How to Freeze Crème Brûlée
While crème brûlée is undoubtedly delicious and will be delightfully received by your dinner guests, it can take a few hours to prepare from scratch.
So, you might be tempted to prepare your crème brûlée ahead of time to save you the prep time on the day of your dinner party. Below are the simple steps you need to take to freeze homemade crème brûlée:
- Cool
After filling your ramekin with crème brûlée, you will need to allow it sufficient time to cool to room temperature before transferring it to the freezer. This will take a few hours, so you will need to be patient as it cools! - Wrap
Wrap each of your ramekins individually in cling film, ensuring there are no cracks or tears in the wrapping. This protects your crème brûlée from freezer burn and from taking on any other odours from food already in the freezer. - Label
Write the date you prepared the crème brûlée, as well as its use-by date on the film wrap. Remember, you can freeze crème brûlée for around one month. - Freeze
Transfer your ramekins of crème brûlée to the freezer, taking care to place them on a flat surface.
3 Tips for Freezing Crème Brûlée
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing crème brûlée to have the best results:
- Leave Off the Decorations – If you’re planning to decorate or top your crème brûlée with fruit or any other goodies, you should leave them to one side if you’re planning to freeze the dessert. You should aim to freeze crème brûlée in its simplest possible form and can focus on decorating it and making it look fancy once it has been defrosted.
- Take Care – When you’re placing your crème brûlée in the freezer, you need to take care and place it on a flat surface. You may also want to consider covering the dishes with something firm (a piece of cardboard, for instance) so the crème brûlée isn’t damaged in the freezer. It’s all too easy for the soft top of a crème brûlée to be dented beyond repair by something that has fallen on top of it!
- Spice Things Up – After defrosting and torching your crème brûlée, add a dusting of cinnamon to its surface for a surprising kick.
How Long Can You Freeze Crème Brûlée?
You can freeze crème brûlée for around one month.
Crème brûlée can also be stored in the fridge for four days before serving. So, if you’ve made the dessert a couple of days before you plan to eat it, you don’t need to worry about freezing it. Only proceed with freezing crème brûlée if you want to preserve it for up to one month.
You Can Freeze Crème Brûlée for up to 1 Month
How Do You Defrost Crème Brûlée?
The night before you plan to serve your crème brûlée, remove the dessert from the freezer and place it in the fridge. You will need to leave it overnight, so it thaws thoroughly.
Then, once it has thawed, you should sprinkle the crème brûlée with sugar and torch, adding that delicious crunchy texture to the top.
Can You Refreeze Crème Brûlée?
It’s best to avoid refreezing crème brûlée if you can.
While there’s technically nothing wrong with doing so if it has been defrosted in the fridge, the complex and delicate nature of the dessert won’t respond well to the change in moisture content that results from the freezing and thawing process.
As such, only plan to freeze crème brûlée once, or you are likely to be disappointed with the outcome.
Does Crème Brûlée Freeze Well?
Although it should only be frozen for a month, freezing crème brûlée is a good way of preserving it. This is ideal for home bakers who prefer batch baking and don’t necessarily have time to prepare desserts on the day that they’re to be served.
Refrain from topping or decorating your crème brûlée until it has been thawed, and you should encounter no issues when you freeze this delicious French dessert.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing crème brûlée or crème brûlée in general, then these may help:
Can You Freeze Crème Caramel?
Crème caramel can also be frozen but we would reduce the time from one month to just a fortnight… At most! The method is similar but you may find you have issues with the caramel element of a crème caramel.
Can You Freeze Crema Catalana?
The Catalan version of brûlée is pretty much the same with the addition of citrus through the use of orange. This means that everything on this page can also be applied to crema Catalana. You may find the orange flavour degrades over time, however.
