Can I Use Granulated Sugar For The Creme Caramel?

Our answer

Nigella's Creme Caramel For One (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is a single portion of the classic baked custard dessert with a bittersweet caramel sauce. The caramel is made with white sugar and Nigella suggests caster sugar for the UK.

Caster sugar has smaller crystals than granulated sugar, so it dissolves much more quickly and easily. Hence it is usually used in baking as the sugar needs to dissolve easily or blend easily without being too grainy. For the caramel it will also dissolve more quickly than granulated sugar and it is really important to make sure that the sugar has completely dissolved in the water before you boil the caramel. If there are crystals remaining in the sugar solution when it is boiled to make a caramel then the caramel can become grainy and opaque as it cools. So you can use granulated sugar, but be very patient and make sure that the sugar has completely dissolved before you start to boil it. For the custard you could use granulated sugar, but again you need to make sure that it is completely dissolved in the warm milk. It is also worth mentioning that in Europe and the US granulated sugar has finer crystals than in the UK, so is more suitable as a substitute for caster sugar in this recipe.