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My hubby asked me to quote him saying, “this is my new favorite!” This Espresso Creme Brulee was an experiment for me that turned out awesome! It tastes like a perfect tiramisu. To make espresso creme brulee without a torch, garnish the top with shavings of bittersweet chocolate.
Ingredients for Espresso Creme Brulee:
2 cups heavy cream + 1 Tbsp for espresso
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar (plus extra for caramelizing)
1 shot of fresh brewed espresso (about 1/4 cup) [if you try strong brewed
or instant coffee instead, let me know how it turns out.]
Bittersweet Chocolate shavings for garnish (optional)
What you will need:
-Ovenproof ramekins or custard cups
-A handheld torch. Your husband (or wife) may have one in the garage. I bought one at Home Depot. It doesn’t have to be specifically for creme brulee.
If you don’t have a torch, you can shave bittersweet chocolate over the top.
How to make Creme Brulee:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 300˚ F
2. Brew your espresso and add 1 Tbsp of the heavy cream. Stir and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, stir 3 eggs and 1/2 cup sugar until blended.
4. Heat the rest of the heavy cream in a sauce pan, almost to a simmer.
5. Slowly stir in the hot cream (if you add the hot cream too fast, you will end up with scrambled eggs).
6. Stir in the espresso.
7. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large measuring cup with a pouring lip.
8. Divide the mixture into 8 (4 oz) cups and place in a large casserole baking dish.
9. Fill the baking dish with boiling water about halfway up the sides of the cups. Bake at 300˚ F for 35-40 minutes. The centers of the creme brulee’s should barely move when you wiggle the pan.
10. Cool to room temperature.
11. Cover and refrigerate creme brulee until ready to serve.
Once the brulees are at least to room temperature, you can caramelize the top.
To caramelize the top: put 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar on each custard, swirl to spread evenly. Move in a circular pattern until the whole surface is caramelized to a deep amber color.
Note: if you are making the creme brulees in advance, make this sugar topping the same day you are serving them.
Espresso Crème Brulée
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 2 cups heavy cream + 1 tbsp for espresso
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for caramelizing
- 1 shot of fresh brewed espresso, about 1/4 cup
- Bittersweet Chocolate shavings for garnish, optional
What you will need:
- Ovenproof ramekins or custard cups
- A handheld torch.
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 300°F
- Brew your espresso and add 1 Tbsp of the heavy cream. Stir and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir 3 eggs and 1/2 cup sugar until blended.
- Heat the rest of the heavy cream in a sauce pan, almost to a simmer.
- Slowly stir in the hot cream.
- Stir in the espresso.
- Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large measuring cup with a pouring lip.
- Divide the mixture into 8 (4 oz) cups and place in a large casserole baking dish.
- Fill the baking dish with boiling water about halfway up the sides of the cups. Bake at 300°F for 35-40 minutes. The centers of the creme brulee's should barely move when you wiggle the pan.
- Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate creme brulee until ready to serve.
- Once the brulees are at least to room temperature, you can caramelize the top.
To caramelize the top:
- put 1 to 2 tsp of sugar on each custard, swirl to spread evenly. Move in a circular pattern until the whole surface is caramelized to a deep amber color.
Notes
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Hi- I saw that this question has been asked in previous comments but I didn’t quit get clarification from your responses. I’ve made your traditional creme brûlée that calls for egg Yoks; this espresso recipe uses whole eggs- can I use egg yolks for the Espresso Recipe?
Hi Mercedes, you can, we used the full egg for this one, if you’d like to adjust it for just the yolk, I’d love to know how you like it.
I am wanting to make ahead of time, how long can I keep these in the fridge before serving?
I haven’t tried making this ahead for more than a few days to advise.
I noticed that this recipe uses whole eggs, but your regular creme brûlée uses only yolks. If I want to make both flavors, can I just use this recipe for both and add the coffee only to some?
HI Nelya, the coffee flavor should work here as well and you can add it to some. I found that using just yolks gives a richer flavor to the creme brulee.
Hi Natasha,
I made your traditional Creme Brûlée and it was excellent. Now I’ve made the espresso Creme Brûlée and I used about 2T. instant espresso powder (a little heavy since I really love espresso) and 1 tsp vanilla. OMGosh!…. this is my new FAVORITE! My daughter is a pastry chef so I’ll get her opinion. I’m sure we’ll be seeing it on the menu in her restaurant soon. Thanks for your guidance.
Awsome! I’m glad you’re enjoying them and I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try, Liz.
Ooh, thanks for mentioning that!
Hi Natasha!
I don’t have any ramekins. Is there another dish I could prepare this in instead?
Hi Sofia, you can use other small dishes/ little glass ones as long as they are oven safe. I purchased mine on sale at Pier1 imports
Could I just use the yolks only and not the whole egg?? I make pavlovas often and looking for recipes to use up the yolks!
Hi Tatyana, we have always loved putting in the whole egg into our creme brulee. If you are looking for another recipe to try, our eclair recipe calls for 4 yolks 🙂 I hope you love both recipes!
Can you use the basic recipe for Crème brulee and add different flavors to it, like coffee, pumpkin, choc and raspberry ?
Hi Magda, yes and we have examples of basic creme brûlée, coffee and pumpkin already on our blog to make it easy for you 🙂 Haven’t tried raspberries but it sounds good!
Mine didn’t stiffen up.. But it still tasted delicious! (: I made some with coffee (btw i tried instant coffee, it tasted great, but i had good quality coffee) and some plain..
Do you think it need more time in the oven, is that the problem? I did thrirty some minutes.. I just thought they’d get firmer as they cool..but they didn’t do a whole lot..Do yours come out of the oven hardened up or do they get firm as they cool?
Thanks. I’ll be trying again.
They do stiffen up completely after they cool and are fully set with refrigeration. Did you make 8 of them in 4 oz ramekins the same way? Also, did you make sure to add hot water to the pans before baking?
Yes, I added water.. no, I made them in 5 7oz ramekins.. I think i will try again and leave them in the oven longer, also, as i searched more recipes, i see that most people use only egg yolk.. I think i will try that next time
Does it make a difference if my oven safe cup is narrower at the bottom and wider at the top?
Hi Ilona, that may affect the bake and set time if it is a deeper cup. We use short ramekins for even cooking. If you experiment with those cups I would love to know how you like that.
where do you get your torch
Ours is from Home Depot; it’s not officially a creme brûlée torch but it sure gets the job done 🙂
Nice recipe…how do you make the one shot of fresh brewed expresso?
You need an espresso machine if you want to make a shot. You can use 1/4 cup of very strong coffee.
I’ve been wanting to make this for such a long time but couldn’t find the perfect recipe until I found this! Thank you so much!
Quick question- if I want to make just a regular creme brulee, do I just omit the espresso part and follow the rest of the recipe as is?
Pretty much 🙂 Here is the official basic creme brulee and because I’m ridiculous, I also have one posted for pumpkin creme brulee
We have a propane torch at home, is that safe to use?
That should work just fine, probably much faster :).
Hi Natasha! How do you use a broiler?
The broiler function is at the top of your oven. Place a rack up as high as it goes, which will be just below the heating element.
You will be exposing sugar to that heat, and sugar is pretty flammable – so be sure it doesn’t catch on fire.
Leave the oven door slightly ajar while broiling for few minutes. You need air to circulate in your oven during the broiling process. Hope this helps
Natasha!your website wonderfull,?what kind of cooking pans are you using (which brand you think the best)sorry,if grammer is not correct.
They are oven-safe ramekins. You can also use little glass ones as long as they are oven safe. I purchased mine on sale at Pier1 imports 🙂
Hi Natasha,
Where did you get your torch?
It was either lowes or home depot. It’s bit meant for cooking but it’s heavy duty 🙂
Hi!
what kind of cups do you use for this recipe? are they ceramic oven proof ones or some other kind?
Thanks
Sherry..
I use ceramic oven proof ones, but I’ve also used glass (oven proof pyrex) ramekins and they work great.
This is a great recipe. Thank you. =)
Thanks Antonina 🙂 I love how easy it is!
No torch needed, just pop it under a broiler for a few seconds
Thanks Joe! I should test that. As much as I like my torch, it would sure be handy to use the oven for a large batch.
That is one of the “old school” methods. Broiler, salamander, and, if you go back far enough, heat your fireplace shovel to red hot and hold it over the dish.
You might like this site: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/
You might be surprised at how modern some of the recipes from the 1800s sound.