Roasted-Buckwheat Custards (Soba-Cha Puddings) Recipe

Typically used for brewing tea, roasted buckwheat is steeped in cream to make this rich dessert.

By
Daniel Gritzer
Daniel Gritzer
Daniel Gritzer
Editorial Director

Daniel is the editorial director of Serious Eats, where he leads the site's editorial strategy and oversees everything from recipe development to articles on food science, cooking techniques, and more. He's a former food editor at Food & Wine and has cooked in New York City restaurants.

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Updated April 15, 2025
A ramekin of roasted buckwheat custard dessert with a spoonful removed.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Why It Works

  • Roasted buckwheat adds a deeply nutty and toasty flavor that pairs beautifully with a rich, sweet custard base.
  • Tempering the egg yolks by adding the hot cream to them, plus fine-straining the custard base, guarantees a smooth and silky texture.

These egg custards are rich and dense, with a silky-smooth texture. The secret ingredient is Japanese roasted-buckwheat tea (called soba-cha). Somewhat similar to chestnuts, the buckwheat adds a deeply nutty, toasted flavor that pairs beautifully with the lightly sweet dairy in the custards.

March 2017

Recipe Details

Roasted-Buckwheat Custards (Soba-Cha Puddings) Recipe

Prep 10 mins
Cook 60 mins
Active 30 mins
Cooling and Chilling Time 4 hrs
Total 5 hrs 10 mins
Serves 4 servings
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Ingredients

  • 12 ounces heavy cream (1 1/2 cups; 355 ml), plus more as needed

  • 1 1/2 ounces soba-cha, or roasted-buckwheat tea (1/4 cup; 45 g), plus more for garnish (see note)

  • Pinch kosher salt

  • 6 large egg yolks (about 4 ounces; 115 g)

  • 3 ounces sugar (7 tablespoons; 85 g)

  • Whipped cream, for garnish

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C). Bring a kettle of water to a boil. In medium saucier or saucepan, combine cream with soba-cha and bring to a bare simmer over medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom and sides frequently with rubber or silicone spatula to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and let steep for 5 minutes.

  2. Fine-strain infused cream into heat-proof measuring cup, pressing down on soba-cha to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard soba-cha. Add enough fresh cream to infused cream to top it up to 1 1/2 cups total. Season with a scant pinch of salt.

  3. In clean medium saucier or saucepan (you can also use the same one from step 1, as long as it has cooled sufficiently that it won't cook the yolks), whisk egg yolks with sugar, then pour hot infused cream into egg yolk mixture while whisking constantly. Set over medium-low heat and cook, stirring and scraping bottom and sides of pot with rubber or silicone spatula, until custard registers 140°F (60°C) on instant-read thermometer. Remove from heat.

  4. Fine-strain custard, then divide into ramekins and set ramekins in baking dish. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil, leaving small opening in the foil, and transfer to oven. Pour prepared boiling water into baking dish, being careful not to splash it into ramekins, until water comes about 3/4 of the way up ramekin sides. Seal foil and bake custards until just set, 30 to 45 minutes.

  5. Carefully remove baking dish from oven, making sure not to slosh water, and let custards cool in water bath for about 1 hour. Remove ramekins from water bath, cover with plastic, and refrigerate until fully chilled, at least 3 hours.

  6. Custards can be refrigerated for up to 5 days. To serve, top with whipped cream and garnish with a few stray roasted buckwheat seeds.

Special Equipment

4 (4- or 6-ounce) ramekins, fine-mesh strainer, flexible rubber or silicone spatula, instant-read thermometer

Notes

Soba-cha, Japanese roasted buckwheat seeds typically used for making tea, can be found at well-stocked tea shops or online.

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
484 Calories
40g Fat
25g Carbs
7g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories 484
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 40g 52%
Saturated Fat 24g 118%
Cholesterol 414mg 138%
Sodium 58mg 3%
Total Carbohydrate 25g 9%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Total Sugars 24g
Protein 7g
Vitamin C 1mg 3%
Calcium 98mg 8%
Iron 1mg 5%
Potassium 120mg 3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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