Flan
Silky baked custard with a caramel top.
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Join HomecookedIngredients
- 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.
Nutrition per serving
Estimated from ingredients; varies with exact portions and brands.
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?
One serving of Flan has about 351 calories, with 8g of protein, 38g of carbs, 18g of fat and 0g of fiber. These are estimates based on the ingredient amounts in this recipe and will vary with your exact 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.