Lavender & raspberry crème brûlée
Lavender in crème brûlée is a classic addition, conjuring summer in Provence. A light hand is best, as you want a waft of evocative herby-floral scent, not soapy intensity. Raspberries shelter beneath the blanket of custard and the crackling sugar shell, offering bursts of sharpness and contrast.
SERVES 4
⚫ 500ml double cream
⚫ 2-3tsp fresh lavender flowers (or 1tsp dried)
⚫ 20 raspberries
⚫ 5 egg yolks
⚫ 50g caster sugar 1 Put the cream and lavender flowers in a small pan and heat slowly up to a simmer, then set aside to infuse for 30min. Strain and return to the pan.
2 Sit 4 small heatproof ramekins in a baking tin and put 5 raspberries in each. Preheat oven to 160°C (140°C fan) mark 3.
3 In a bowl, stir together the egg yolks and 25g of the sugar. Heat cream again until a ring of tiny bubbles forms around the edge. Slowly trickle the hot cream into the yolks, stirring constantly. Divide the mixture into the ramekins then poke down the raspberries to drown them. Fill the baking tin with tap-hot water, to about two-thirds of the way up the ramekins. Bake for 25min, or until the custard is set with a delicate quiver. Cool, then chill in the fridge. 4 Just before serving, sprinkle the remaining sugar over the tops of the 4 creams and use a blowtorch or hot grill to melt and caramelise the tops.
Floral flavours are lovely here. Infuse the cream with ground saffron or rose geranium leaves. Or skip the infusion and flavour with flower waters or classic vanilla extract to taste.
‘Spice and sweetness have been bound together with lust and ardour since the first syllables of recorded history’