It’s our third Valentine’s Day as parents. (I almost wrote second but I did some counting back and corrected myself – parenthood does a number on your math skills and sense of time!) We should be experienced hands at juggling life and baby and dog and us, right? Sort of? We did remember to make dinner reservations in time this year instead of making a panicked realization a week before to look up what places still had tables open. And I finished all of Isabelle’s valentines for daycare a week in advance, so I almost feel like I’m winning at being organized, for this brief blissful moment.
Of course, all these little victories take a lot of coordination, understanding, and helping out on both sides. Here’s what love means to me right now: telling my hubby, “Can you hold Isabelle still over there while I torch these crème brûlées?” There’s nothing like knowing someone is watching your back and keeping your baby safe so you can play with fire in the kitchen in peace. So this post is dedicated to my husband, without whom we wouldn’t have a dinner reservation, and without whom these desserts might never have been finished and photographed in time. Don’t worry, he got to eat them after the shoot was finished – the ones that Isabelle didn’t get to first.
I was surprised to find out it had been a while since I had done crème brûlée on this blog. That’s the challenge, I guess with blogging and staying creative: I always want to try something new rather than go back to a recipe I’ve already done. Sometimes my hubby will ask, “What about that cheesecake/cookie/bread you made that one time?” and I’ll kind of squint and ponder and say, “Nah, I don’t really feel like making that again right now.”
But I’m not going to say no to a request on Valentine’s Day. I took it as a challenge to get even more creative and do a spin on this classic. Luckily, I recently received a shipment of wonderful products from Rodelle to try, and their selection of vanilla-y and chocolate-y items pretty much informed what I was going to do.
The deep dark secret to this crème brûlée is the layer of homemade chocolate sauce at the bottom, waiting to be swirled into the top layer of rich vanilla custard. Chocolate sauce is one of those things that once you make it yourself, you think, that’s it? Just a couple ingredients and a few minutes and I can have warm chocolate goodness to drizzle over anything? You don’t even need to melt chocolate – cocoa powder is all you need.
The easiest way to make chocolate sauce is with your favorite cocoa powder, sugar, and water. I added a bit of butter for some extra richness, plus some chocolate extract from Rodelle. I have never used chocolate extract before; it’s meant to be used similar to vanilla extract to add extra flavor to baked goods and dishes. As I discovered while reading up on chocolate extract, it’s made by soaking cacao beans in alcohol, which soak up the chocolate flavor and scent. When cacao beans are ground up to make chocolate, a lot of the “top notes” of the flavor are lost in the process. Chocolate extract brings back these notes, so adding it to your chocolate recipes basically rounds out and punches up the chocolate flavor.
This chocolate sauce is intense, not too sweet, and just the right thickness to blend with the crème brûlée. I decided to go with a sauce and not say a ganache, because the custard is already so rich, that I didn’t want a thick gooey layer of chocolate competing.
The crème brûlée, which doubles up on the vanilla intensity with vanilla beans and vanilla extract, is, as always for me, deceptively unnerving but surprisingly easy, just as I remembered. The key is to trust the jiggle test; if they look mostly set with the centers just wiggling when you jiggle the pan, take them out. If most of the custard seems to still be sloshing around, put them back in to cook. Remember, they will set up more as they cool and chill, so don’t worry that they don’t look totally done. I’m just really enamored of how all the colors and textures play against each other here: the sweet crackle of the caramelized sugar, the smooth, silken custard, and then the dark ribbon of liquid chocolate curling through. Date-night worthy, indeed. Apparently also toddler-worthy – Isabelle took one spoonful and deemed it, “yummy pudding.” I am going to take that as ringing endorsement of this recipe.
By the way, I had a lot of fun shooting these crème brûlées on Alessi’s gorgeous plates. You might remember I did a collaboration with them last year, and I’m still in love with their modern-meets-whimsical designs. These little heart shaped coffee spoons on a heart shaped crème brûlée – too twee? Somehow, Alessi makes it work.
Have a very sweet Valentine’s Day!
Disclaimer: I received several products from Rodelle to review. I was not compensated for this post and all opinions are my own.
Chocolate Sauce
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract
Vanilla Crème Brûlée
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup extra sugar for brûléeing
For the chocolate sauce:
- Combine cocoa powder, sugar, water, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-low, whisking constantly to break up the lumps.
- Remove from heat and add in butter. Stir to melt and incorporate. Add in chocolate extract.
- Pour sauce into bottom of six to eight small ramekins, coating the bottoms evenly. You don't need to use all the sauce; just a thin layer is fine.
- Place ramekins in freezer to chill while making the creme brûlée custard.
For the creme brûlée custard:
- Place cream in a medium saucepan. Split vanilla bean and scrape pulp into the cream. Add vanilla bean to the cream.
- Bring cream to a boil over medium heat. Turn off heat and cover saucepan, and let steep for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325 minutes.
- Whisk egg yolks and sugar together in a medium bowl.
- Slowly pour about half of the cream mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly to temper the eggs. Pour the rest of the cream mixture in and whisk to combine.
- Add in vanilla extract and salt and whisk to combine. Strain the custard if desired to get rid of any lumps.
- Remove ramekins from freezer and divide custard mixture among the cups.
- Place ramekins in a large baking or roasting pan. Carefully fill the pan with hot water, taking care not to get water in the ramekins. Carefully place the pan into the oven.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the custards seems mostly set and the centers still jiggle slightly. When the custards are done, they should shimmy slightly when you move the pan (careful not to spill water!) but the center should not move separately. If, however, it has set like Jello and there are bubbles forming on the top it is becoming overcooked and you should remove the custards immediately. If the custards start rising at any point they have become overcooked.
- Remove pan from oven. Take ramekins out of the water and place on wire rack to cool.
- When ramekins are cool enough to touch, cover and chill for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator.
- When you are ready to serve the crème brûlées, take one ramekin at a time and sprinkle the top with sugar evenly over the top. Using a hand-held blowtorch, carefully caramelize the sugar. Keep the flame at least 2 inches from the sugar to prevent burning the sugar. You can also caramelize the sugar under a broiler.
- Let the sugar cool for a couple of minutes before serving. Do not brûlée the custards more than 20 minutes before serving or the sugar may melt.
Anita Chu, also known as pastrygirl, is a baker, writer, and photographer with a passion for pastry. She trained at Tante Marie's Cooking School and is the author of Field Guide to Cookies, Field Guide to Candy, and Lollipop Love. Anita lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, and dog Max. 
What a cool dessert! I’m all for combining custard + chocolate, it sounds great 🙂
These look really indulgent, I need to lay my hands on a blowtorch!
Yum! This looks absolutely delicious and what a gorgeous presentation:)
Haha, yes, parenthood + math + time never works out. And it’s probably a good thing. These little ones just grow waaaaaaaay too fast!
Creme Brulee is awesome and I love your black bottom version. It is definitely something I would make for myself.
First off, those dishes and that spoon are amazing! I love this so much, creme brûlée is my favorite!
I think I am going to make this for my husband he will absolutely love it.
Oh that’s gorgeous! I love that spoon! 🙂
Looks amazing AND delicious!
YUMMM this looks so delish!
You are definitely winning at being organized for Valentine’s Day! It sounds as though you and your husband are a great team. These creme brûlée, with that gorgeous layer of chocolate, sound like the perfect Valentine’s dessert.
It’s been a long time since I’ve made a creme brulee. But, now you have me craving them! And, the chocolate bottom… awesome!
So if I wasn’t scared of messing this recipe up, I’d totally make it this weekend for my husband and I. I love love love all your photos that you took of it. Especially the one of the sauce pouring into the ceramic bowl!
Holy moly. Chocolate and creme brulee?! Where have you been all my life?! Definitely happening soon!
My husband says the same thing about making xxxx again and I’m always like “nah, I need to do yyyy”. I totally get you but I’m glad you revisited the creme brûlée again, especially with the chocolate sauce.
I have a serious creme brulee problem. Meaning if it’s ever on the menu I’m ordering it. This looks incredible.
I love these – they’re beautiful. And the chocolate sauce at the bottom? Score! Perfect to celebrate.
you can’t top creme brulee, unless it’s like this. Amazing and drooling just looking at it 🙂
Totally pinning this! Gorgeous:-). So impressed you have the energy to tackle this with a baby!
Aw, this is so freaking cute! It also looks really delicious…also, i want those spoons!
Oh that cute spoon is adorable! This looks luscious! I’ve got to get on the bandwagon of making creme brulee!
This is fun! Love the surprise at the bottom.
Chocolate on the bottom? That is so much genius I can’t even handle it! And those plates and spoons are too cute!
This is so elegant looking. Love this for Valentines day. And the combination of chocolate is perfect.
No Repeats is definitely an occupational hazard of living with a food blogger. You rocked the organization this year–and by adding chocolate sauce to the bottom of the creme brulee!
Creme brulee is my favorite dessert. I just made a chocolate espresso creme brulee a few weeks ago and now I want to try your recipe. Oh well, you can never have too much creme brulee, right? Nice recipe, fun spoon 🙂
oh my word, such deliciousness! Want to come over and make some for me? Cause there’s no way mine will come out looking like that!
Made this for Christmas dinner and it was huge hit! Recommend that you only use a small amount of the sauce on the bottom, as suggested… I used to much and we all agreed that more is not better in this case Other note is to start with 6 ramekins and only use 8 if there’s enough “creme.” My creme layer was pretty thin because I made 8 servings. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Susan,
Thanks so much for the comment and for using my recipe! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it and I appreciate the feedback as well! I’ll update the recipe to note that the amount of sauce can be reduced for taste or serving size. Thanks again for visiting my site!