Crema Catalana

1. step 1
2. Put the milk, cream, cinnamon stick and all the citrus zest in a saucepan set over a medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until the milk is just steaming but not boiling, about 3-5 mins. Remove from the heat, cover with a plate and leave to infuse for at least 30 mins.
   3–5 minutes30 minutes
3. step 2
4. When the cream mixture has infused, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together in a separate bowl for 3-5 mins, or until light and pale in colour. Pour the infused milk through a sieve into the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Return the mixture to the saucepan.
   3–5 minutes
5. step 3
6. Put the saucepan over a medium-high heat and whisk for around 10-12 mins. The mixture should start thickening to a custard-like consistency – you can tell it’s ready by dipping a wooden spoon in the mixture, then running a finger through the mixture on the back of the spoon. If the line holds, it's ready. Sieve the mixture into a jug to remove any froth.
   10–12 minutes
7. step 4
8. Divide the custard between six 150ml ramekins or small terracotta dishes, then leave to cool for 1 hr at room temperature until set with a slight wobble. Chill overnight.
   1 hour
9. step 5
10. Just before serving, sprinkle 1 tbsp caster sugar over the top of each ramekin and caramelise using a kitchen blowtorch. Alternatively, slide the ramekins under a hot grill until the sugar turns golden and starts to bubble. Serve straightaway.

Cooking notes

Baked goods are unforgiving with rounding — use weights rather than volumes whenever possible, and verify pan capacity if you scale up or down significantly.

For volume-to-weight conversions of any ingredient — flour, sugar, butter, salts — use the ingredient converter. To translate the recipe's oven temperature between °C, °F and gas mark, see the temperature converter.

When you scale this recipe up or down, remember that cooking time does not scale linearly. A doubled cake takes longer, but not twice as long; a doubled soup takes roughly twice as long. The cooking-time guide gives sensible starting estimates by dish geometry.