Silky no-bake chocolate custards set in the fridge — five ingredients, ten minutes of work, and a lesson in gentle egg cookery.
200 g
🍫 dark chocolate (70%) ›
chopped
1 pinch
🧂 flaky salt ›
for serving
Mise en place
Before you start
Equipment
4 small glasses or ramekins
Prep checklist
dark chocolate (70%) — chopped
Whisk yolks and sugar in a bowl until pale. Warm cream and milk to a bare simmer.
Temper: pour the hot cream into the yolks in a thin stream, whisking the whole time.
💡
Tempering raises the eggs' temperature gradually. Dump it all at once and you've made sweet scrambled eggs.
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.
Pour the hot custard through a sieve onto the chopped chocolate. Wait 1 minute, then stir from the center out until glossy and unified.
💡
Sieving catches any overcooked egg — insurance against graininess. Stirring from the center builds the emulsion.
Divide into glasses and chill at least 3 hours. Serve with flaky salt, and cream if you're feeling French.
Pots de crème without the oven or the water bath. The 70% chocolate matters: sweeter chocolate makes them cloying, darker makes them austere.
Full-fat coconut milk for cream + milk (dairy-free, faint coconut perfume)
Espresso (2 tbsp of the milk) for deeper, mocha-leaning pots
Honey for sugar (use 1.5 tbsp)
Afterwards
Keep, reheat & pair
Storage
Covered in the fridge, 3 days — arguably best on day two.
Freezing
Don't. The emulsion weeps when thawed.
Reheating
Most baked desserts revive in a 150°C oven for 5–8 minutes. Custards and mousses are served cold — never reheat.
Make ahead
Almost every dessert here is better made a day ahead — flavors settle and textures set. Add crisp toppings just before serving.
Wine pairing
Ruby port, or black coffee at midnight, as the name intends.
Beer pairing
An imperial stout alongside chocolate is a genuinely great pairing; otherwise coffee.
On the plate
Serve it with
Sides
·
A scoop of vanilla ice cream
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