Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Now a dessert that's always a hit, something that's relatively easy to make and can be made in advance if you're having guests over.

4 egg yolks
600 ml heavy cream
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
Extra caster sugar or demerara sugar

1. Preheat oven to 120C.

2. Place heavy cream, vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the cream starts to simmer. Remove from heat and discard vanilla bean.

3. Whisk egg yolks and caster sugar until pale. Slowly pour hot cream in the egg yolk mixture while constantly whisking until combined.

4. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes until it thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

5. Sieve mixture into a heatproof jug. Divide between 4-6 ramekins depending on the size of your ramekins.

6. Place ramekins into a deep baking tray and carefully pour boiling water into the tray until it comes about 3/4 way up the sides of the ramekins.

7. Bake for 30 minutes or until the custard has just set. It should still jiggle slightly in the middle. Remove ramekins from water bath and let them cool. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

8. 40 minutes before serving, sprinkle about 1 tsp of caster or demerara sugar on top of the baked custards. Melt sugar with a kitchen torch until it turns brown. Cool for 1 minute, decorate if you wish to - in the above picture I used strawberry and mint leaves - then serve.

* Vanilla beans can be replaced with 1 tsp vanilla essence
* If you do not own a kitchen torch, grill in oven under high heat until the sugar bubbles (this would take about 5 minutes).