rush browning or reduction steps if they appear in the method. If you are cooking for mixed diets, plate sauces and toppings separately where practical. Keep this page bookmarked if it becomes a household regular — we update wording when cooks report a confusing step. Metric consistency across Scoops & Dishes means once you trust the cups and scales here, breakfast through dessert behaves the same way.
  • Extra cook's margin: if your pan is thin or your oven runs cool, give Crème Brûlée another minute and check again rather than guessing from memory. Salt in small pinches, especially late in soups, sauces, and batters. Wipe up spills before they bake on. When doubling the recipe, brown or bake in batches so steam does not trap and soften crusts. Write any tweak that worked on a sticky note — your kitchen, your pans, your preference — and keep the published metric baseline as the starting point next time.