Chocolate Crème brûlée features a cool creamy chocolate custard topped with a caramelized sugar topping. It's so easy to make at home with just a handful of ingredients.
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Arrange six 4-ounce ramekins in a 2-inch deep baking dish. Set aside.
Add milk and cream to a medium saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until bubbles appear along the sides of the pan.
Whisk in espresso powder, cocoa powder, and chopped chocolate until fully melted and combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
In a medium bowl, quickly whisk the sugar and egg yolks together until frothy.
Slowly pour the hot chocolate cream into the yolk mixture while whisking continuously until well combined.
Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher or large liquid measuring cup.
Pour the custard into the ramekins. Place the baking pan with filled ramekins inside the oven then carefully fill the pan with enough hot water to come 2/3 of the way up the sides of the ramekins.
Bake 25-30 minutes, just until set. Start checking the custard early. Bake times will vary depending on the thickness and depth of your ramekins. The custard should be set and not soupy with only a small area of jiggle in the center.
Carefully remove the baking dish from the oven and allow the ramekins to cool in the water bath. Once the ramekins are cool enough to handle, remove them from the water, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days before serving.
Just before serving, sprinkle the tops of each custard with about 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar, then immediately caramelize the sugar with a propane torch or broiler.
Notes
Milk & Cream: You can use half-in-half instead since it's the same thing as using half of each. For a richer custard, you may wish to use 2 cups of heavy cream and omit the milk.
Semisweet chocolate: Use pure baking chocolate for the very best results. Chocolate chips don't melt as smoothly and could compromise the integrity of the final product.
Water bath: The water bath will help the custard bake slowly and evenly. Take extra care not to get water in the custard. This will ruin it.
Baking the custard: Timing can be tricky and will vary depending on the type of ramekin you use. I used shallow ramekins and they took about 25 minutes to bake. The custard is done when it jiggles uniformly from edge to edge when shaken gently. You can also test with a fingertip - press it lightly in the center and the custard should spring back will leaving your fingertip clean.