Why is my custard eggy? I have followed the instructions in this video from Delia Smith precisely, twice:

https://www.deliaonline.com/cookery-school/second-term-perfect-eggs/lesson-6-separate-ways-eggs-part-2

What I get from the final product is a custard which is very egg-like is taste. Not overpoweringly so, but enough that it puts people off eating it.

Is this because there are 6 egg yolks or is there an obvious mistake that a newbie like me is likely to make?

Is it simply that 6 egg yolks is too much? Would the custard be a lot thinner and runnier if I reduce it to, say, 3?

The recipe in full:


6 egg yolks
600ml heavy cream
125g caster sugar
1 level table spoon of cornflour
2 teaspoons of vanilla essence


Heat the cream on the lowest setting.

Sieve the cornflour and sugar together. 

Mix the egg yolks into the cornflour and sugar until smooth. 

Mix the vanilla essence into the egg yolk mixture. 

When a single bubble appears on the surface of the cream, indicating the cream is just about simmering, pour the pan of cream slowly into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. 

Once the cream is all mixed in, return to the pan and place back on the same low heat and continue whisking until the desired thickness is achieved. 

Put in a dish and serve or cover with cling film and place in the fridge.
With the full recipe, it does not seem to me that the egg ratio is particularly high.  Most recipes I have seen and use tend to be around 2 eggs per cup (US), and yours is 6 for about 2 1/2, so slightly higher than what I have seen as about average, but well within range.

To me, egg custards always have some amount of egg taste, which is pleasant or offensive according to taste.  When skimming the video given (had no audio available, so I am just going by visuals) I felt they were adding cream mixture too quickly to temper the eggs without cooking, but that is opinion only.  If the hot is add to quickly though, it will scramble the eggs and give a much stronger egg taste.  One technique is to sieve the custard after tempering to remove any solidified egg, and some are happy with this result.  To me, it removes the solids, but not the flavor.

I will give a personal critique of the video, I frankly have never heard of breaking a custard and expecting it to come back together in a reasonable tasting form, but the video maker obviously disagreed.  I can only say that I assume they are happy with a stronger egg taste than many of would be.

If you wanted to experiment, I would think dropping 1, maybe 2 eggs might still give you adequate setting power, but going all the way to 3 would seem too big a cut.  Try experimenting, reducing 1 yolk at a time and see if you like the results.  Also try slowing you introduction of the hot cream mix to the egg and see if this helps.