Crème Brûlée Cupcakes

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These crème brûlée cupcakes combine soft, fluffy vanilla cake, luxurious pastry cream, and a crisp caramelized sugar shell for a delicious dessert perfect for any occasion!

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Total Time55

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 254kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Vanilla Cupcakes

150 g Granulated sugar
113 Unsalted butter at room temperature
2 Egg at room temperature
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
120 g Whole milk at room temperature
185 g All purpose flour
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon White vinegar
½ teaspoon Baking soda

Pastry Cream

240 g Whole milk 3% fat
50 g Granulated sugar
40 g Egg yolk approx. yolk of 2 eggs
12 g Corn starch
12 g All purpose flour
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
28 g Unsalted butter 82% fat, room temperature soft butter
+ A few tablespoons of demerara or granulated sugar to caramelize on the top

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Start with the pastry cream

In a large enough bowl, whisk together the sugar and the egg yolk until slightly fluffy for about 1-2 minutes.
Whisk in the cornstarch, flour, and vanilla until thoroughly incorporated and have a smooth paste.
Heat the milk in a saucepan on medium heat, then remove it as soon as it starts simmering. Make sure it is just simmering and not boiling.
Pour the warm milk over the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously. This stage is effectively tempering the egg yolks and the mixture should already start to thicken slightly.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens. Concretely, it is approximately 1 minute after the first boil. It might get lumpy first, don't worry, just keep whisking and the cream will get smooth and glossy. If in doubt, strain the pastry cream for a lump-free, creamy end result.
Add the room temperature, softened butter chunk by chunk, and mix with a rubber spatula until completely incorporated. It is worth adding the butter in 2 stages, mixing well after each addition.
The pastry cream needs to be completely cool before being used for the cupcakes. Place the cream in a shallow bowl and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top.
Once cooled, you may need to whisk the pastry cream again to get a smooth texture. Do not overmix it, as it can get runny. Give it a few whisks until smooth.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Prepare your cupcake tin by lining it with muffin liners and preheat your oven to 175℃ / 350℉ (no fan).
In a large bowl, cream the room-temperature butter and sugar for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Then, whip in the room-temperature eggs one by one, and finally, mix in the vanilla extract.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. This is your dry ingredients. Reduce the mixer speed to low speed and add the dry ingredients in thirds alternating with the room temperature milk. Do not overmix the batter at this point.
In a small bowl, mix vinegar with the baking soda. It will be super bubbly. Then, immediately fold the vinegar mixture into the batter just until it's combined.
Pipe or spoon the batter evenly into the cavities of your cupcake tin, filling each one about ¾ full.
Bake the cupcake for about 20-22 minutes at 175℃ / 350℉ or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not overbake them, as they can dry out. Cool the baked cupcakes on a cooling rack. They must be at room temperature before frosting.

Assembling

Please note that the caramelized sugar, after a few hours, will start to melt on top of the cupcakes, so only make the brûlée top right before serving the cupcakes. Also, the pastry cream, if stayed too long, might make the cupcakes moist, so the entire assemble should be applied straight before serving.
When the cupcakes are no longer hot and the pastry cream cooled to room temperature, spread the pastry cream evenly on top of the cupcakes. Alternatively, make a teaspoon of holes on each vanilla cupcake base and also fill them with the pastry cream.
To make the brûlée top; sprinkle the top of the pastry cream with a thick layer of demerara sugar (granulated works too), then caramelize it in a few seconds with a blow torch.
Serve the cupcakes fresh. Any leftovers can be stored covered and refrigerated for 1-2 days. Bring them back to room temperature before serving for the frosting to soften. You might want to refresh the brûlée to achieve the crunchiness.

Notes

Ingredient notes:

Measure your ingredients with a digital scale for accuracy.
All cupcake ingredients must be at room temperature to properly emulsify: eggs, butter, and milk.
Good quality high fat milk, butter and pure vanilla are the heart of making pastry cream. Use high-quality 82% fat content European butter and the best quality vanilla you can access.
Fresh, farm eggs will provide bright yellow colored pastry cream, while cheaper supermarket eggs will result in a pale cream.
For the brûlée topping, demerara sugar works best, but granulated sugar can also be a good substitute.

Technique notes:

The baking soda and vinegar mixture is my signature baking hack for making cupcakes super moist and fluffy; do not skip it.
Baking these cupcakes takes 22 minutes in my oven. However, you should focus on the texture, not the time. Apply the toothpick test (it should come out clean) to avoid overbaked cupcakes. Do not overbake them, as that will result in a dry texture.
Use a small/medium sized saucepan with good heat distribution to avoid burning the milk when making pastry cream.

Nutrition