Chef Eddy’s Chocolate Crème Brûlée

Chef Eddy's Chocolate Crème Brûlée

By Chef Eddy Van Damme.

When it comes to making the very best desserts from just a few ingredients, quality counts. Lesser quality ingredients may save a few pennies, but your palate will pay the price.

Take my chocolate crème brûlée recipe, for example.

As I worked on perfecting the recipe, I made countless versions until I was able to correctly balance the flavor and consistency into a tantalizing finished presentation. The best results were obtained by using Imperial’s Redi-Measure brown sugar (conveniently premeasured in quarter-cup increments) and just a touch of coffee extract or coffee liquor.

Adding small amounts of coffee extract to enhance the flavor of chocolate is nothing new in the pastry kitchen. But it is extraordinary how brown sugar enhances and completes the chocolate flavor in this brûlée.

If you’re preparing a vanilla crème brûlée, the vanilla bean and the cream are the key ingredients that need to be of excellent quality. In the case of chocolate crème brûlée, it’s the chocolate which needs to be carefully selected. However, it is more than just chocolate that plays a role in good chocolate crème brûlée: it’s having the right chocolate.

When shopping for chocolate, you’re looking for a specialty food store that carries chocolate in a disk shape about (1 cm) in diameter, called “pistols” or “callets” by professionals. They’re made by companies such as Callebaut, Cocoa Barry and others fine chocolatiers. Excellent chocolate can also be found in block form from companies like Callebaut and Valrhona.

Chef Eddy Van Damme

Make sure you taste the chocolate to be certain you’re getting one with the right cocoa amount, which indicates the strength of the chocolate flavor. Too low of a cocoa content will give you a brûlée that’s too sweet and lacks a well-pronounced chocolate flavor. A too-high cocoa content will cause the brûlée to be bitter, and other flavor nuances may be lost.

When preparing the brûlée, you can make it the day before it’s to be served. If made two days before, it will start to become less creamy, so steer clear of preparing too far in advanced.

I often suggest removing desserts from the refrigerator an hour before serving to obtain the best texture and flavor profile. But with chocolate crème brûlée, this isn’t necessary, since the surface of the custard will be torched to obtain the brûlée or burnt surface. The heat of the torch will remove the chill from the custard.

Serving the chocolate crème brûlée with raspberry, mango or passion fruit are also fantastic choices for an extraordinary flavor explosion.

Decorate with a tempered chocolate décor. Use a pastry spatula dipped in tempered chocolate to obtain the organic shaped chocolate décor. Remember to always store tempered chocolate décor in a dark cool place away from odors.

Have fun making this fantastic chocolate crème brûlée. Bon Appetit!

Chocolate Crème Brûlée
4-6 servings
When preparing chocolate crème brûlée, mix the ingredients just enough to combine well. If over- mixed too much foam will develop on the surface. The method below of incorporating the egg yolks is especially designed to eliminate exes foam.

• 1 ½ Cups (12 oz) Heavy cream 360 g
• ½ Cup (4 oz) Milk 120 ml
• ¼ Cup (1 oz) Dark cocoa powder 30 g
• 3 oz (3 oz) Bittersweet chocolate (60%) 90 g
• 4 (4) Egg yolks 4
• ½ Cup, packed 4 oz Brown sugar 120 g
• 2 teaspoon (0.10 oz) Vanilla extract 10 ml
• Use either coffee liquor or instant coffee granules:
  • 3 Tablespoon (1.5 oz) Coffee liquor 45 ml
  • 1 Tablespoon (1 Tbsp) Instant coffee 15 ml

1. In a saucepan bring the cream and milk to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder. Cut the chocolate in small pieces and whisk in the mixture until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl whisk the yolks smooth. Add about a half cup of the cream –chocolate mixture and combine well. Add the brown sugar, vanilla extract and coffee liquor.
3. If the mixture shows excess foam on the surface, let it sit for 15-30 minutes.
4. Place ramekins in an oven proof dish. Fill the ramekins with the crème brûlée mixture. Pour water in the oven proof dish to meet half way up the sides of the ramekins.
5. Place in a 325F (160) until the center of the brûlée no longer trembles, about 70 minutes.
6. Let cool for several hours or overnight. Sprinkle lightly with sugar and caramelize the surface with a blow torch.

Serve with fruit or sorbet.

Read more of Chef Eddy’s fabulous recipes. Click here!