Flan Recipe
Flan is by far the most cherished national dessert of Mexican people.
Equipment
- A 7 to 9 inch wide, round cake pan
- An oven safe baking dish with high edges which can accomodate the cake pan
- A whisk
- A large bowl
- A non stick pan
- A silicon or wooden spatula
- Aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14 Oz.)
- 1 can of evaporated (unsweetened) milk (12 Oz.)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cub granulated sugar
Instructions
HOW TO PREPARE THE FLAN?
- We will start with the caramel to cover the bottom of our cake pan.
- Put your non-stick pan on medium heat and pour the sugar in it. Start stirring slowly. As the sugar heats, it will magically start to turn into an amber colored thick liquid.
- When you see all the sugar transformed into liquid form, carefully and quickly remove it from the heat and pour it into your cake pan, making sure the bottom of the cake pan is fully covered with the caramel sauce, by rotating and tilting the cake pan as necessary to make the caramel sauce flow into uncovered parts of the pan bottom.
- Since both the non-stick pan and the cake pan will get hot, it is advisable to use oven gloves to hold and handle both pans.
- After you spread the caramel to the bottom of the cake pan, leave it aside to cool down.
- To make the custard, crack the eggs into the large bowl and beat them well. Pour condensed and sweetened milk, evaporated milk and vanilla extract into the bowl and beat them with the whisk, until the mixture is smooth. Then pour this picture into the cooled down cake pan. Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
HOW TO BAKE THE FLAN?
- Some of you may know the “Bain-Marie” baking method already, but for those who don’t, here is a quick run-down.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. (or 175 degrees Celsius)
- Place the cake pan covered with aluminum foil, into the larger baking dish with high edges.
- Pour room temperature water into the larger baking dish until the cake pan is submerged into water about half way. Refrain from using hot water to save time. Hot water hitting the sides of the cake pan will cause the egg in the custard mixture start to cook too fast causing the loss of creamy texture of the end product.
- Put the whole thing into the oven and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Take the whole thing out of the oven and remove the cake pan from the hot water bath.
- Remove, but don’t discard the aluminum foil on top.
- Set it aside for at least 2-3 hours, until it slowly and naturally cools down to room temperature.
- Once the flan is at the room temperature, cover it with the same aluminum foil tightly and place it in the fridge for at last 4 hours, or preferably overnight.
- When you are ready to serve the flan, run a dull but flexible knife around the edge of the cake pan slowly to release the custard from the walls of the cake pan. An icing knife, which is normally used for spreading frosting on cakes, works perfectly for this purpose.
- Cover the cake pan with a slightly larger serving plate. In one swift move, flip it upside down and leave on the countertop for a few minutes, so that the gravity can work its magic and the flan pops onto the serving dish on its own, with the rich caramel colored top.
- Alternatively, you can make individual flans in small ceramic or porcelain ramekins which are oven safe. If this is what you prefer, you can dispense your caramel in small amounts into each ramekin’s bottom. Let them cool down a bit while you mix your custard ingredients. Then pour custard mix into each ramekin and bake them the same way, covered with aluminum foil, submerged more than halfway in water.
Have you Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @MyNordicRecipes or tag #MyNordicRecipes!
