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Sliced custard flan on a plate
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Flan Recipe

Flan Recipe - fancy yet simple to make dessert with a dense yet sturdy creamy sweet custard topped with a made from scratch caramel sauce. Caramelly, sweet, custardy indulgence that melts in your mouth. An incredible make-ahead dessert for all occasions! 
Course Dessert
Cuisine Latin American, Mexican
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes
Servings 6 - 8 slices
Calories 163kcal
Author Imma

Ingredients

Caramel

  • ¼ cup or 2 fl oz water 
  • ¾ cup or 150 g sugar 

Flan Custard

  • 3 large eggs, plus 4 egg  yolks
  • 1 can or 14 oz sweetened condensed milk 
  • 1 can or 12 oz evaporated milk
  • ½ cup or 4 fl oz whole milk , (half-and-half or 2% milk may be substituted but do not use skim milk)
  • 1 tbsp bourbon (see note) 
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp or 3 g salt

Instructions

  • Adjust a rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 300°F (149°C).

Caramel

  • Mix together sugar and water in a small heavy saucepan. Stir sugar continuously until sugar is completely dissolved, bring to a boil, reduce to low heat and cook without stirring until the mixture starts to brown up.
  • Swirl the pan without stirring and continue cooking on low heat until it turns golden brown - it should look like honey. 
  • Remove from the heat and swirl again about 15 to 20 seconds, it will continue to brown.
  • Quickly pour into an ungreased loaf pan tilting to evenly coat the bottom; let it stand for about 10 minutes (If caramel firms up, no worries. It will loosen up as it bakes.)
  • Set the loaf pan aside.

Flan Custard

  • Whisk eggs and yolks in a large bowl until combined. Followed by condensed, evaporated and whole milk, rum, vanilla extract, and salt.
  • Continue whisking until well incorporated. Pour mixture through a sieve into a large bowl to remove any bits of egg.
  • Next, pour the sieved egg mixture into the loaf pan over the caramel. Cover the loaf pan tightly with aluminum foil.

Baking the Flan

  • Place the loaf pan in the center of a larger dish - 9x13-inch baking or roasting pan.
  • Pour boiling water into larger pan to a depth of about  1 inch. Bake at 350°F for about 60-70 minutes or until center is just set (mixture will still jiggle, but not much, it will continue cooking. Let it sit in a water bath for about an hour, cool enough to handle.
  • Remove and let it cool at room temperature. Once flan has cooled down, wrap in saran or plastic wrap (this prevents the flan from absorbing any flavors from the fridge).
  • Place in the refrigerator until flan firms up - about 2 hours or up to 4 days.
  • Tip: An easy way to unmold flan is to carefully slide a sharp knife around the edges of the pan to loosen up the sides of the pan. Then invert the flan onto a rimmed platter, let it sit for about a minute or two if flan doesn’t come off easily. There might be some remainder of sauce stock to the bottom of the pan. Scrape with a spatula and cut flan into slices. Serve with sauce.

Notes

  1. Adapted from Cooks Illustrated.
  2. Eggs should be at room temperature.
  3. If you would like to omit the Bourbon, replace with an additional 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
  4. This recipe should be made at least one day before serving.
  5. To clean the hardened caramel from the saucepan, fill the pan with water and bring it to a boil.)
  6. Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

Nutrition

Serving: 1of 6 slices | Calories: 163kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 85mg | Sodium: 240mg | Potassium: 72mg | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 152IU | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 1mg