Dark Chocolate Pots de Creme with Candied Kumquats

This recipe... oh my. It easily goes into the "top three" of my favorite things I've made (I don't know what the other two are but .. no matter). I've never made, more or less heard of, pots de creme before. Pronounced "poe de krehm" with a throaty sound on the word 'krehm' to make it sound legit, this elegant dessert is like a chocolate mousse, but richer and more dense. Almost custard-like, but not so eggy. Neither pictures or words can give justice to how decadent these were, but I'll proceed anyway after I say that you must, must, must try this dessert. Really, try making it, or ask someone else to make it for you. It's kind of urgent.

Ahh...so luxurious, so creamy, so smoooooth <3

One note: The recipe I used called for candied kumquats to top the pots de creme. This would have been delicious. But me being a total noob figured: "Well I don't have kumquats, but I'm pretty sure those are just tiny oranges. I have Cuties [clementines], which are basically small oranges, so I'll just use those instead!" Turns out kumquats are like.. completely different fruits. They do look like tiny oranges, but they're much different in flavor and fruit-to-peel proportion. When candied, they would have produced a much tastier and better looking candied fruit topping, like so...

-from sprinklebakes.com


Nevertheless, the candied clementine topping wasn't too bad. I just wouldn't have minded them turning out like the ones in that picture above :)
Many people serve pots de creme with a dollop of whipped cream, which can be a nice accompaniment to set off the richness of the chocolate; others are purists and serve it as it is, which I'd totally be down for right now, as I'm currently in somewhat of a hardcore chocolate phase.


I got the recipe from http://www.sprinklebakes.com/ and I wouldn't do anything differently except for actually following the recipe and finding out what kumquats are before attempting to substitute in other random fruits o_O

Chocolate-Orange Pots de Creme
6-8 servings

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons orange extract
Pinch of salt (x2)
6 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring cream, milk, orange extract, and a pinch of salt just to a boil in a small saucepan, then pour over chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Whisk together yolks, sugar, and a pinch of salt in another bowl, then add warm chocolate mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a 1-quart glass measure and cool completely, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.


Divide custard among 6 - 4 oz. ramekins. Bake at 300 degrees in a hot water bath for 30- 35 minutes. Allow ramekins to cool on a wire rack for about an hour. Chill for 2 hours (or overnight) before serving.