French Coffee Crème Brûlée

This coffee crème brûlée is a modern twist on an old French crème brûlée classic. It is so easy to do, with simple ingredients and the addition of espresso powder, to give a rich and creamy coffee flavour.

All you need is cream, eggs and sugar, to make a simple baked custard with a deliciously crisp and crunchy topping.

In my opinion, there's something deeply satisfying about cracking the brûlée topping and sinking a spoon into the creamy centre. It's total heaven.

Perfect for a make ahead dessert at any time of year, for the family or entertaining friends.

Bon appétit!   

Jump to:

• ❤️ Why you will love this dish
• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🍽 Equipment
• 🔪 Instructions
• ⏲️ Baking Time
• 🥗 Side Dishes
• 🥙 Substitutions
• 📖 Variations
• 🍣 Storage
• 🍱 Prepare in Advance
• 📋 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

French crème brûlée has so many other names and is a classic dessert in many European countries.

It's often called burned cream, burnt cream, trinity cream or Cambridge burnt cream in the British Isles and is known as creme Catalan in Spain, although milk is used instead of cream.

I always thought that this dessert would be difficult to make, but it is actually very easy. The oven does most of the work then, it can sit in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

❤️ Why you will love this dish

• 4, simple, easy to find ingredients.
• Great for making ahead.
• Easy to customise.
• Individual portions for easy serving.
• Totally creamy and delicious.

💙 Save this recipe for later

Did you know? When you see the 💙 on the right hand side you can bookmark this page, to save it for later or share it too.

🥘 Ingredients

• Eggs - yolks from large free range eggs.
• Sugar - caster or fine sugar for the baked custard and granulated for the topping.
• Cream - heavy or double cream.
• Coffee - instant espresso powder.

The printable recipe card with full ingredient quantities and instructions can be found at the bottom of the article.

🍽 Equipment

• large bowl
• medium saucepan
• whisk
• 6 ramekins or 8 shallow dishes
• 2 deep oven trays
• measuring jug - optional
• blow torch - optional

🔪 Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150 C / 300 F / 130 FAN / Gas 2.

Separate the eggs and place the yolks in a mixing bowl with the caster sugar.

💭 Top Tip

• Refrigerate the eggs for 30 minutes before separating them as this makes the yolk firmer and less likely to break.
• Separate the eggs and use 2 ramekins to do one at a time then transfer to the mixing bowl or another bowl. This means that if you do have a bad egg it won't contaminate the eggs you have already separated.

Whisk for 2 minutes, until the mixture is pale and frothy.

Blend the espresso powder with hot water from a recently boiled kettle and leave to cool.

Place the cream in a saucepan over a low to medium heat.

Bring to simmer then remove from the heat.

Leave to cool for a few minutes.

Whisk a very small amount of cream into the egg yolks, then gradually pour in the rest, whisking all the time.

• It's really important that the cream has cooled for about 10 minutes, as otherwise there is a risk that the eggs will scramble.
• Sieve the custard, to get a thoroughly smooth set. This will remove any stringy bits of egg.

Stir in the coffee.

Fill the ramekins with the coffee crème brûlée mixture and place in a deep sided roasting tray.

Pour in hot water from a kettle so that it comes halfway up the sides.

This will ensure that the custard cooks slowly and evenly.

• I prefer to transfer the custard into a large jug to make it easier to pour into the ramekins.

⏲️ Baking Time

Bake ramekins for an hour and shallow dishes for 30 minutes, or until the custard is just set.

Remove from the water bath, leave to cool then refrigerate for an hour.

It will firm up as it cools.

For the topping, spread a layer of sugar over the baked custard.

Use a blow torch to caramelise the sugar. Alternatively, place under a very hot grill, watching constantly.

The topping will harden in a few minutes, but it's best to put the desserts in the fridge before serving for a few minutes more, as the custard will be a little soft from the heating.

Now, you just need a spoon!

🥗 Side Dishes

Serve with your favorite biscuits or try these ideas:

• clotted cream
• crème fraîche
• fresh fruit
• Shrewbury Biscuits
• Sablé Biscuits
• Viennese Fingers
• Chocolate Shortbread

🥙 Substitutions

• Sugar - use superfine sugar for the custard topping if you prefer.
• Cream - use half milk and half cream instead.

📖 Variations

• Classic - let half a vanilla bean steep in the hot cream for 10 minutes then scrape out the seeds and return to the cream.
• Lavender - let some sprigs of lavender infuse in the hot cream for 10 minutes then strain.
• Boozy - add 3 tablespoons of brandy, Grand Marnier, dark rum, or a different cream liqueur
• Chocolate - stir 80 g of chocolate pieces into the hot cream and stir until dissolved.

🍣 Storage

• Refrigerator - cover and refrigerate before adding the brûlée sugar topping for 3 days. You can brûlée the top up to 2 hours before you want to eat it but it can lose its crispness if it's left any longer.
• Freezer - wrap each dish in clingfilm and freeze without the topping for up to a month.

🍱 Prepare in Advance

• Make the custards up to 3 days in advance and cover with cling film in the fridge.

🤔 FAQs

Let me know what you think in the comments or you can post a picture and tag me on Twitter @chezlereve, Instagram @chezlerevefrancais, or Facebook @chezlerevefrancais

More creamy desserts

• Chocolate Bavarian Cream or bavarois
• Baileys Sabayon or Baileys Zabaglione
• Chocolate Mousse
• Lavender Crème Brûlée
• Baileys Crème Brûlée 
• Tarte au Citron
• Chocolate Delice
• Chocolate Marquise
• Raspberry Parfait

📋 Recipe

More French dessert recipes

Food Safety

• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
• Wash hands after touching raw meat.
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
• Never leave cooking food unattended.
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
• Always have good ventilation when using gas.

Do you have a question or did you make the recipe? Please leave a rating as it helps other readers to discover this dish. Your name and email are required to avoid spam comments; they are never used for any purpose or shared with third parties.

However, due to spam comments, I do have to moderate each one, so don't worry if you cannot see your comment immediately. I'll publish your comments as soon as I can.