Cherry Creme Brulee

Have more cherries than you can possibly eat? I have the perfect solution for you! Use the sweet stone fruit to create a silky smooth cherry creme brulee for a perfect finish to any meal.

Watch how to make this

Ingredients

• Cherries: Although I used fresh cherries, you can also use frozen ones. You can also substitute the stone fruit for almost any other fruit such as peaches, mango, berries, or pineapple.
• Orange juice: Use fresh or bottled orange juice to simmer the cherries, adding a subtle orange flavor to the cherry butter.
• Sugar: Granulated sugar is used for the cherry butter, custard, and finishing touch to add sweetness to the dessert.
• Heavy cream: For a richer custard, use heavy cream. If you prefer a thinner, lighter custard, you can substitute ⅔ of the heavy cream with whole milk.
• Vanilla bean: Use vanilla bean for an intense vanilla flavor in the custard. You can use vanilla paste or extract for a cheaper option, but the flavor won't be as deep.

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Make cherry butter

Creme brulee is just a baked custard or rather, burnt cream since it has a layer of caramelized sugar on top. It's decadent and always worth the calories.

To make this cherry creme brulee, first, make the cherry butter. I used fresh cherries for this recipe but frozen ones would work just as well.

Simmer the pitted cherries with orange juice until they're softened, about 20 minutes. Puree the mixture until it's smooth, then add sugar and mix until combined. Simmer the mixture until it's slightly thickened and let it cool. You can also make the cherry butter up to 3 days in advance.

Step 2: Prepare custard

The rest of the recipe is pretty straightforward, following the traditional method for making creme brulee. Simmer heavy cream with a vanilla bean and let it sit off the heat for 15 minutes. Vanilla bean is expensive so if you prefer, you can use vanilla bean paste. In that case, bring the heavy cream to a simmer, turn it off, and stir in the vanilla bean paste.

Whisk together the egg yolks with sugar and slowly add the warm heavy cream, whisking constantly. You don't want to rush this step or the heavy cream will cook the eggs and cause them to scramble. By gradually pouring in the warm cream, you're slowly bringing up the temperature of the eggs.

Strain the mixture to get a smooth custard and then fill the ramekins until they're about ¾ full. I used 2 large ramekins but you can use 7 4-ounce ramekins to make individual portions.

Step 3: Bake

Now swirl in the cherry butter into each ramekin. You don't need to fully incorporate the butter with the cream. I personally enjoyed having bites of vanilla with some bites of cherry butter - it's like having two flavors in one!

Fill your baking dish with enough water to come up ⅔ of the sides of the ramekins then bake the creme brulee until the edges have set. The center should still be jiggly. Keep the ramekins in the baking dish for 15 minutes, then remove them and cool completely for at least 4 hours or in the fridge overnight.

Step 4: The finishing touch

Now we all know that these desserts aren't done yet. To finish the cherry creme brulee, sprinkle sugar on the top and brulee them with a torch. You can also use a broiler but I like the control you get with a torch. Sometimes with a broiler, it can burn certain areas.

Top the custards with fresh cherries and then dig in! You don't want to wait longer than 20 minutes to enjoy the cherry creme brulees. Otherwise, the sugar topping will soften up.

I love cracking the creme brulee and biting into the crunchy caramelized sugar with creamy custard. The swirls of cherry butter make this dessert even more special and possibly even more delicious!

Make-ahead and storage

• Make-ahead: You can cook the creme brulee in the oven and let it chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve it. Right before serving, sprinkle the sugar and torch the top. You don't want to torch the sugar too far in advance because it will soften as it sits.
• Store: Keep the dessert wrapped tightly in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Frequently asked questions

More cherry recipes

Looking for more cherry desserts? Try these:

Recipe

Print Recipe

Cherry Creme Brulee

Yields 7 4-ounce servings

Total Time2 hours hrs

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Keyword: custard

Servings: 7

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Cherry butter

• 1 pound pitted cherries
• ¼ cup orange juice
• ¼ cup granulated sugar

Creme brulee

• 2 ½ cups heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean split and beans scraped
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 4 large egg yolks
• 7 teaspoons sugar for topping

Instructions

• Make the cherry butter. Combine the cherries and orange juice in a medium saucepot. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to low, and continue to simmer for 30 minutes or until the cherries are softened. Remove from heat and puree the cherries until smooth. Return to the pot and add ¼ cup sugar. Continue to simmer on low for 20-25 minutes or until the cherry butter is thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Combine the heavy cream and vanilla bean and seeds in a medium saucepot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once the cream starts to simmer, remove from heat and let sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and save for another use.
• Whisk together ½ cup sugar with the egg yolks in a large bowl. Slowly add the infused heavy cream to the egg mixture, whisking constantly until all of the cream has been added. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve.
• Pour enough of the custard to fill 4-ounce ramekins about ¾ full. Add 1 ½ tablespoons of the cherry butter into each ramekin, gently swirling in the butter with the custard. You don't need to fully mix the two together.
• Place the ramekins in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour hot water into the baking dish to come up ⅔ up the sides of the ramekins, making sure not to spill the water into the custards. Bake the creme brulee for about 40 minutes or until the edges have set but the center is jiggly. The custard should spring back just a bit when you touch the center.
• Let the custards cool in the water for 15 minutes. Remove the custard from the water bath and let cool completely. Continue to chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar evenly on top of each of the custards. Ignite your blowtorch and melt the sugar on top until it's lighlty golden and caramelized. Let cool for about 2 minutes then serve.

Notes

The cherry butter can be prepared up to 3 days in advance.

The custard can be cooked ahead of time and cooled in the fridge overnight. Top with sugar and torch right before serving.