Baked custard pots: a sprightly spring alternative to crème brûlée

I am pretty capricious when it comes to puddings. I’m always ready to declare my most recent success the king of all desserts, swearing blind I will never make anything else, and just falling short of sending a newsletter to my entire address book informing them of the new love of my life – only for a new pretender to take its place a week a later. So you would be forgiven for feeling a little dismissive when I crow about my new favourite pudding. But listen, this really is my new favourite pudding. Maybe I will never make anything else again. Baked custard pots: richer than a crème caramel, but without the distinctive brittle ceiling of the crème brûlée, these are a make-ahead wonder, fantastically impressive, and really, completely delicious.

Although the bright yellow of the egg yolk custard gives the pudding a sprightly, spring-like feel, the beauty of this pud is that it lends itself to any season: in summer, I serve it with fresh raspberries, bleeding into the yellow custard, or figs, cut into quarters half way down the fruit so that the tops open out like petals. In the autumn, I like baked plums or quince, stewed until it turns golden-pink and aromatic. Right now, I’m using the very last of the year’s forced rhubarb, that I squirrelled away in the freezer when fresh, but have now almost exhausted those supplies, unable to resist its neon lure.

Baking the custards in a bain marie can sound faffy if you haven’t done it before, but it’s pretty straightforward: the custards are baked in an extremely low heated oven, and the ramekins are placed in a roasting tin filled with boiling water. This protects the custards from the direct heat of the oven, ensuring a low, slow bake, and prevents them curdling.