Chocolate crème brûlée is a delicious, chocolatey twist on a classic French dessert. Impress your loved ones by making this beautiful dessert today!
Chocolate Crème Brûlée Recipe
If you’ve never made crème brûlée before, don’t be nervous! While being a pretty sophisticated dessert, it’s also fairly easy to make.
Traditional French crème brûlée is a dessert we all know and love. It consists of a rich, creamy vanilla custard and it topped with crunchy caramelized sugar.
As much as I love a classic vanilla serving of crème brûlée, I must admit… this chocolate version is even richer and more delectable!
Why You’ll Love this Chocolate Crème Brûlée Recipe:
- Inexpensive: Just 5 simple and inexpensive ingredients are needed to create the perfect chocolate crème brûlée. This recipe proves that fancier desserts don’t always have to drain your wallet!
- A twist on tradition: While classic desserts like this are famous for a reason, it can be fun to shake things up while sticking to the blueprint of the original recipe.
- Chocolatey: If you’re a chocolate lover, rejoice! This is soon to become your new favorite dessert recipe.
How to Make Chocolate Crème Brûlée
Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!
- Whisk the egg yolks and half of the sugar together.
- Combine the heavy whipping cream and remaining sugar together in a warm saucepan.
- Stir in the chocolate chips until they are melted.
- Allow the creamy chocolate mixture to cool for a minute.
- Whisk in the sugar and egg yolks.
- Stir in the vanilla extract.
- Distribute the chocolate mixture into small ramekins.
- Place the ramekins into a baking pan.
- Fill the baking pan with water.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cover the ramekins with Saran Wrap.
- Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Sprinkle sugar on top of each ramekin.
- Heat the sugar with a food torch until it crystalizes.
- Serve, and enjoy!
I love to place freshly chopped strawberries on top of my servings. A light dusting of powdered sugar is also delicious! Truly, the crystalized sugar is so perfect; you don’t want to place too many garnishes on top that cover it.
If crème brûlée is baked at too high of a temperature, the custard can both curdle and become too hard. 300°F is the perfect low temperature for baking crème brûlée! Baking them at that temperature creates the desired smooth, creamy, jiggly consistency of the chocolate base.
In the refrigerator, crème brûlée will stay perfectly fresh for up to 3 days. To make sure the texture stays perfect, I recommend wrapping the ramekins in plastic wrap. If not stored properly, you risk the caramelized sugar losing its crunch!
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- The size of the ramekin is very important. If your ramekin is too deep, the pudding will most likely not bake evenly. Try to aim for the small ramekins you see in my photos!
- When adding water to the baking pan, do your best to not get any water in the ramekins. Even the smallest amount of water can disrupt the chocolate base and cause it to not bake correctly.
- White granulated sugar works best for the tops of crème brûlée. No other sugar achieves the same delicious caramelization as plain white sugar!
More Chocolate Recipes to Try
If you’re looking to impress someone, make them a serving of chocolate crème brûlée! While the recipe is simple enough, these desserts always manage to get a pretty big reaction out of people when first trying it.
If you make this recipe be sure to leave us a comment or rating. Enjoy!
Chocolate Crème Brûlée Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 large egg yolks 70 grams
- ½ cup granulated sugar 100 grams, divided
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream 454 grams
- ¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips 43 grams
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 4 grams
For Topping
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 25 grams
- Strawberries optional, for serving
- Powdered Sugar optional, for serving
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
- Kitchen Torch (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and half of the sugar together, then set the bowl aside.5 large egg yolks, ½ cup granulated sugar
- In a small saucepan, combine the heavy whipping cream and the remaining sugar, whisking together until it begins to lightly bubble, but not boil. Gradually stir in the chocolate chips and keep whisking on low heat until the chocolate has completely melted. You can scrape the whisk on the bottom of the saucepan to make sure there are not unmelted pieces of chocolate. Once the whisk is clear, remove from heat.2 cups heavy whipping cream, ¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- Allow the chocolate and cream mixture to cool for about 30-60 seconds, then quickly whisk it into the sugar and yolks. (Allowing it to cool for 30 seconds and whisking quickly ensures the eggs won’t cook when they are heated.) Stir in the vanilla until the entire mixture is combined.1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Evenly distribute the mixture into small ramekins, being careful not to overfill. Place the ramekins into a baking pan, before filling the pan with water to surround the ramekins. The water should be at least a quarter of the way but no more than halfway up the sides of the ramekins before placing in the oven.
- Bake for about 50-55 minutes, until the crème brûlée has set. Remove from the oven and the baking pan/water. Cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and allow to cool. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Once the crème brûlée is completely chilled, sprinkle a small spoonful of sugar on the top of each ramekin. Use a food torch to heat the sugar until it crystalizes on top. If you don't have a torch, place the ramekins on a baking sheet and place in the oven on the top rack. Use the broil option for a few minutes, until the sugar crystalizes.2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- Serve with strawberries or sprinkles of powdered sugar if desired.Strawberries, Powdered Sugar
Notes
- The size of the ramekin is very important. If your ramekin is too deep, the pudding will most likely not bake evenly. Try to aim for the small ramekins you see in my photos!
- When adding water to the baking pan, do your best to not get any water in the ramekins. Even the smallest amount of water can disrupt the chocolate base and cause it to not bake correctly.
- White granulated sugar works best for the tops of crème brûlée. No other sugar achieves the same delicious caramelization as plain white sugar!
- Nutritional information does not include optional ingredients.
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