Lavender Crème Caramel

No apologies for continuing with the lavender theme - lavender is at its best in July!  This lavender-infused crème caramel was eaten so quickly at Stour Festival that I had trouble taking a photo.... as you can see...

The lavender is steeped in the milk, and then squeezed out, so that the lovely essence infuses the milk before it is baked into a caramel.  An interesting top tip emerged from this - I made a very unsuccessful crème caramel that flopped completely (diagnosis: oven too cold, insufficient cooking).   Seeking not to waste the delicious baked custard, I sieved it to remove the thicker top part, and then poured it into an ice cream maker.  Lo and behold...  Crème Caramel Ice Cream!  In the book of Pudding Rescues (one of my next features, perhaps?) this one was a winner.   As I have said before, failure tastes as good as success - it just has to be presented differently.

Lavender-infused Crème Caramel

Lavender-infused Crème Caramel

4 oz/110g sugar

¼ pint/5floz/145ml water

1 small bunch lavender in flower

1 pint/600ml full fat or semi-skimmed milk

4 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 150 deg C and boil a kettle of water.   Get a 14cm or larger soufflé dish ready.

In a small strong pan, boil the sugar and water until it forms a caramel – it goes bubbly and brown.  Take off the heat and gently pour it into the soufflé dish, using a heat-proof spatula to get the last delicious scrapings off the pan.   Swirl the dish around slowly while the caramel is setting to get an even coat, with some caramel up the sides.  Leave to get cold and hard.

Pour the milk into a non-stick pan.  Tie the lavender bunch so that it doesn’t fall apart, and add it to the milk.  Warm the milk to roughly blood heat, then pour onto the beaten eggs (and sugar).    Squeeze out the lavender into the mixture – it will go a little blue at this point!   Stir the mixture thoroughly, and then strain it into the soufflé dish.  Put the dish into a baking tin and pour in enough boiling water to go half way up the side.   Bake for approx 1hr, until the caramel is set. 

Remove from the water, then put cling film on the top and refrigerate.  This is best left for at least 24hrs before unmoulding, as the caramel top gently merges into the cooked crème.  

To get it out of the dish successfully (!), run a palette knife round the edge, then put the receiving dish (one with at least 1” sides) on top of the soufflé dish.  Lift both dishes together and then turn them over in one movement.  There should be a gentle flop when the (hopefully undamaged) crème caramel slides onto the serving dish.    Microwave the original dish to loosen up some of the caramel and pour it over the crème.   Add a sprinkling of lavender flowers.