Custard 2 Ways: Baked Creme Caramel & Frozen Vanilla Custard

As spoken about previously, I promised the good people at the Mount Tamborine Winery cellar door that I'd feature a dessert dish on my blog that (hopefully) does justice to their fantastic Mountain Muscat. Now, I think I've outdone myself! Here is a second dessert, following last week's olive oil and Muscat cake, a duo of of creme caramel and frozen custard, laden with that wonderful Muscat.

I won't deny it, this dish does require a bit of effort. But irregardless of whether you're a self-confessed culinary dummy or an accomplised home cook, this should'nt be in any way out of your league. So here's how its done:

Muscat Creme Caramel and Frozen Custard

Caramel:
150 gm sugar
100 ml water

Custard:
200 ml thick cream
200 ml milk
100 ml Muscat (or other appropriate dessert wine)
seeds of 1 vanilla pod, or alternatively, a few drops of vanilla extract
4 whole extra large eggs (59g min weight)
4 egg yolks
110 gm caster sugar
8 buttered ramekins

200 ml cream (extra)

Preheat the oven to 160C.

For the caramel component of the creme caramels, simply heat the sugar and half of the water over a medium heat till the water evaporates, and the sugar begins to caramelise. Once it reaches a golden brown colour, take off the heat and splash in the remaining water to slow the cooking. Swirl it around till the caramel dilutes and cools down slightly. Distribute warm caramel among the bases of each buttered ramekin.

In a separate saucepan, heat up the cream, milk and vanilla till just scalding (ie. just before boiling point). Meanwhile, whisk the sugar, whole eggs and yolks in a mixing bowl till pale and frothy. Pour in the hot cream mixture bit by bit, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Then, when all the cream has been incorporated, whisk in the Muscat. Pour the entire mixture back into the pot and heat over a medium-low flame, stirring constantly, for 4-5 minutes till it slightly thickens.

Strain the liquid mixture through a fine sieve into each of the prepared ramekins. If there are little bubbles along the top edges, remove them carefully with a teaspoon (trick of the trade: you could use a blow torch, if you have one, to blast out any small bubbles off the tops of custards). You will have some custard left over, this will be used to make the frozen custard.

Place the ramekins in a baking dish half filled with hot water (aka. bain marie), and cover the entire thing with al-foil. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove, wrap each individual custard with al-foil to prevent drying out, then chill for at least 6 hours, or at best, overnight. Run a hot knife around the rims to unmould them onto a plate, pouring out as much of that sinful caramel sauce as you can! The longer you leave it in the fridge, the more caramel sauce you will get out of it (within reasonable limits of course!).

For the frozen custard, mix the remaining egg custard with the extra cream and churn it in an ice cream maker. If you, like me, do not have an ice cream maker, you can most easily complete this process by placing the mixture into the freezer and diligently mixing with a fork every half an hour till it freezes. That should make it fluffy enough!

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Olive Oil and Muscat Cake with Roasted Pears and Vanilla Cream

Its been raining for the last couple of days and the weather forecast predicts that this will continue into the week. Thank goodness for this, our dear state certaintly needs every bit of rain it can get.



In liew of this cosy weather, here is a recipe for a stunning cake that can be both healthy and decadent at the same time (minus the cream that is), and really warms you up from the inside out. It was inspired by a recipe in Neil Perry's book "Good Food" that I received as a present from Bev a month back. Neil's recipe is based on a cake batter of olive oil and Sauternes, a wonderfully sweet dessert wine with raisin tones.

In place of Sauternes, I have chosen to use a sensational Muscat from the Mount Tamborine Winery instead, which boasts gutsy flavours of butterscotch and caramel (I think it was $25). I picked up this bottle of goodness on my last trip to Mount Tamborine, on the Gold Coast hinterland. It was there that I also promised the lovely lady at the cellar door that I'd whip up a fancy dessert to do justice to the fantastic wine somewhere in the near future. Mission accomplished.

Neil Perry finished his rendition of this dessert with Sauternes roasted pears and double cream, and I have done so too, substituting Muscat for Sauternes once again, and adding vanilla seeds to the cream for that extra bit of oomph. I urge you to give this one a go too!



Olive Oil and Muscat Cake

115 gms caster sugar
2 large eggs
185 ml extra virgin olive oil
125 ml Muscat (or other similar dessert wine)
80 ml milk
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
185 gms plain flour
2.5 tsp baking powder

Beat sugar and eggs in a bowl till pale and creamy. Add in oil, wine, milk and lemon zest and whisk to combine. Sift flour and baking powder into the wet mixture in the bowl and mix till evenly incorporated. Pour batter into a greased loaf tin (11 x 22 cm) and bake in a 180 degree celcius oven for around 40 minutes till cooked through. Rest the cake in the tin till it cools down significantly. Cut into slices and serve warm with roasted pears, and a sinful dollop of double cream with some vanilla seeds mixed in.

Muscat Roasted Pears

4 buerre bosc pears, quartered lengthwise, cores removed
80 ml Muscat
2 tbsps caster sugar
2 tbsps olive oil

Place pear quarters into a roasting tin/sheet and drizzle with wine, sugar and oil. Toss to coat. Roast in a 180 degree celcius oven for 45 minutes, alongside the cake, turning ocassionally. Pears are done when they are tender and caramelised. Cool to room temperature.

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Pastries from Absynthe Bakery, Surfers Paradise

After being at the helm of the Queensland dining scene with his restaurant Absynthe, 2 Michelin Starred chef Meyjitte Boughenout opened Absynthe Bakery on Bastille Day in 2006. Located in the new complex, Circle on Cavill, Absynthe Bakery aims to "bring quality bakery goods to the heart of Gold Coast".

We decide to drop by Absynthe Bakery while in the Gold Coast to see for ourselves if their pastries were as good as they were claimed to be. We arrived a little late in the day, and so the selection had dwindled to the remaining 7 or so varieties of tarts and cakes left in the display. I was initially very tempted to try the vanilla brioche, but decided against it, seeing that it had been left out at room temperature for what I think would have been a good part of the day. Another time perhaps, if I can get there early enough to sample it while its at its peak.

So we ended up ordering 4 types of tarts between us, and we all eagerly joined in the tasting. This is what we sampled: a passionfruit curd and meringue tart, a caramelised pineapple tartet, an apple jelly tartet with caramelised apples, and a raspberry and pistachio tartlet. It was unanimous, we all voted the sour passionfruit tart with the sweet, silky meringue as our favourite of the 4 pastries. The pate sucre (sweet shortcrust pastry) was a perfect balance of crunchy and crumbly, while the passionfruit curd was just as sour as I think sour curds ought to be.

Now I really have to come back soon to munch on that enticing vanilla brioche. I bet its darn good too..

Absynthe Bakery
Circle on Cavill
Surfers Paradise Boulevard
Gold Coast, Queensland
Tel: 07 5504 7114


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