vegan crème caramel

I came across this recipe in a posting on Facebook that referred to a vegan crème caramel on the Good Natured Food blog. The original is in Bulgarian, but I thought Google made an adequate, if slightly humorous, job of translating. Sadly Google or the original recipe got the amount of agar wrong, suggesting 1 Tablespoon.  I could have played ice hockey with the original puck that was produced. 🙁

After a bit more google research I found that the normal ratio of agar powder to liquid is 1 teaspoon to 2 cups of liquid. Which explained the puck. Fortunately the dog liked it.

Luckily the recipe is so quick to make I tried again with a quarter of the amount of agar powder (1 teaspoon). Much better. Next time I’d even try it with slightly less so it is even softer with a proper wobble. I’ve adjusted the recipe down to 3/4 teaspoon.

Of course I have tinkered, and not just with the agar. The original recipe calls for vanilla soymilk and I used soymilk with vanilla essence in the original hockey puck, but the soymilk tasted a bit beany.  So on the second attempt I used homemade cashew milk which is richer, sweeter and more suited to dessert I think.

Unfortunately the photo isn’t great and I didn’t caramelise the sugar enough, so it all looks a bit pale. It does taste good though.

crème caramel

 

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prep time

15 mins

total time

15 mins

 

author: quincesandkale

recipe type: dessert

cuisine: French

serves: 4

ingredients

• 500ml non dairy milk (I used home made cashew milk)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1½ tablespoons sugar
• ¾ teaspoon agar powder
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon water

instructions

1. Mix the milk, vanilla essence, 1½ tablespoons of sugar and the agar powder in saucepan. Put on the heat and bring to the boil, stirring. Turn off and leave to cool.
2. Put the remaining sugar and a tablespoon of water into a pan and put over the heat, shaking the pan. Let the sugar come to the boil and caramelise it until it is a dark golden colour. Do not allow it to burn.
3. Put a few spoonfuls of the caramel in the bottom of four small ramekins and pour the custard mix in on top. Refrigerate until set.
4. Turn out onto a plate. It should come out easily and the caramel should run over the custard like a sauce.

notes

It is a bit difficult to exactly say how much agar to use. It can vary a bit. Don't be discouraged if your first attempt turns out too rubbery, just make the recipe again with less.

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