My son has been asking for crème brûlée forever. He loves to order it when we are out at vegan restaurants. I have tried and failed a number of times to make my own, but, now I have a recipe that works. I finally cracked that crème brûlée. Get it? Cracked it? Ha!
I made the most delicious vanilla custard with subtle notes of chocolate and sweetened with golden maple syrup. The color is perfection because of the syrup, and a dash of turmeric, but any liquid sweetener would work. The color will be a little darker though.
Before I write the recipe, I have to send a shout out to my friend and teacher Fran Costigan, the queen of vegan desserts, and her book Vegan Chocolate. I used her Mocha Crème Brûlée as a reference for the measurements.
Now to the recipe. This is a one pot, super easy recipe that even my 8-year-old can make. In fact, he brûléed this batch all by himself.
You will need a kitchen torch to make the brûlée but you could probably put it under the broiler as well. And, honestly, the custard is absolutely delicious all on it’s own.
Note: I use three 4″ ramekins for this amount of custard because that is what I have at home but you can use smaller or bigger ones too.

Cream Brulee
Ingredients
- 1 can coconut cream
- 6 discs cacao butter
- 1/4 cup golden maple syrup (I like golden maple syrup because the light color keeps the color of the crème brûlée light. But, any liquid sweetener could work but the color will be darker.)
- 1/4 tsp agar powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp ground vanilla beans
- 1 dash turmeric powder
- vegan cane or vegan vanilla sugar for the brulee
Instructions
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Combine all ingredients in a small pot. Whisk together over medium heat until the cacao butter is melted and the mixture starts to coat the whisk.
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Pour into ramekins and chill for a few hours until set.
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Sprinkle with sugar and torch!
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