Creme Brulee with Blackberries and Cardamom...

My blog partner for this months Secret Recipe Club was Cara, from The Boys Made Me Do It. After trawling through her blog looking at all sorts of good stuff, I was drawn to the sweets. I spotted her creme brulee recipe and decided to trawl no more! I love the creamy, sweet taste and the shards of sugar which are left afterwards.


A quick check of the ingredients pretty much proved it was going to be a winner, she had all of the good stuff listed but I've always thought that creme brulee's are so versatile with a lot of other ingredients. Rarely will I make a plain one just because it's fun to experiment with other ingredients.

So I decided to adapt Cara's recipe and add some blackberries...the cardamom idea came from thinking I had grabbed my vanilla which is in the same kind of bottle so I added a dash anyway and it really worked. Loved it's floral taste! I'm so glad I made this recipe, It's easy and fast with really lavish results. Don't forget to top with some good cane sugar to get that crunchy top creme brulee's are famous for.

Thanks Cara!!

Here's the full size recipe adapted from The Boys Made Made Me Do It: (I halved Cara's recipe)

1 Quart heavy cream
1 Vanilla Bean, split and scraped
1 Cup sugar, divided
6 Large egg yolks
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 Cup fresh blackberries
Boiling water for the water bath, a medium sized pot or a full kettle would do

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Bring the cream, vanilla and the cardamom to a slight boil. Turn off the heat and leave covered for about 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar (the remainder is for the caramelized tops) Whisk until pale and fluffy.

Add the cream mixture a little at a time whist stirring, being careful not too add too much and cook the egg. 

Divide the blackberries into each of the ramekins to be used. Ladle the mixture gently into each ramekin stopping about a half inch from the top.

Carefully place the ramekins into a roasting dish and fill the pan with the already boiled water until it reaches about halfway up each ramekin.

Place the pan into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until slightly jiggly in the center. Once cool refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Sprinkle with sugar and burn the top with a blowtorch or very carefully under the broiler, moving them around if you need to.

The creme brulee's will last in the fridge for about 3 days covered.