Rhubarb and Vanilla Creme Brulee

It's been a bad week. I don't think I tend to use this blog as my place to whinge, but I need to whinge. It all started pretty great, I made some lovely homemade ice cream (without an ice cream maker), which I was reasonably proud of, and I have a good weekend. But I was happily pottering around the house, planning to do some simple, straight-forward baking. I started to make a lemon and pomegranate pound cake, after receiving some lovely Royal Pom pomegranates from Catherine at WordStorm PR (ZOMG Steph accepted free samples, what a sell out $$$$). It was all going fine and dandy, and then I walked away from my temperamental oven for what seemed like 2 seconds, only to come back and find the top of my cake black and smoking. NOOO!

The cake failure was compounded when I tried to take it out of the tin and it split in half. And then after desperately trying to press the two halves together, I was trying to scrape some of the burnt bits off, only to have the whole thing fall apart. At this point I refrained from throwing the cake across the room, took a deep breath and walked out of the kitchen. (By the way the cake still tasted pretty good) That fail cake seemed to set the tone for the rest of this week. Since then I've managed to slice my thumb open, kill my laptop and my treasured home made ice cream was accidently left out to melt into a sad little puddle :( And that was just on Monday night. OH and did I mention the hiccups that refused to go away?

Now, about these brûlées. This Friday is Tomred's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!), and so at first I thought about making him a rhubarb and custard birthday cake. Then I changed my mind and decided to try the Bourke St Bakery brûlées tarts. Then I realised the recipe was going to take me two days and I wouldn't be able to make it for his actual birthday due to other commitments, so I ended up making him just the crème brûlées without the pastry. Unfortunately Tomred was a victim of my fickle mind.

But I think these brûlées will be the turning point for my week. In complete contrast to the fail cake, these turned out lovely. I was worried that the rhubarb I stewed would be too sour, but it was offset by the lovely sweetness of the vanilla bean custard and the toffee on top. I was worried that I would over or undercook the custard and the texture would be weird, but even with the rhubarb it was still quite smooth. And of course, my favourite part was that I got to use my blowtorch.

Isn't it pretty? I love love love the crunchy layer on top of a crème brûlée. And it made that super satisfying *CRACK* as everyone broke the surface with their dessert spoon.

In the end, I'm kind of glad I avoided the hassle of making the whole tart. As much as I love the tarts and as much as I love making pastry, I have a feeling with the run of luck I've been having it would have somehow been a disaster. These were stress free and quite satisfying. One day I will definitely have to try making the whole tart from start to finish (especially the ginger one, gosh I love that one). But just the filling from the vanilla one, with rhubarb instead of strawberry, was really really tasty.

Here's hoping for a better week.

Rhubarb and Vanilla Crème brûlée
(adapted from Bourke St Bakery creme brulee custard recipe, makes approx 6)
200g fresh rhubarb
100g sugar
zest of one lemon
430ml whipping cream (35% fat)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways
6 egg yolks
70g caster sugar + extra for burning

Stew the rhubarb first; chop rhubarb into 1cm pieces and place in a medium saucepan with lemon zest and sugar. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes until tender and just starting to fall apart. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 140 degrees C

Place cream in a small saucepan, scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into the cream and add the bean. Bring to the boil over high heat. As soon as it boils, remove from the heat and set aside for about 10 minutes.

Place egg yolks in stainless steel bowl and use a whisk to combine. Add sugar and whisk for about 30 seconds, or until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the slightly cooled cream through a fine sieve, discarding the vanilla bean, then pour the cream into the egg yolk mixture, stirring well to combine. Fold in the stewed rhubarb.

Spoon the warm custard mixture into 6 1/2 cup ramekins, until full. Place ramekins in a deep baking tray and pour in enough water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in oven for about 45 minutes, or until just set.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack, then place in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Sprinkle 2 tsp of caster sugar over the top of each ramekin and caramelise with blowtorch. Happy days!

P.S. Thanks to Lisa for sending me the Bourke St Bakery recipe and to Karen for the vanilla bean donation :)