Silky no-bake chocolate custards set in the fridge — five ingredients, ten minutes of work, and a lesson in gentle egg cookery.
What you need
Ingredients
Servings
4
Before you start
Mise en place
Equipment
Saucepan
Whisk
4 small glasses or ramekins
Fine sieve
Prep checklist
dark chocolate (70%) — chopped
flaky salt — for serving
5 steps
Method
1
Whisk yolks and sugar in a bowl until pale. Warm cream and milk to a bare simmer.
3 min — timer available in cooking mode
2
Temper: pour the hot cream into the yolks in a thin stream, whisking the whole time.
Why this works
Tempering raises the eggs' temperature gradually. Dump it all at once and you've made sweet scrambled eggs.
3
Return to the pan over low heat, stirring until the custard coats the back of a spoon and a finger-swipe holds its line (82°C), 3–4 minutes. Never let it bubble.
4 min — timer available in cooking mode
4
Pour the hot custard through a sieve onto the chopped chocolate. Wait 1 minute, then stir from the center out until glossy and unified.
Why this works
Sieving catches any overcooked egg — insurance against graininess. Stirring from the center builds the emulsion.
5
Divide into glasses and chill at least 3 hours. Serve with flaky salt, and cream if you're feeling French.
180 min — timer available in cooking mode
From the pass
Chef's notes
Pots de crème without the oven or the water bath. The 70% chocolate matters: sweeter chocolate makes them cloying, darker makes them austere.