In this video, enjoy decadence with Chef John's Red Velvet Pot de Crème! This rich, velvety dessert combines the classic flavors of red velvet cake with the creamy texture of custard. Perfect for special occasions or when you're craving something luxurious, this easy-to-follow recipe will impress any dessert lover.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Red Velvet Pot de Crème.
00:09That's right, inspired by the famous cake.
00:11I'm going to show you how to make a very, very fancy French style chocolate pudding.
00:16And when people hear the words fancy French, they think complicated.
00:20But this is actually very simple to make.
00:23And everyone's going to love it, especially your valentine.
00:27To get started, what we'll need is three egg yolks, as well as some whole milk, some
00:32cream, plus a little touch of cream cheese to help give us those Red Velvet vibes.
00:39And then, of course, we'll also need some semi-sweet chocolate.
00:42And if you're keeping score at home, I'm using a 62% cacao.
00:45And then we'll also do a little bit of optional red food coloring to get that signature mahogany
00:50color.
00:51And then besides a little bit of vanilla and a pinch of salt, that's going to be it for
00:54the ingredients.
00:56And then what we'll do is add our egg yolks, milk, and cream to a saucepan.
01:00Since we're doing a much easier stovetop version of this, our Pot de Crème is usually baked
01:05in the oven.
01:07But I really do prefer this method.
01:09And once everything's in there, we'll take our whisk and pop those yolks.
01:13And then we'll give everything a nice whisking before we head to the stove, where we will
01:18place this over medium heat.
01:20And then we'll cook it, stirring pretty much constantly, until the mixture gets very hot
01:26but does not yet come to a simmer.
01:29And I don't always use the best techniques, and sometimes I'll just stick with the whisk
01:32for this, which I have to admit will work, but probably not as well as a spatula, since
01:38that much larger, flatter edge is going to scrape along the bottom of the pan.
01:43And it really does lessen the chances that parts start to stick.
01:47But either way, like I said, we're going to want to cook this until it's very hot and
01:51reaches a temp of about 160, which I like to check using one of these laser thermometers.
01:57But you can also just watch and observe.
01:59And when it gets super steamy, and it's very, very hot to the touch, you're probably fine.
02:04OK, something to keep in mind, we are not relying on this mixture getting thick to thicken
02:09our final dessert.
02:10Right, that's going to be taken care of by the chocolates, and a little bit by the cream
02:14cheese.
02:16So it's not like we're waiting for this mixture to get thick.
02:19And like I said, when it gets steaming hot, and it's about 160 degrees, we will stop.
02:24And we will pull that off the heat.
02:26And then very quickly, but carefully, we will transfer in our broken up chocolate, and we'll
02:31give that pan a little bit of a gentle swirling.
02:34And what we want to do here is let that sit for about two minutes to allow that chocolate
02:38to get nice and soft before we whisk everything together.
02:43And during that time, we can add a few more of our ingredients, including our pinch of
02:46salt, our vanilla extract, as well as, if we're using it, our red food coloring.
02:54And by the way, I highly recommend using the gel style, since you only need a little bit,
02:59versus the liquid food coloring, where you might need a couple teaspoons, which can sometimes
03:04screw up the texture.
03:05But anyway, we'll give that another swirl.
03:08And once our chocolate has been melting for a couple minutes, we will add our cream cheese.
03:13And then we'll take a whisk and start mixing this together.
03:16And while I do, let me go over a couple things.
03:18All right, first of all, don't be in a big hurry to mixing the cream cheese.
03:22All right, we can first focus on getting that melted chocolate nicely mixed in.
03:26And once that starts to happen, we can start breaking up the cream cheese and incorporating
03:31that as well.
03:33And then the other thing I'll tell you is do not be concerned about the color yet.
03:36OK, that color is going to be a lot more vibrant at this point.
03:40But you'll see as the chocolate cools and the dessert sets in the fridge, it's going
03:44to become more muted.
03:46And as you'll see, we'll eventually end up with that beautiful mahogany color.
03:50Oh, and then the last thing I'll mention is depending on the brand of cream cheese, it
03:55might mix in perfectly just with the whisk.
03:57But if it doesn't, and you notice little tiny specks of cream cheese, feel free to grab
04:02your stick blender or toss this into a blender and just blend it for a few seconds on high.
04:08And that should result in a perfectly smooth mixture.
04:11But either way, once everything's mixed and before it starts to harden up, we're going
04:16to want to transfer this to whatever we're going to serve this in, which for me are going
04:19to be these little four-ounce canning jars, which are the perfect size.
04:23Plus, since it's clear glass, we get to see that beautiful, hopefully very red velvet-like
04:29color.
04:30And then once those are filled up, we have a very, very important step to do before we
04:34chill these, especially if we did end up using a blender, which is going to cause bubbles.
04:39All right.
04:40What we want to do before these go in the fridge is give them the old tapa tapa, which
04:45is going to bring up any air bubbles to the surface and help produce a denser, smoother
04:50texture.
04:51All right.
04:52We're not trying to make a light, airy mousse, okay?
04:54We're trying to simulate a classic oven-baked pot de creme.
04:58And that's it.
04:59We can go ahead and wrap those up and pop them in the fridge until they're totally cold
05:02and firm, which for me was overnight, but you could get away with a couple hours probably.
05:08And once we're ready to serve, we can garnish that with a piping of sweetened whipped cream,
05:12or in my case, whipped cream with a little bit of cream cheese in there.
05:15Oh, and don't forget to turn the jar while you're doing it, so you get that extra sexy
05:20swirl.
05:21And yes, I'll give you the ingredients for that topping in the recipe.
05:25And then for a final touch, we will dust this with a little bit of cocoa.
05:29All right.
05:30Not too much.
05:31All right.
05:32We're trying to highlight, not cover up our super sexy swirl.
05:36And that's it.
05:37What I'm calling red velvet pot de creme was ready to enjoy.
05:41And that, my friends, as far as special occasion chocolate desserts go, is just about as good
05:46as it gets, right?
05:48This is plenty rich and fairly decadent, but still somehow kind of light.
05:53And one thing that makes this really interesting to eat is that little bit of tanginess you
05:57get from the cream cheese, which is why that stuff always works so well in a frosting.
06:02Although if we're being honest, I took some artistic liberties using the name red velvet.
06:06All right.
06:07A red velvet cake really isn't that chocolatey, whereas this is very chocolatey.
06:12And yes, I'm usually a dark chocolate guy.
06:14But for this specific dessert, I think semi-sweet's the way to go.
06:18But having said that, pretty much any chocolate's going to work.
06:22So use what you want.
06:23I mean, you are, after all, the Dominique Crenn of this fast and easy way to make pot
06:28de creme.
06:29And of course, you could just buy a fancy chocolate dessert for your Valentine.
06:33But taking the time and putting forth the effort to make a homemade chocolate dessert,
06:37I think is so much nicer and thoughtful.
06:40And I think very much increases your chances of getting lots of compliments.
06:45But whether you do make this for a special occasion like Valentine's Day, or just some
06:50weeknight, no matter when you make this, it is super easy, very delicious, and incredibly
06:56gorgeous.
06:57And I really do hope you give it a try soon.
07:00So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
07:05more info, as usual.
07:08And as always, enjoy.