Heat the cream till boiling and remove from heat. Allow to cool 10 minutes <70° then add the vanilla

Beat the egg yolks and caster sugar together till pale. 4 minutes

Combine cream into egg yolks slowly while whisking together

Strain the mixture into jug and remove all the froth

Let stand for 5 minutes

Set 4 Ramikins into a baking dish and fill evenly with all the mixture

Flood the baking dish 2/3 way up the ramikins with boiling water and cover tightly with foil

Set on the middle tray of the oven and bake for 40 minutes in a 180° oven

Stand on the bench for 15 minutes to cool and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours

Top each with 1 Tbs of sugar and blow torch till till sugar is melted

Allow to cool 5 minutes then serve

400 ml pouring cream
4 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla

4 Tbs castor sugar

This is one of my favourite desserts to eat and prepare. People love the pure cream custard. So much better than commercial or even most restaurants custards. You can use 50% milk and it will still be great and a bit lighter in calories.

The fun part is getting everyone to put on their own sugar and blowtorch it. An activity at the table that gets people participating. Make a few more than you might need as it is easy to knock down more than one and it keeps the torching activity going a while longer.

The other plus is you can make them well ahead, a day or two wrapped in clingwrap, and bring them out at the exact time.  This recipe is for four and I would suggest that rather than increasing the quanitites in one go I would make them in 2 or 3 batches if doing say 12.