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make the creme anglaise. Fill a medium saucepan with water.
Bring the water to a gentle simmer. Place a glass bowl on
top of the saucepan. Add the eggnog and cream to the bowl.
Cut the vanilla bean in half, and then scrape the seeds into
the milk and cream mixture. Add the pieces of vanilla bean.
Slowly bring the milk mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally,
for about 20 minutes.
In a separate bowl add the granulated sugar, egg yolks
and nutmeg. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until the
mixture is smooth and pale yellow in color.
Slowly whisk some of the hot milk mixture into the egg
yolks. Then whisk all of the egg yolk mixture back into
the bowl of milk.
Stirring constantly, cook the milk mixture until it thickens
and coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 15 more minutes.
Pour the milk mixture through a strainer into a bowl. Let
the custard cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate
overnight.
To make the cakes, first heat the oven to 450°.
Butter 4 small, non-stick, individual cake or deep tart
molds.
Add the butter and chocolate to a small saucepan over medium-low
heat. Slowly melt the butter and chocolate while whisking.
When the butter and chocolate are melted and combined, remove
the saucepan from the heat.
Add the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and flour to a bowl. Whisk
the mixture together until thoroughly combined.
Whisk the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until
smooth and combined. The batter will be thick.
Spoon some of the batter into each mold, leaving about
1/4” from the top of the mold.
Place the molds on a cookie sheet and place the cookie
sheet into the oven. Bake the chocolate cakes for only 8
minutes. The cake will be set but the center will be soft
to the touch.
Let the cakes cool on a rack for 1 minute.
Place a plate on top of one cake mold. Turn the plate over,
inverting the cake onto the plate. The cake should freely
come away from the mold.
To serve, spoon some of the chilled eggnog crème
angláise around the cake.
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