This cinnamon infused creme brulee is an awesome dessert for a special night. Give it a go and impress someone!
This is probably one of the best creme brulee recipes I have made so far. During my cooking journey, I have seen a number of different ideas for creme brulee dishes. Lot’s of people make the classic vanilla creme brulee, I’ve seen coffee creme brulee, baileys creme brulee, chocolate creme brulee, I have even seen creme brulee cheesecake. What have I chosen to do? I decided to infuse mine with cinnamon. When you eat it, the pleasant, subtle flavour and the scent slowly kicks in and gets your mind working. Causing you to think “hmm, there is something else there”. And sometimes, that effect with food can be super powerful in terms of pleasing peoples palates.
So I infused the milk and cream with a cinnamon stick and a vanilla pod. You could just add ground cinnamon and vanilla extract but to be honest, creme brulee isn’t something you make every day. So when you do make it, you may as well go all out in my opinion. Also, in the past, I have cooked creme brulee with more milk than cream. However, this time, I did a naughty switcharoo, and I decided to amp up the cream for a bit of extra luxuriousness. 😉
Honestly, even around the time I just started learning how to cook and trust me, I was not a good cook. Slow, messy, hesitant….certainly no MasterChef by any means. Even during that time, although there were a number of dishes I struggled with, creme brulee wasn’t one of them. So if you are anxious about cooking a dessert like this, and you think it’s beyond you. Trust me, it isn’t. Instead of thinking about creme brulee as a super cheffy dish, I prefer to think of it as baking some custard, then flaming some sugar on top of it.
Oh and of course, that is why we all love this dessert so much isn’t it? The flaming bit. What’s really nice is that once you have set your custard, and you’ve got the “hard” part done and dusted. The fun part comes whenever you decide to serve this dish. So you could prepare your baked custards in your ramekins in advance. Which can be a huge stress reliever if you decide to cook this for your guests.
Oh and if you don’t have a blow torch, I recommend that you take the time to buy one. I’ve seen people put the sugar-coated custard under a really hot grill for about a minute, which can achieve the hard, caramel top. However, this will change the texture of the custard, and it can be risky because the custard can get too hot and end up curdling, which you don’t want. So if you are going to make creme brulee, I highly recommend that you make it right.
So, if you haven’t made creme brulee yet, I encourage you to give it a go. I think you’ll find that it’s a lot of fun. Especially if you want to make something for that special someone. And if the recipe confuses you at some point, just watch the video above. Subscribe to the blog to stay updated with the latest recipes, or you can follow me on social media. Thank you so much, love you all and I will send another awesome recipe your way soon.

Cinnamon Infused Creme Brulee
Ingredients
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ½ cup of milk
- 1½ cups of cream
- 1 vanilla pod split in half lengthways then seeds scraped out do not discard the pod.
- 115 g of caster sugar plus extra for the torching part
- 8 egg yolks
Instructions
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Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius (320 degrees F). Leave a deep roasting tray or baking tray in the oven to pre-heat.
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Break your cinnamon stick in half, then put it in a pot along with your milk, cream, vanilla seeds and the pod. Put the cream mixture over high flame and scald it (meaning turn the heat off as soon as the mixture starts to boil). Leave for about 10 minutes to let the cinnamon and vanilla infuse in the cream.
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Meanwhile, whisk your sugar and egg yolks together in a large bowl until the mixture goes nice and pale.
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Remove the cinnamon stick from the cream with a pair of tongs or a slotted spoon. Then, slowly pour the cream into the bowl with the sugar and egg mixture while whisking at the same time (be sure to add the hot cream slowly).
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Next, put a strainer over a measuring jug, then strain the custard mixture into the measuring jug (try to use your spoon or spatula to push those vanilla seeds out of the pod through the strainer to get as much flavour as possible).
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Fill a kettle to it's full capacity with water, then start boiling. Take the tray out of the oven, put a tea towel flat inside the tray. Then place your ramekins on the tea-towel surface. Fill the ramekins evenly with your custard mixture. Pour the boiling water from the kettle in the tray until it reaches 3 quarters of the way up the outside of the ramekins (watch the video in the post if you are confused).
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Cover the tray with foil, then very carefully place in your pre-heated oven. Cook fo 30 minutes.
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Again, make sure you are very careful when removing the tray from the oven. Put your ramekins in the fridge and leave them for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
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Before torching your crème brulee, I like to leave them out of the fridge for about 10 minutes until they come to room temperature. Top your custard in the ramekins with a layer of sugar (enough to coat the surface).
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Use a blow torch to caramelise the sugar. Don't put the flame too close to the sugar, otherwise it will burn too much. Leave for a minute so the caramelized sugar goes hard, then serve.
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Enjoy!!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- It is preferred that creme brulee rests in the fridge for at least 4 hours after baking. So make the recipe in advance.
What a beautiful photo, I bet it was delicious!
Thank you so much for the kind comment! It was indeed delicious. Have a wonderful day (:
Creme brulee is one of my favourites but I’ve never made it at home because I thought it was a tricky dish. Thanks for this post (and the encouragement!)
My pleasure!! Hope it goes well for you (:
Thanks so much! Ahh yer I understand. I think it’s one of those recipes where once you get it right the first time it’s easy from there on. (:
Thanks so much!! (:
Creme Brulee is my all time fav. I am gonna make it your way soon. Thanks much for the recipe
Beautiful photos! Gotta get the blow torch so I can impress my guests 🙂
Creme brulee is one of my favorite desserts! I love the idea of the cinnamon in this too! Look forward to trying this!
Creme brule is my favorite dessert ever. I love that you infused it with cinnamon.
Cinnamon super yummy! This recipe just made me love creme brulee more 🙂
Im so glad!!! (:
Thanks! The cinnamon is subtle but effective! (:
I really hope you like it Carrie!! Much love to you (:
Definitely get a blow torch!! Makes this dish much easier (:
Omg thank you so much! I hope you like it! (: