Everyone's got a white whale. Mine just so happens to be an authentic creme brulee. I've scoured the internet, searched multiple times in the sub achieve and tried a few creme brulee recipes that have been published. Sadly they don't seem to live up to the profile and come off tasting more like a caramel custard.
I'm looking for a way to capture the taste of the hard-top burnt sugar that you get with a typical brulee. After four iterations, I'm starting to realize that it's going to be a lot harder than I imagined.
Here's where I'm currently at:
Brulee v4
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CAP Vanilla Custard v1 - 5.5%
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TFA Red Oak - 2%
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TFA Brown Sugar - 2%
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FA Caramel - 1%
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FA Fresh Cream - 1%
Capella Vanilla Custard is obviously used for its eggy properties. At 5%, you get a thick, rich vanilla custard that can hold its own against all the sugar we're going to throw it's way. FA Fresh Cream is just there to help fill out any gaps. For the burnt sugar, I used TFA Brown Sugar and FA Caramel for the torched sugary crust. Unfortunately it's not coming through. TFA Red Oak is there because I love the earthiness that it adds to the blend.
Moving forward, I am considering exploring a few things...
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TFA AP (more nuttiness, bakery-ness to potentially form the sugar crust)
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FA Butterscotch (to aid the brown sugar and caramel)
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TFA Graham Cracker Crust/Capella Sugar Cookie/FA cookie (give it a bit of bite)
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TFA Toasted Marshmallow (this might be the missing link that gives it that burnt effect, will have to explore further)
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INW creme brûlée (I've heard so many good things about this, unfortunately my local vendor isn't bringing this in)
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Capella French Vanilla (to further accentuate the custard and boost its Vanilla properties)
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FA Joy (enhances bakery feel)
Thoughts, /r/DIY_eJuice? At this point, I'll honestly take anything I can get. Not necessarily looking a recipe of course, just looking a few like-minded folks to shoot the shit and theorycraft.
How about FA Catalan Cream?
I considered it but the few times that I've used Catalan has convinced me that it doesn't belong in a creme brûlée. There's too much spice.
While I agree that the spice can be overwhelming, maybe try using it as a supporting cast- around 1%. When steeped, it really, really brings out that torched sugar taste in my experience and could maybe help round out your recipe :-) hopefully that vcv1 would neutralize the strength of that bite CC gives
/u/bobbysavage does INW Creme Brulee really have that nice caramelized brown sugar flavor or do we need to add it in with something else to get it boosted up properly?
I have INW Creme Brulee but only just dabbled at adding it to tobaccos so I can really speak on it as a stand alone.
Yes comparatively to INW Custard the shit is caramelized
INW Custard seems stronger. I dont think it's butyric acid. Maybe Acetoin or AP. Im not great at distinguishing diketones from each other
Bro bro, you got Funky Pineapple by Molinberry by chance? Could be good for that thing we talked about. Just picked some up the other day.
Edit: Vaping on the Brulee right now, but it's only a week old and I mixed in Am4a and some other stuff. Starting to get that nice eggy vibe, still not caramelized sugar yet but the other flavs in the mix might be masking it.
I had pretty good success with the latest BBpodcast competition with my Brûlée. I used Toasted Marshmallow at 2% and CAP VCv1 at 4% for the base. The limitations of the 6 Ingredients couldn't quite get me to a perfect brûlée, but I bet adding .5-.75 of FA Joy would put it right there to perfection.
I think adding Maple to the brûlée was my downfall as it is a "love it or hate it" flavoring. I used it to offset a brown sugar note. FA Joy had the baked brown sugar sweetness it could have used, I feel.
Hope this helps :).
Joy has a powdered sugar note, not a brown sugar note, mate.
Sort of like funnel cake right? For some reason, I kind of see it working for a brûlée tho
...my man. i have to assume the responsibility for all the red oak popping up in recipes, usually not for the better, but this looks like a good implementation. i'm finna go mix this up, will report back later. i have a few brulee prototypes that i haven't worked on in a couple months, guess i'll get the notebook out later.
Haha I have to give credit where it's due. It is a damn fine flavoring. Potent but very good. I definitely need to work around the percentages a little more but I think I'm getting closer. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on what I could potentially be missing...
this is good! needs a little tweaking, but it's quite good. i'm thinking TFA toasted marshmallow 2% & Catalan Cream .75-1%. maybe TFA Horchata Smooth instead of Catalan at .5-1%. i think that will give you that torched sugar crust. or TFA Dulce & Brown Sugar, .25% each + .25-.5% FA Joy.
What's the Red Oak for?
Sorry, just updated. It helps gives the blend some earthiness and keeps things from becoming too sweet. It also helps gives the brown sugar and custard a deeper, more refined taste if that makes sense. I'm starting to like Red Oak a lot.
The addition of TFA Toasted Marshmallow looks like an excellent idea to me. It would definitely be the first thing I'd try out of the list of things you're considering.
I'm not of much help myself, but I think Wayne made a banana creme brûlée in his "let's mix" vlog, have you looked at that?
Inawera custard will do a much much better job them Capella's IMO. Can you just not get ahold of Inawera creme brulee through a different vendor? I'm guessing you're not in the states.
Can't get creme brûlée but my vendor has INW Custard. Should I pull the trigger?
Most definitely. It's much more complex than capella. Tastes like flan almost
I have some INW Creme Brulee, I definitely think it's right up your alley. I haven't played with it much but I definitely get that burnt/browned sugar crust flavor, with some background decadence. I only got a sample of it, otherwise I'd offer to send some your way. May not be the main ingredient for the body of the creme brulee but I think it should get you in the ballpark for the top.
I've noticed that INW Creme Brulee makes a fantastic sub for CAP Vanilla Custard v1 @ about 1/2 or a little less the percentage you would normally use. I don't know if this helps much, but it really is a fantastic flavour.
I'm still trying to nail down a close approximation of Whit E. Octopus's Bavarian Cream. Somewhat similar profile, with Brulee's having the addition of brown/caramelized sugar. If you can find it, TFA Maple (not maple syrup, just plain maple) gives a nuttiness without the AP. Also, butterscotch ripple might be a good addition.
The creaminess is the hardest part. I'm not a fan of Cap VC v1. I'm thinking Vienna Cream/Vanilla Swirl, and a few drops of LA or Cap Cheesecake.