Go Back
caramel flan

Creamy caramel flan- Crème caramel

Super easy delicious and creamy caramel flan. Made with just 5 ingredients.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 3 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine caribbean, Latin, Mexican, spanish
Servings 6 people

Equipment

  • Large bowl for mixing
  • Small bowl
  • Circular 9 inch baking dish Or any round baking dish
  • Large baking pan for water bath
  • Saucepan for caramel
  • Large flat plate

Ingredients
  

Flan

  • 3 Eggs
  • 410 GRAMS Evaporated milk (1 can)
  • 397 Grams Condensed milk (1 can)
  • 1 TBSP Vanilla extract
  • Small pinch of salt

Caramel

  • 1 Cup Granulated sugar
  • 3 TBSP water
  • Few drops of lemon (To stop sugar from crystallizing)

Instructions
 

Flan

  • In a large bowl combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, vanilla, and pinch of salt until fully combined. Set aside.
  • Gently mix the eggs in a separate bowl until just combined. Don't over mix as we don't want to add too many air bubbles.
    flan
  • Pour the eggs into the milk mixture and gently combine. Don't over mix. Pop any big bubbles that may have formed. Set aside.
  • Pre-heat oven to 325°F or 160°C

Caramel

  • Add all of the ingredients to the saucepan and cook on medium heat. DO NOT use a utensil to mix. If the sugar settles at the bottom, just swirl the pan. Cook until the caramel is medium brown in color. Once the caramel starts to turn brown, keep an eye on it! The caramel can burn easily. ****NEVER touch hot sugar
  • Pour the caramel into your baking dish. Swirl the caramel to make sure you coat the sides as well.
  • Pour the flan mixture into the dish. Then place the dish into the larger baking pan for a water bath, making sure not to get any water in the flan dish. Check notes
  • Place the oven dish in the oven on the middle rack and cook for about 40-50 minutes checking at the 35-minute mark. Gently use your finger to touch the flan surface. If it bounces back with a jiggle, it's ready! The flan will jiggle, we want this. Check notes.
  • Remove the flan from the water bath and place it on a heat resistant surface to cool down for about 15 minutes. Then place it in the refrigerator to set and cool completely, approximately 3 hours.
  • Remove the flan from the refrigerator and use a butter knife to gently go around the sides. Afterward, place the plate on top making sure the plate covers the flan dish fully.
  • Flip over and gently pull the flan dish away letting the caramel drip over completely. Check notes.
  • Serve cold...And DONE!!!

Notes

Notes
  • Make the flan mixture before the caramel. This will allow for any air bubbles to pop in the meantime.
  • Try not to over mix the eggs. Mix until just combined. Too many air bubbles will cause your flan to be spongey and not creamy. 
  • Using a water bath helps the flan cook evenly and not too fast. If the flan cooks fast, it will create air bubbles. We don't want air bubbles in our flan.
  • For the water bath, I pour just a little bit of water into the pan (warm water), add the flan dish, then place it in the oven. Once in the oven, I carefully add more water to the bath until it is about halfway up on the flan dish. Doing it this way helps avoid accidentally spilling water into the flan dish.  The flan will not set correctly if water is accidentally added to the dish. 
  • At the 35-40 minute mark, if you can't tell if your flan is ready, just pull it out from the oven. It will continue to cook slightly from residual heat. Or leave it out of the oven, but in the bath for an extra 5 minutes. 
  • Some of the caramel will stick to the flan dish. Heating the bottom of the flan dish in a hot water bath will release a bit more caramel. However, some will always harden at the bottom. 
  • If your flan came out spongey it probably was overcooked. It'll still taste good, but it won't have the creamy texture we want. 
  • Always serve cold
Keyword caramel, flan, latin