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Eye Candy: Crème Caramel's Shakerato Custard
(Photo credit: Krista Simmons)
Looking for a weekend fix to shake up your day-to-day coffee routine? Scope Crème Caramel's brand new honey espresso custard, inspired by Short Cake's shakerato. Kristine de la Cruz's dessert version is a decadent dose of caffeine topped off with a golden caramelized honey sauce. She created the custard with the help of Short Cake baker Hourie Sahakian, who shared tips as well as some of the shop's Verve Santa Ana espresso.
Crème Caramel is known for experimenting with unique flavor combinations, resulting in sweets like the ube (a purple Philippino sweet potato) crème caramel and the soon-to-be-released pretzel bread pudding.
"Often times I meet vendors with fantastic products, and I make myself figure out a way to incorporate them into a dessert. Half the time, it's me starting with an idea and then serendipitously finding a vendor that has the product I can use,” says de la Cruz. "The other half is loving something so much that I want to do an ode, hence the honey espresso ode to Short Cake's shakerato."
(Photo courtesy of Short Cake)
Aunt Nancy's shakerato at Short Cake might well be our city's most shocking (but delicious!) source of rocket fuel. It's an updated version a traditional Italian shakerato, which consists of milk, sugar, espresso, and sometimes gelato shaken with ice until it becomes frothy. Short Cake's contains a whopping four shots of espresso, whole milk, and locally-sourced Pacifica wildflower honey. The guys at Handsome Roasters might not approve of such a hippy-dippy sweetener, but hey, if it's good it's good.
And Crème Carmel's version definitely is. It has all the boldness of a quality coffee ice cream with the gentle jiggle of a good flan. The espresso flavors are definitely at the fore, and the honey adds a developed sweetness that simply couldn't be achieved by using refined cane sugar.
The shakerato crème caramels will be available at this Sunday at the Melrose Place Farmer's Market from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. They will run $4.25 a pop, but if you mention the shakerato you'll get $1 off.
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