Dark chocolate pots de crème

I don’t think I need to warn you that this baked dark chocolate custard is a decadent dessert. It’s indulgent yes but not overwhelmingly. The recipe for these very toothsome pots de crème is from Deep Dark Chocolate by Sara Perry and Jane Zwinger.

First thing to do is place 180g of dark chocolate in a medium bowl. We love our dark chocolate and typically have many varieties on hand – Green & Black’s, Blanxart, Lindt, and if we really feel like splurging, Valrhona. This time we chose to use single origin (Uganda) 80% from the Margaret River Chocolate Company we purchased on a recent visit to the Swan Valley.

In a bowl, whisk 6 large egg yolks with 1/3 cup of sugar (the original recipe says to add 1/2 cup of sugar but we’re using less) until smooth and thick.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat 1 ½ cups of whipping cream and 1 cup of milk until small bubbles appear around the edges of the pan.

See that green silicone spatula? It is one of the most important utensils in our kitchen. It’s not fancy, but does an amazing job of scrapping all those little bits from the sides and corners of bowls.

Whisk 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture then gradually whisk the yolk mixture back into the hot cream.

Cook over medium heat and stir constantly (seriously, don’t even think about anything else other than stirring right now) until the custard thickens. It should take approx. 2-3 minutes, don’t leave it for too long or on too high a heat otherwise it will scramble.

Pour the mixture over the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate is melted and becomes silky smooth. Strain the custard through a sieve into a jug.

From here you need to refrigerate the custard for at least 6 hours. Once it is completely chilled, stick your oven on 180°C. Scoop the custard into 6 buttered porcelain ramekins (approx. 100g in size).

Take a roasting tray and line it with a tea towel. Then arrange the ramekins on top of it and fill the tray with enough hot water to reach just shy of halfway up the ramekins. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for about 25 minutes. The middles should have a little wobble but the outsides firm.

Once cooked, remove the ramekins from the water and let them cool on a wire rack. Then stick the ramekins in the fridge again to chill for a bit. After about an hour, I am unable to hold off any longer but B likes his custard very chilled so you can leave them overnight. It just depends on what you like…and how eager you are to get stuck into them. This dessert is wonderfully satisfying.