I made this Leche Flan for my Asian dinner party – it was really easy to make and our guests loved it 🙂
The Flan was quite dense, and had some nice aeration in it. Once I had placed it in the oven to bake, it did look a little bit concerning for a while there, as an odd dome was appearing at the top (later to be the bottom of the flan once it is turned over). I guess it’s just an unfortunate flaw of the cooking process, and while I was worried while it was cooking, I persevered, and it turned out as the picture shows, no sign of an odd dome anywhere!
Hope you enjoy making and eating it!
Serves: 10-12 people
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Refrigerate: 1 hour
Ingredients
1 cup caster sugar
4 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks
1 can (375ml) evaporated milk
1 can (395g/300ml) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
strawberries for serving/garnish
Instructions
- Heat the sugar over a medium heat in a small saucepan, swirling the saucepan at regular intervals until the sugar liquefies and turns to a golden caramel. Watch the caramel closely, as it can burn easily. After the sugar has melted, the caramel will change colour quickly, and will continue to darken slightly even after removed from the heat, which will affect both the colour and taste of your flan. Pour into the base of a 20cm diameter round baking pan, and allow to harden for a few minutes at room temperature. There is no need to line or grease the pan beforehand.
- Whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour through a fine sieve over the caramel to remove any lumps.
- Cooking options:
- Steaming: Put the pan in the basket of a bamboo steamer and steam over medium heat for 30-40 minutes, or until the centre is just barely set. Test by tapping or wiggling the tine and watching the ripples on the top of the flan – the ripples will flow less easily the more the flan sets. Then remove from the heat. It’s best to take the flan off the heat while the centre is still a little wobbly, as it will continue to set.
- Baking: Put the pan in a larger baking tray and pour boiling into the larger tray until it comes halfway up the sides of the leche flan pan. Bake in a 180°C (traditional) over for about 1 hour, testing for doneness as described above. Don’t be alarmed when a dome appears, it’s just the heat cooking the flan, it will deflate when it is cooling later.
- Allow the flan to cool to room temperature, cover with foil, then refrigerate for at least an hour until chilled and well set. Run a knife or spatula around the edge of the flan and turn it out, upside down onto a large serving plate. Slice and serve with halved strawberries.
The Sausage Dog 