Delicious Coffee Flan Recipe

Updated: Oct 7, 2020

When I was a kid, I hated this wobbly, custardy goodness, but now I hop at the chance to order a flan whenever I am home in Puerto Rico. The addition of coffee is yet another excuse for me to have coffee throughout my day… because a girl needs her caffeine kick wherever she can get it am I right? To make a flan you need patience, love, and understanding… OR you just need to understand that custard based desserts are not to be rushed so “paciencia babyyyyy.” Also, it may be a shocker to some that flan is naturally gluten free? So yeah, it has no flour therefore it is completely gluten free but not free of F L A V O R (and calories…#sorrynotsorry.)

Once you get the hang of making flan, you will see that it is a much more simple dessert than you might have thought. It's smooth, silky, and the hardest part is just making the caramel, for which I will show you my method which seems to work for me almost every time (unless I decide to watch Grey's Anatomy while I'm making it and then burn the whole thing...which has happened...twice.) It's baked in a water bath which can sometimes lead to a bit of a splashy mess, but follow my instructions exactly so that you don't end up spilling water or custard all over the place.

This bebi is naturally gluten free which in my book is a major plus if you have trouble digesting gluten or if you have friends or family members with any gluten intolerances. You only need 6 ingredients to make this guy so that means you got yourself a pretty cost effective dessert to serve the masses.

It also keeps well in the fridge for about a week, but I suggest you cover it in cling film or slice it and put it in a tupperware container or else all the smells from your fridge will end up sinking into the flan and making it taste weird (honestly - I would probably still eat it, but whatevs.)

Kitchen equipment you will need:

Mixing Bowl
Whisk
Metal Spoon
Spatula
Measuring Spoons
Measuring Cups
9" diameter nonstick cake pan
Large and deep foil pan (similar to the ones used when you are roasting a turkey like the one in the link)
Wire cooling rack (if you have it)
Pot
A serving dish or platter with tall sides so that the caramel doesn't run off

Ingredients:

for caramel

1 cup White Granulated Sugar

for flan

5 large eggs
6 tablespoons White Granulated Sugar
1 12oz can of Condensed Milk
1 14oz can of Evaporated Milk
pinch of salt
1/3 cup Hot Water (or 1/3 cup of brewed espresso and skip the instant coffee)
2 tablespoons Instant Coffee

Ok. Let's GO.

RECIPE LEVEL: Easy to Intermediate

HANDS-ON TIME: 15 - 20 minutes

BAKING TIME: 1 hour - 1 hour and 30 minutes

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Start by making the caramel... You will be making what is called a "dry caramel." This means you will be starting with a pot or saucepan on medium to medium high heat. You will be gradually adding the sugar until the layers of sugar melt a little bit. You are looking to see that the layer added has melted before you continue to add another layer on top of that. Once you start to see that the edges of the sugar have begun to take on a caramel color, take your metal spoon and stir the sugar around a bit. Do not panic if you start seeing it crystallize. It's not. Give it some more heat and a couple of more stirs to make sure that there aren't any hot spots. You are looking for a deep amber color similar to the last picture and all of the sugar has melted. If you know of other methods of preparing caramel, then feel free to do so!

3. Immediately after your caramel has gotten to the desired color, turn off the heat and pour into your 9" cake tin. (DO NOT butter or line the tin. You never butter a flan dish. When the flan is baking, the caramel naturally creates a non-stick surface which makes it easy for it to come away from the tin.) Make sure your cake tin is an a heatproof surface when you do this. The caramel is going to be friggin FUEGO. (Check out the video to see me pour it into the tin.) Make sure the caramel coats the entire bottom of the cake tin by picking the tin up and swirling it around. Do not put your finger in there. Again...FUEGOOOO.

4. While the caramel cools a little bit, make the custard. Place eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk through until you get a pale yellow paste. Add a little bit of the evaporated milk and whisk through. Then alternate with the condensed milk and whisk through again. Continue to do this until you have incorporated both milks. Do not over whisk. You are just trying to bring these two liquid together slowly so that the mix does not separate.

5. Take your hot water and instant coffee mixture and add it to the mix. Add a pinch of salt. Your custard is now done! Pour half of your custard into your cake tin that has the slightly cooled caramel at the bottom.

6. Place your large foil pan in the oven on the middle rack and fill with a little water (feel free to pull out the oven rack halfway so that you can have access from above and avoid burning your forearms when poring water and placing the flan inside.) Place your half filled cake tin inside the water bath. Carefully continue to fill your large foil pan with water until the water level reaches about halfway up the flan cake tin. Once the water level is there, fill the cake tin with the rest of the flan mixture. Carefully, slide the oven rack back in (if it was out) and shut the oven door.

7. Bake for about 1 hour - 1 hour and 30 minutes. With flan, what you are looking for is to be able to shake the tin a little bit, and you have a slight wobble in the middle but it doesn't look liquidy anymore.

8. Once your flan is baked, carefully take it out of the water bath. Sometimes I shut the oven off and open the door completely and wait for the water to be slightly cooler so that I can take out the cake tin with the flan without burning myself. Do what works best for you. Let the flan cool for about 10-15 minutes and then turn it out carefully on your serving dish that has tall sides. If you were successful, you will see the caramel start running out and the beautifully set custard in the middle.

9. Flan is MUCH BETTER when it is cold, so I suggest turning it out and then sticking it in the fridge so that it goes does in temp and sets enough to cut nice, clean slices out of it.