Chocolate crémeux with caramel

These thick and luscious custards are simple to make and a nice finish to a dinner party. Make the chocolate creams a day ahead and chill them overnight. The caramel, however, is best made on the day. We love the combination of caramel, chocolate and custard, but the custards are also great topped with chopped shop-bought candied nuts or sliced fruit.

Prep time 15 mins, cook 20 mins (plus cooling, setting)

Serves 6 (pictured p99)

500 ml (2 cups) milk

300 ml pouring cream

½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped 110 gm ( ½ cup) caster sugar

6 egg yolks

190 gm dark chocolate (63% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped

Caramel

250 gm caster sugar

1 Bring milk, cream, vanilla bean and seeds, and half the sugar to the boil in a saucepan. Meanwhile, whisk yolks with remaining sugar until pale and creamy. Gradually add hot milk mixture, stirring to combine, then return to a clean saucepan and stir continuously over low heat until mixture thickly coats the spoon (14-15 minutes).

2 Remove from heat and add chocolate and stir until smooth. Pour into a bowl placed over ice and stir occasionally until cooled (10 minutes). Divide mixture among six shallow 200ml dishes and refrigerate until set (at least 6 hours, or overnight). 3 For caramel, scatter sugar over the base of an extra-large frying pan over medium heat and cook, without stirring, until sugar begins to caramelise at the edges (1 minute), then stir occasionally with a wooden spoon until sugar is caramelised (4-6 minutes). Pour onto a lightly oiled and warmed oven tray and tilt tray to thinly spread caramel. Stand to cool and set (20-25 minutes), then break caramel into shards and serve on top of crémeux.