Lemon Crème Brûlée
This lemon crème brûlée is decadently delicious, with a subtle lemony tang, a smooth and rich custard base and a crisp sugar shell.
This lemon crème brûlée is decadently delicious. I had to test it a few times to get the right amount of lemon in it – too much lemon juice affected the setting of the custard, but too little and you couldn’t taste it. I’ve now found a balance I’m happy with. To bring out extra lemon flavour I rub lemon zest into sugar before whisking it into egg yolks. This releases the lemon oils and makes the sugar beautifully fragrant. The actual zest will get sieved out of the custard, so I want to get all the flavour out of it that I can before this happens. Then there are also a couple of tablespoons of fresh lemon juice in the mixture too, too add a hint of tang.
These are great to make ahead of time, they need ample chilling time, so it’s great when hosting a dinner party to have dessert done and dusted the day before! Just add the crunchy caramelised sugar topping before serving – it will get soft if refrigerated.
Equipment
- A cook’s blowtorch to melt the sugar on top the custard. If you don’t have one, you could also let the sugar melt under the broiler for 5-10 minutes, but take care they don’t burn.
- Four 6-ounce ramekins
- A deep roasting dish with high sides.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need for this lemon creme brulee recipe. Find the ingredient amounts listed in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Sugar – Just granulated white sugar for the custard and to create the caramalized sugar topping.
- Fresh lemon juice and zest – To infuse as much lemon as we can without changing the set of the custard, the lemon zest will get rubbed into sugar to release the oils.
- Vanilla extract. Just a little, but not too much to overpower the lemon.
- Heavy cream – This creates a rich and decadent custard.
- Egg yolks – The egg yolks set the custard and make it oh-so creamy and that gorgeous yellow colour. You can save the egg whites for Swiss meringue buttercream or meringues!
- Salt – a flavor enhancer.
Method
- Preheat your oven. The custard gets cooked at a low temperature as not to curdle the eggs.
- Heat the cream in a saucepan until just simmering but not boiling, then remove it from heat.
- While the cream is heating, rub together lemon zest and sugar. Whisk in egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and vanilla.
- Slowly stream the hot cream into the egg mixture and whisk constantly.
- Strain the mixture through a sieve and divide over 4 ramekins.
- Carefully add in hot water, until halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake until set but still with a jiggle to the custard. If the center still looks sloshy, it’s not quite ready. Remove from the water, cool for 20 minutes and chill for at least 4 hours.
- Sprinkle evenly with sugar.
- Toast the sugar until deeply caramalized.
Enjoy!
More lemon recipes
- Frosted Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars
- Mini Lemon Meringue Tartlets
- Zippy Microwave Lemon Curd
- Lemon Curd Crumble Cookies
Lemon Crème Brûlée
Ingredients
- 360 g heavy cream
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon zest finely grated
- 4 large egg yolks
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Topping
- Granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300°F / 150°C. Position the rack in the center.
- Bring a jug of water to the boil.
- In a large bowl, rub together sugar and lemon zest until the lemon oils are released and the sugar is fragrant. Whisk in the egg yolks, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt.
- Heat the cream in a saucepan until just simmering but not boiling, then remove it from heat.
- Gradually stream the hot cream into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so the egg yolks don’t curdle. Placing the bowl on a lightly dampened tea towel can help stop it moving on the bench while you whisk. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a jug.
- Add four 6-ounce ramekins to a deep roasting pan, then evenly divide the custard mixture among them.
- Carefully pour hot boiled water into the roasting pan until halfway up the sides of the ramekins, taking care not to splash water into the custard.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until set but still with a jiggle to the custard. If the center still looks sloshy, it’s not quite ready. Every oven will be different, so check your custards.
- Remove the ramekins from the water bath, and cool them to room temperature on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then refrigerate them for at least 4 hours.
- When ready to serve, sprinkle about two teaspoons of sugar evenly over each cold custard. Caramelize the sugar with a kitchen torch until the sugar has melted and turned a deep golden brown. Allow the caramel to cool, then serve.
