Pour the cream, vanilla extract and sugar into a pot and set to medium heat. Stir it occasionally until it starts to slightly bubble. Make sure that the cream doesn’t come to a boil. Then remove it from the heat and set the pot aside.

Place the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk together. Slowly pour the cream in while whisking. Adding the cream slowly while whisking will prevent the hot cream from cooking the eggs. Then pour it through a sieve into another bowl.

Place the ramekins in a deep baking dish, and place it in an oven set to 300F. Fill each ramekin to the top with the custard, and then pour hot water into the baking dish so that it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Then bake these for about 35 - 40 minutes until the custard is set around the sides, but jiggles slightly when shaken.

Then remove them from the baking dish and place them on a cooling rack. Allow them to cool for 30 minutes, and then place them in the fridge for 4 hours or up to overnight.

Place a sheet of parchment paper onto a flat tray, and using a small spoon, draw on a white oval for Rilakkuma’s mouth to decorate all 16 custards. Placing two dark chocolate chips (Rilakkuma’s eyes) on either side of the ovals will help you with the size of the ovals. Place the ovals in the freezer to set, and once they are fully set, draw Rilakkuma’s nose and mouth on top of each white oval with melted dark chocolate. Then place these in the freezer to set again.

Evenly sprinkle ½ - ¾ tsp of sugar onto the surface of each custard, and using a kitchen blow torch, melt the sugar until it caramelizes. You can also caramelize the sugar using the broiler in your oven, and cook for 2-4 minutes on high, checking the custard every 30 seconds. Things under the broiler can go from delicious and caramelized to burnt and inedible very quickly.

Wait about a minute until the surface has cooled, and top with Rilakkuma’s mouth and eyes, and enjoy!