Street Bakery & Postres

Crème Brûlée in Los Angeles

Look for chilled ceramic ramekins of velvety vanilla custard crowned with a brittle sheet of freshly torched caramelized sugar at Imperial Night Market in Downtown LA on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, when a vendor is serving it. Free entry.

2300 E 15th St, Downtown LA · Free entry
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CATEGORY
Street Bakery & Postres
PREPARATION
Rich egg yolk custard baked, chilled, and torched with caramelized sugar.
MARKET
Imperial Night Market, Downtown LA
HERITAGE

The origins of Crème Brûlée

Crème brûlée translates from French as burnt cream, describing a baked custard foundation capped with caramelized sugar. The earliest printed recipe bearing this exact name appeared in French chef François Massialot's 1691 culinary treatise, Le Cuisinier royal et bourgeois.

The dish consists of cream, sugar, and egg yolks infused with vanilla bean and baked until set. After chilling, cooks coat the custard surface with granulated sugar and blast it with a flame torch, forming a glass-like amber crust that cracks under a spoon.

Brittle glass-like shell of torched amber sugarVelvety baked custard enriched with egg yolksAromatic vanilla bean infused into creamCrisp crack yielding to chilled silky richness

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Frequently asked questions

How is the burnt sugar crust achieved on crème brûlée?

Cooks sprinkle granulated sugar across the chilled custard surface and caramelize it rapidly with a blowtorch.

What ingredients form the custard base of crème brûlée?

The custard is composed of egg yolks, cream, sugar, and vanilla bean.

Sources