Earl Grey Crème Brûlée Tart (2024)

Earl Grey Crème Brûlée Tart is one of those desserts that will stay in your memory bank of downright delicious desserts! With a flakey, buttery sweet shortcrust pastry, filled with steeped earl grey custard and topped with a caramelised sugar - this has all the distinctive flavours of the French treat we love.

My love affair with earl grey tea continues today with this fantastic cross between French and British culture (we'll get onto that next!). I adore baking with it, this simple tea leaf is one of my all-time favourite flavour enhancers for any baked good. It's fragrant, subtle and undeniably sophisticated.

Try my Earl Grey French Toast for breakfast (makes a great start to your day), or my Earl Grey Cupcakes filled with Blackberry Curd (it's a winning combination) or my simple French Earl Grey Yogurt Loaf for dessert (made in one bowl with no mixer). As you can see, Earl Grey is incredibly versatile as to what you can make with it! I'm a fan and I hope that I can convert you too.

Back to this wonderful cross-cultural tart! It feels like the perfect marriage between my British (my Dad's) and my French (my Mum's) culture! The combination of classic French Crème Brûlée with the subtlety of Earl Grey Tea (we Brits do love a cuppa!) in the form of a tart is sensational.

If you adore Crème Brûlée as much as I do then make sure to check out my Homemade Crème Brûlée Ice Cream. It tastes identical to the dessert- just in ice cream form!

🧾 Ingredients Needed

Sweet Short Crust Pastry

• Flour- Plain (all-purpose) flour is best for shortcrust pastry
• Icing Sugar - Used to sweeten the dough just enough - powdered icing sugar dissolves into the dough more efficiently than granulated sugar.
• Salt - An absolute must to help season the dough.
• Earl Grey Tea Leaves - The star of the show. I use ground tea leaves from inside teabags. They are super fine and the texture disappears into the crunch of the pastry.
• Butter- Unsalted butter works best as you can then control the amount of salt in your dessert. Ensure it is cold!
• Egg - One large egg helps to bind all the dough ingredients together.
• Water - The liquid needed to make this pastry super crisp and flakey- make sure that it is ice cold when you use it.

Custard Filling

• Egg Yolks. Egg yolks make the custard rich and creamy whilst still allowing it to have that perfect wobble. If you were to add egg white it would set the custard solid.
• Caster (Super-Fine) Sugar. If you don't have a caster then regular granulated sugar will work just as well. I choose to use caster sugar as I know that it dissolves into the egg yolks that bit quicker.
• Double Cream. I love to use double (heavy) cream due to its high-fat content. If you choose to use one lower in fat then you'll miss out on the luxurious, rich mouthfeel that is synonymous with crème brûlée.
• Earl Grey Tea Bags. Teabags or tea leaves can be used to steep in the cream. I prefer tea bags as they can be removed easily. If you prefer to use tea leaves then you'll need to pass the cream through a fine-mesh sieve before continuing with the recipe.
• Vanilla Bean Paste. Packs a punch in the flavour department but vanilla extract can also be used.
• Caster (Super-fine) Sugar - more caster sugar is sprinkled on top of the set custard and caramelised with a blow torch for that signature crack that you could get with a crème brûlée.

📖 Variations

There are a few variations that I can think of that would make delicious flavoured Crème Brûlée Tarts.

• Kaffir Lime Crème Brûlée Tart: Straight out of the block I'm giving you an Asian inspired tart. Slice 3-4 kaffir lime leaves in strips and steep in the cream the same way as tea leaves. I've tried this in a London pub many years ago and it was one of the most delicious renditions imaginable.
• Espresso Crème Brûlée Tart: Mix 2 teaspoons of espresso powder with 2 teaspoons of hot water and stir until dissolved. Add this to the cream and continue with the recipe. The coffee hit with the crunchy sugar hit is heavenly.
• Citrus Crème Brûlée Tart: Add lemon or orange zest into the cream and steep as you would the tea. Continue with the recipe but be sure to pass the custard through a sieve to remove the zest of the fruit. You'll be left with a delightfully fragrant custard filling.

👩🏻‍🍳 How to Make

*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*

There are two main components to this Earl Grey Crème Brûlée Tart, the pastry shell and the custard filling. Each one can feel intimidating to tackle, but follow along with my process shots and breakdown of instructions and you'll see that you can easily achieve them.

Sweet Short Crust Pastry

STEP 1.Make the dough.Sift the flour, powdered icing sugar and salt into a large bowl and add the ground earl grey tea leaves. Rub the butter and flour between your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs.

STEP 2. Stir the beaten egg and water into the flour mixture until it starts to resemble a dough. Use your hands to bring the dough together and shape it into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

STEP 3.Prepare the tart tin with the dough.Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface until it's the thickness of a coin and 30cm (12in) in diameter(Image 1). Gently lift the dough into your tart tin(Image 2).

Use your fingers to push the pastry onto the sides of the tin(Image 3).Trim off any excess, then refrigerate overnight.

STEP 4.Blind Bake and seal. Dock the bottom of the tart with a fork(Image 4), place parchment paper in the bottom, and then fill with pie weights(Image 5) Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and pie weights. (Checkout my blind baking guide)

STEP 5. Seal the par-cooked pastry: Make the egg wash by whisking small egg and milk together. Brush the base of the tart with the egg wash(Image 6)and bake for another 10 minutes until the pastry is lightly golden and the pastry is cooked through on the base. This creates a seal on the pastry ensuring that the liquid custard won’t soften for crisp pastry and turn it soggy.

The Earl Grey Custard Filling

STEP 6. Steep tea in cream. The cream and tea bags need to get heated slowly in a saucepan until the cream is just simmering (Image 7). Give it a stir and set aside for 20 mins. Give the tea bags an occasional squeeze in a saucepan on low heat, place the cream and 2 earl grey tea bags and heat gently until steaming with small bubbles around the edge.

Remove from the heat and allow the tea to steep for a minimum of 20 minutes for the tea to infuse into the cream, longer if you prefer. Remove the tea bags (Image 8).

STEP 8. Whisk yolks and sugar and add cream. Add the yolks and sugar into a medium bowl (Image 9) and whisk until pale. We're then going to temper the eggs as the cream may still be warm. Whilst whisking continuously, pour the cream (Image 10) into the eggs until fully added. Add the vanilla bean paste and whisk until fully combined (Image 11 below).

If you think there may be any lumps or stray tea leaves in your custard then pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a pouring jug ideally (Image 12). (The jug will help you transfer the liquid to the tart shell with minimum risk!) If there are any air bubbles or foam on the surface of the liquid, then skim those off with a spoon.

STEP 9. Pour the custard into the tart shell & bake. Place the tart shell, still in the tart pan, onto the oven shelf and pour the custard into the tart whilst on the shelf (Image 13). The custard has to reach almost to the top of the pastry rim and having it placed on the shelf means that you can avoid spillage.

Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 40 minutes or until the custard has set but has a slight wobble in the middle (Image 14). Remove from the oven to cool completely and refrigerate to set for 2 to 4 hours.

STEP 10. Sprinkle over the sugar and caramelise. Sprinkle the caster sugar evenly over the set custard (Image 15). Use a kitchen blow torch to caramelise the sugar until it turns a golden brown colour (Image 16). It’s up to you how far you take the caramelisation, either lightly golden or do it for longer and get that burnt, really darkened sugar. Let the sugar cool for about 5 minutes into a hard layer.

Your Earl Grey Crème Brûlée Tart is best eaten the day it is made. Serve by tapping the hardened layer with the back of a spoon to crack brûléed sugar and slice.

📋Recipe FAQs

❄️ Storage and Freezer Instructions

To store: Earl Grey Crème Brûlée Tart is best eaten the day it is made. However, if necessary, wrap the tart well in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days. The crunchy sugar topping will soften though.

To freeze: You can freeze the tart before adding the caramelised sugar on top. Wrap it well in plastic wrap and freeze for up to one month. Thaw by placing in the refrigerator overnight. Caramelise the sugar as per the recipe.

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