Ingredients

Method

Preheat the oven to 340ºF / 170ºC

Place the milk in a saucepan and split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape the seeds out and place in the saucepan with the milk and place the pod in too.

Bring the milk to a simmer then remove from the heat, cover and allow to infuse.

In a small saucepan place the 100g sugar, lemon juice and water and bring to the boil. Cook until the sugar caramelises and turns a lovely amber colour. Take off the heat and pour into the bottom of your dish or divide between individual ramekins. Quickly swirl the caramel around the bottom of the dish(s) so it coats the bottom and some of the sides before it sets.

Place the eggs into a large mixing bowl together with the remaining sugar (110g) and whisk together thoroughly then add the milk a little at the time initially so as not to scramble the eggs. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a jug and then fill the mould(s) with the mixture.

Place the mould or ramekins into a bain-marie and bake for 60 minutes or 45 minutes if doing individual moulds or until the custard is set.

Remove from the water bath and cool. Unmold onto your serving dish and serve. If you refrigerate them, dip the base in hot water for a few seconds before you unmold them to serve to melt the caramel base.