Recipe for ginger crème caramel

The addition of ginger to crème caramel is a match made in culinary heaven. The creaminess combined with the refreshing bite of ginger is fantastic.

Serves 6.400g (14oz) caster sugar

100ml (3½ fl.oz) water

600ml (1 pint) milk

400ml (14 fl.oz) double cream

80g (3oz) stem ginger, finely sliced

7 eggs

Preheat the oven to 170C/400F/gas 6 First make a bain-marie: fill a roasting tin with 3cm (1¼ in) hot water and place it in the oven on the middle shelf.

Now bring half of the sugar and all the water to the boil in a saucepan and continue to boil until it caramelises. Do not stir or the caramel may crystallise. When the caramel has turned a dark golden colour, pour it very carefully into the ramekins and leave it to set.

Put the milk, cream and ginger into a saucepan and slowly bring it to the boil, pour it slowly into the egg mixture while whisking gently then divide it among 6 x 300ml (10 fl.oz) ovenproof ramekins. Sit them in the bain-marie and pour in more hot water to come three-quarters of the way up their sides. Cook for 35 minutes, then test them by inserting a thin knife into the centre: it should come out clean, but if it doesn’t cook them for three to five minutes more and test again.

Take the ramekins out of the bain-marie and leave them to cool before covering them and placing them in the fridge to firm up over at least three hours.

To serve: run a blunt knife around the sides of each ramekin then gently shake it from side to side. Invert it on a plate and tip out the crème caramel with the syrup.

A handy hint: to clean the saucepan, put boiling water into it and boil for a few minutes to dissolve any caramel left behind.