Chocolate Creme Brulee

4.82 from 11 ratings

This chocolate creme brulee is the perfect romantic dessert to end a dinner.

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate creme brulee

Servings: people

Calories: 601kcal

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Next heat up your heavy cream so that it's hot but not boiling. You can eyeball it by seeing if smoke is wafting off your cream or by sticking your finger in there to feel the temperature of the cream. It should be hot not boiling.
After heating up your cream, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks in a small bowl. Make sure you have a smooth consistency.
The next step is called tempering. Basically, you want to raise the temperature of your egg yolks, so they don't cook when you combine the cream and eggs. To do this, add 1/4 cup of cream to the egg mixture. Whisk well until everything is well incorporated. Then pour the egg mixture into the hot cream. Stir together until all the ingredients are mixed well.
Lastly, add in your cocoa powder and stir until the custard and the cocoa powder are well incorporated. There should be no cocoa powder bits and the sugar should be melted.

The next phase of this process is to bake the custard. Add 4 ramekins to a baking dish. I used 4 8oz ramekins in a 9x9 baking dish. Ladle the custard over a fine mesh sieve into the ramekins.
Pour 2 cups of hot water into the baking dish to create a water bath for the custard. This helps control the temperature of the custard, so it doesn't overcook.
Bake for 30-40 minutes. Take out the creme brûlée at 30 minutes to check if it's cooked through. Shake the baking dish to see how much the center is jiggling. A done creme brulee should jiggle as much as jello does. If there is a lot of movement in the center of the creme brûlée, it's not done. Put it back in for 2 minutes and check again.
Once done, cool for 2 hours at room temperature and in the refrigerator for 2 hours. They can keep in the fridge for a few days.
Right before serving, add a thin layer of sugar over the top and shake off any excess. Use a blow torch to caramelize the sugar and serve. Alternatively, set the oven to broil and broil for 1-2 minutes to achieve the same result.