Flan
Silky baked custard with a caramel top.
Ingredients
- 5 Egg
- 400 ml Milk
- 200 ml Heavy cream
- 200 g Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
Method
- Heat the oven to 160C (320F). In a pan, cook half the sugar to a dark amber caramel, then pour it into the mould.
- Whisk the eggs, milk, cream, the rest of the sugar, and vanilla into a smooth custard.
- Pour the custard over the set caramel and bake in a water bath until just set with a gentle wobble, about 50 minutes.
- Cool, then chill thoroughly in the fridge until fully set, about 3 hours.
- Turn out onto a plate and serve cold with the caramel on top.
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About Flan
Flan is the caramel-topped baked custard beloved across the Spanish-speaking world, and in Mexico it holds a place as the everyday celebration dessert. It is defined by two simple elements working in concert: a smooth egg custard of milk and cream scented with vanilla, and a layer of dark amber caramel cooked separately and set in the bottom of the mold. When the flan is turned out, that caramel becomes a glossy sauce running down its sides.
The texture is the reward for patience, silky and just barely set with a gentle wobble, achieved by baking in a water bath at a low temperature so the eggs never curdle or turn rubbery. Cooking the sugar to a genuinely dark amber gives the caramel a faint bitterness that keeps the whole dessert from being merely sweet. It is served cold and fully chilled, which takes several hours, so it is naturally a make-ahead dessert, ideal to prepare the day before a dinner and unmold at the last moment.
Flan: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Flan?
A serving has about 347 calories — 8.1g protein, 38.3g carbs, 18.1g fat, 0g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is Flan gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Flan has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
Is Flan dairy-free?
Not as written — it uses Milk, Heavy cream. Swapping those for a plant-based alternative makes it dairy-free.
How long does Flan take to make?
About 70 minutes start to finish, but only around 15 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
How many servings does Flan make?
This recipe makes 6 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.