Egg-Based Ratios
Crème Brûlée (Heavy Cream to Egg Yolk)
Also: burnt cream, crema catalana (egg ratio), Trinity cream
Six egg yolks per 500 ml heavy cream, baked gently in a bain-marie to an internal 80–82 °C, produces the silky set custard under the iconic caramelised sugar crust.
Crème brûlée is an individually portioned baked custard in which heavy cream, egg yolks, and sugar are combined and cooked in a water bath (bain-marie) at a controlled oven temperature until the proteins set into a smooth, trembling, spoonable gel. Unlike crème anglaise, the custard is not stirred during cooking — the gentle, even heat of the water bath ensures even protein coagulation without the curdling risk of direct heat. Once cold, a thin layer of sugar is applied and torched or grilled to a brittle amber caramel crust — the 'brûlée.' The ratio of cream to yolk determines the final texture: more yolks yield a firmer, richer set; fewer yolks produce a silkier, more delicate custard.
The proportions
- 500 ml
- Heavy cream (double cream, 35–40% fat) — Full-fat cream is non-negotiable; lower-fat cream produces a watery custard that struggles to set.
- 6 large (approx. 110 g)
- Egg yolks — Yolks provide the thickening proteins; more yolks = firmer, more eggy set; 4 yolks per 500 ml yields a barely-set silky custard (restaurant style).
- 80–100 g
- Caster sugar (for custard base) — Dissolve fully in the warm cream before combining with yolks; sugar raises the coagulation temperature slightly, extending the safe baking window.
- 1 pod or 1 tsp paste
- Vanilla — Infused in cream before combining; the defining flavour note in the classic version.
- 1–1.5 tsp per ramekin
- Demerara or granulated sugar (for brûlée crust) — Larger crystals produce a thicker, more satisfying crack; fine caster sugar melts faster but can burn unevenly.
Method
Preheat oven to 150–160 °C (300–320 °F). Warm the cream with vanilla to steaming but not boiling; remove from heat and steep 15 minutes. Whisk yolks and sugar until combined but not aerated (excess air creates bubbles in the finished custard). Slowly temper warm cream into yolks, whisking gently. Strain through a fine sieve to remove chalazae and vanilla pod fragments. Skim any surface foam. Pour into ramekins set in a deep baking dish. Add boiling water to the bain-marie to reach halfway up the ramekins. Bake 30–40 minutes until the edges are set but the centre wobbles like barely-set jelly (internal temperature 80–82 °C / 176–180 °F). Remove from bain-marie, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. To serve: blot dry any surface condensation, dust with sugar, and torch until deep amber and bubbling. Rest 60 seconds before serving.
Tips
- Do not whisk the yolk-cream mixture vigorously — aeration creates surface bubbles in the finished custard. A gentle stir-and-strain approach gives a smoother result. Pop any surface bubbles with a kitchen torch before placing in the oven, or drag a piece of paper towel lightly across the surface.
- The bain-marie water must be boiling when it enters the oven — adding cold water extends bake time unpredictably and risks uneven cooking around the edges.
- Oven temperature matters enormously. An oven running 10 °C hot will overcook the edges before the centre sets. Calibrate with an oven thermometer and use the lower rack away from the top element.
- A probe thermometer inserted at a 45-degree angle into the centre of one ramekin is the only reliable doneness check. The wobble test works but is harder to standardise across oven variability.
- Refrigerate uncovered for the first hour to prevent condensation from forming under cling film, which would pool on the custard surface. Cover after the surface has dried.
Variations
- 4-yolk silky style (restaurant favourite)
4 yolks per 500 ml cream; barely sets, trembles dramatically, melts on the tongue; requires careful temperature monitoring (bake to 78 °C only). More forgiving in restaurant ovens with precise steam-injection.
Catalan predecessor or parallel tradition; uses whole milk instead of cream (or a 1:1 blend), plus 4 whole eggs or 8 yolks; flavoured with lemon zest and cinnamon; thickened on the hob (stirred, starch-enriched) rather than baked. Historically distinct from French crème brûlée.
- Earl Grey or jasmine tea brûlée
Steep 2–3 tbsp loose-leaf tea in the warm cream for 8–10 minutes before straining; proceed identically. The tannins add complexity without affecting the set.
- Chocolate crème brûlée
Add 80 g melted dark chocolate (70%) to the warm cream before combining with yolks; reduce sugar to 60 g. Set temperature is the same; the custard firms more than plain cream due to cocoa butter.
- Salted caramel brûlée
Replace white sugar in base with 80 g dark brown sugar; add 2 g fleur de sel to the custard base; omit vanilla. Brown sugar adds molasses depth; the caramel note is amplified in the brûlée crust.
Related ratios
Same core yolk-cream-sugar triad but cooked on the hob as a pourable sauce; crème anglaise is stirred and unstiffened, crème brûlée is baked into a set gel.
Similar rich cream dessert but thickened with gelatin rather than egg yolk; the set is different — panna cotta moulds and unmoulds, whereas crème brûlée sets to a gel that is eaten directly from the ramekin.
- Flan / Crème Caramel (Whole Egg to Milk to Sugar)
Uses whole eggs plus yolks for a firmer set and typically whole milk or a milk-cream blend; inverted to reveal a caramel sauce, rather than caramelised on top.
Appears in
References
- 1.Professional Baking — Wayne Gisslen, Wiley
- 2.The French Laundry Cookbook — Thomas Keller, Artisan
- 3.Larousse Gastronomique — Prosper Montagné (ed. Hamlyn)
- 4.On Food and Cooking — Harold McGee, Scribner
- 5.Patisserie — William Curley and Suzue Curley, Jacqui Small
Confidence: high
Notes
Bain-marie physics: why even heat matters
Placing ramekins in a water bath caps the effective temperature at 100 °C (the boiling point of water) regardless of oven setting, since the water surrounding the ramekins cannot exceed its boiling point without turning to steam. This prevents the oven's radiant heat from reaching the ramekins directly, which would cause the edges to overcook and pull away from the sides before the centre sets. The custard instead receives slow, even conduction heat from all sides simultaneously. Using boiling water (not cold) when filling the bain-marie ensures the custard begins cooking immediately and at a consistent temperature.
Internal temperature and the set mechanism
Egg yolk proteins begin to denature around 65–70 °C and form a continuous gel network at 80–85 °C. The target internal temperature of 80–82 °C sits at the lower edge of full coagulation, producing a custard that is set but still silky rather than rubbery. Above 85 °C, over-coagulation squeezes water from the protein network (syneresis), resulting in a curdled, grainy texture with liquid pooling around the edges — the most common home-cook failure. The water bath's temperature buffer makes this outcome much less likely than direct baking would.
The provenance dispute
France, England (Trinity College Cambridge), and Catalonia all claim ownership of the brûléed custard concept. The 17th-century Trinity Burnt Cream story is popular but poorly documented; François Menon's 18th-century French cookbooks contain clear crème brûlée references predating the Cambridge legend. Crema catalana has a demonstrably distinct culinary tradition using milk, whole eggs, starch, lemon, and cinnamon — structurally different enough that most food historians treat it as a parallel development rather than a direct ancestor of the French preparation.