This is my mothers recipe for creme caramel which was taken, I believe, from a promotional pamphlet advertising the delights of powdered milk. It produces THE most superlative creme caramel that I have ever tried and I can’t recommend it more highly. You can make it in little tiddly ramekins, but – frankly – a cake-sized one is so much easier and presents just as well if you’re careful with the cutting.
Take an 8-inch cake tin and grease it. Pre-heat your oven to 180°C. Put a generous ½ cup of sugar into a non-stick pan and heat it until it turns to toffee. Carefully pour it into the bottom of the cake tin and let cool.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, blend together 2 cups of powdered milk, 3 cups of warm water, 4 large eggs, another ½ cup of sugar and vanilla to taste (which, for me, is usually a good slurp of top-notch vanilla essence or the contents of at least 3 pods). Beat until combined and the sugar has dissolved and then pour through a strainer into the cake tin.
Put the cake tin into a baking dish, fill the baking dish with water and put the whole into your hot oven. Bake for about 1½ hours or until firm. It should not wobble like jelly when jostled.
Be careful with your oven temp. If you’re not confident in its accuracy, it’s better to be slightly lower and take longer in the cooking. If the mix gets too hot, it will boil and there will be bubbles in the creme caramel. It’ll still taste great but the texture will be a little off.
Once cool, put into the fridge and let the whole thing chill – overnight is perfect as it will allow all the caramel to convert from toffee to sauce.
Turn out onto a deep serving platter and slice into wedges. This creme caramel will be extremely firm – almost to a cheesecake consistancy – but more silky-smooth than jelly.
I made two mammoth creme caramels (amongst other delights) for my wedding and there was a rugby scrum to get to them when dessert was announced. Always flattering!