full recipe – lavender and raspberry crème brûlée
Read an extract of “A Whisper of Cardamom”, a new recipe book by Eleanor Ford.
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.
INGREDIENTS
Four servings.
500ml (two cups) double (heavy) cream
Two – three teaspoons fresh lavender flowers (or one teaspoon dried)
20 raspberries
Five egg yolks
50g (one and a half oz) caster sugar
METHOD
Put the cream and lavender flowers in a small pan and heat slowly up to a simmer then set aside to infuse for half an hour. Strain and return to the pan.
Sit four small heatproof ramekins in a baking tin and put five raspberries in each. Heat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan (315°F).
In a bowl, stir together the egg yolks and 25g (one oz) of the sugar. Heat the 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 25 minutes, or until the custard is set with a delicate quiver. Cool then chill in the fridge.
Just before serving, sprinkle the remaining sugar over the tops of the four creams and use a blowtorch or hot grill to melt and caramelise the tops.
SPICE SWITCH 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.
Images and text from A Whisper of Cardamom by Eleanor Ford and photography by Ola O. Smit. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.
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