Spanish caramel custard
Ingredients
- Milk 625 ml (20 fl oz / 21/2 cups)
- Sugar 175 g (6 oz)
- Eggs 4
- Orange zest 2 tsp
- Water 2 Tbsp
- Hot water
This traditional Spanish dessert is essentially a custard lightly flavoured with orange and coated with caramel.
Serves 4
Method
- Heat milk and 50 g (2 oz) sugar together until sugar dissolves. Leave to cool.
- Beat eggs well and add orange zest. Pour sweetened milk into eggs, whisking thoroughly. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
- To make caramel, heat remaining sugar in a clean, dry saucepan until it dissolves and turns a rich golden brown. Do not stir but swirl around the pan if necessary. When caramel reaches the right shade, remove from heat and stir in 2 Tbsp water. The caramel will bubble up, so be careful.
- Working quickly, hold moulds with an oven glove and pour a little caramel into each ramekin, swirling it around to coat the sides.
- Strain custard to remove orange zest and carefully pour into ramekins. Stand them in a baking dish and pour in enough hot water to rise halfway up the sides of ramekins. Place in the oven for 30 minutes.
- To test if custard is done, insert a skewer into the centre. The skewer should come out clean. Remove from hot water and allow to cool before refrigerating.
- To serve custard, cover each ramekin with a small upturned plate. Carefully turn over and lift off ramekin.
