Crème Brûlée with Exotic Fruit Dice

Ingredients - Serves 4 – 6

600ml double cream
6 egg yolks
200g castor sugar
1 vanilla pod with the seeds scraped out and added to the cream
Or 1 tablespoon of vanilla essence

Exotic Fruit Dice

1 kiwi, cut into small dice
1 small mango, cut into small dice
1 small papaya, cut into small dice
1 small fresh pineapple, cut into small dice
225g strawberries cut in half (optional)

Mix fruits together and set aside

Method

Lightly oil the outside of four to six ring moulds. Wrap the bottom and lower two thirds of the mould with cling film and then cover with tin foil. Place the moulds upside down on a baking tray in a 300f/150c/gas mark 2 for 15 seconds or until the plastic wraps tightly onto the mould.
Allow to cool, set aside.

Bring the cream to the boil with the vanilla. Remove from the heat; whisk the sugar and egg yolks together until smooth and white. Slowly pour the hot cream onto the egg yolk mixture and whisk for two minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve and pour into the ready prepared moulds.

Bake in a water bath
At 170°c - if using a fan oven please refer to the manufacturers instructions/325°f/gas 3 or until the crème brûlée has set. Drain the water and refrigerate the crème brûlée

Raspberry Sauce

50g castor sugar
125g raspberries
Lemon juice, to taste
Extra raspberries and mint sprigs, to garnish

To make the raspberry sauce - Combine the sugar and raspberries in a pan. Heat until almost boiling and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring. Purée in a blender, and then rub through a sieve to remove the seeds. Add lemon juice to taste.

Presentation

Place a ring mould in the centre of a plate, spoon about two tablespoons of the fruit dice into the mould and pack tightly and then carefully remove the mould.

Sprinkle each crème brûlée with about 1 tablespoon of sugar and caramelise with a blow torch (or under a hot grill but do watch carefully) until golden brown. Remove the mould around the crème brûlée with a knife and gently place on top of the fruit dice.

Serve with some raspberry sauce and thin shortbread biscuits are delicious with this dessert..