Whether you call it Caramel Custard, Creme Caramel or Caramel Flan, this popular luxuriously velvety dessert will hit the spot! Easy to make recipe with video and step by step pictures below!
When I think of Caramel Custard I think of those long buffet tables at restaurants in Pakistan. The white bowls with salads and condiments, that array of silver chafing dishes, and then that smorgasbord of desserts at the end. There always were gulab jamuns lazing in their syrupy bath, sponge cakes topped with cream swirls and finally, my favorite, the ring of Caramel Custard.
Kinds of Caramel Custard and Flan
When I was in college I attended an International Students Association event and spotted a Caramel Custard on the table. As I dug into it I realized quickly enough that the one I grew up eating and this one - made with evaporated and condensed milk - were not one and the same. This version, popular in many parts of the world, including Pakistan and India gets it richness from an emulsion of eggs, milk, and cream and doesn't have the heaviness of a evaporated / condensed milk dessert.
Is that still yummy? Why yes of course, it's just different.
Step by Step Caramel Custard Recipe:
Step One: Make the caramel
Pour your water and sugar in the pan, bring to a simmer and watch as it changes colour. When it hits a dark amber pour it in to the pan.
Step Two: Caramel Milk
Pour your milk, cream, sugar, and salt into the pan you made your caramel in. Stir well on low heat - just enough to make sure all the caramelly goodness gets mixed into the milk. Take it off the heat.
Step Three: Blend Baby Blend
Blend your six eggs and vanilla extract in your blender and then add the milk mixture back in - you can do this through the pour spout as the blender runs or if your milk is lukewarm then pour it directly in. Hot milk curdles eggs.
Tip: if you see bits of what you suspect are curdled eggs then simply pour the milk mixture in to your pan through a sieve to catch those bits
Step Four: Pour & Bake
Pour that lovely caramel milk mixture into your caramel bottomed pan. Place the pan inside another oven safe pan/dish. Pour hot water into it leaving just the top inch of the pan unsubmerged. Bake at 325F for 50 minutes for this pan.
Step Five: Flip and Serve!
Tip: I often make this dessert when I entertain because you can make it a day or two in advance and flip before serving!
Caramel Talk: Two Ways to Make Caramel
There are two ways to make Caramel: Dry and Wet.
- Dry means you sprinkle the sugar in your pan and let it change colour. If you are comfortable making caramel then this approach minimizes crystallization. However, the color change happens more rapidly here so keep close watch on the colour.
- Wet is what is written into the recipe card, it is a little more forgiving, but stirring can cause crystallization. Just gently swirl your caramel to get rid of pesky sugar crystals.
Caramel Custard FAQS
A Caramel Custard or Flan has an egg and milk base. If you overcook the custard then the eggs inside the custard effectively start to scramble causing those grainy sides and that eggy taste. A custard is done when the center is still pretty jiggly, even slightly wet to the touch and the sides are set.
I have two that I like and they both take seconds. One is a regular blender and the other is an immersion blender. Both result in a smooth caramel custard without eggy bits.
Walk way from that carton of non fat milk. Just don't even think about it. The low fat milk will not have the richness to stand up to the eggs in the base. My preference here is to use full fat for the milk and whipping cream for the cream, but you can use
All whole milk
Whole Milk or 2% (2 cups) and Half-n-half or table cream (1 cup)
Bonus Tip: For the BEST Caramel Custard
If you want to make the best caramel custard you have ever had then use a vanilla bean.
It is undoubtedly an indulgence, but well worth it for special occasions. Simply halve the vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds and mix into your milk as you warm it stove top. Add the scraped pod in there for extra flavour and just when you're about to mix it into your eggs then remove the pod.
Hope you love this take on one of my childhood favourites! Do rate the recipe below and tag me in your recreations on Instagram @flourandspiceblog - your feedback always keeps me going!
Velvety Caramel Custard or Caramel Flan
Equipment
- 1 5*7 loaf pan or a 8 inch round pan
- A roasting pan large enough to fit the custard pan (above)
- A blender or an Immersion blender
Ingredients
Caramel
- ½-2/3 cup sugar (⅔ for a round pan, ½ for a loaf)
- ½ cup water
Custard
- 2 cups Milk Whole preferred, but nothing lower than 2%
- 1 cup Cream Whipping or Table, either is fine. Half in Half works too
- ¾ cup Sugar
- 6 Eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and place the roasting pan with an inch or two of water inside the oven.
Caramel
- Pour the water into a heavy bottomed pan and then sprinkle your sugar over top. Do not stir.
- Keep the pan on medium heat and keep a close eye on the sugar, but again do not stir.
- As the sugar turns a honey color watch carefully, you want a dark amber liquid, but this happens very fast. You can swirl the pan gently to even the caramelizing
- As soon as it turns a beautiful amber colour pour it into your custard dish.
Custard
- There is loads of beautiful caramel flavour still in the pan you used for caramelizing the sugar so pour your liquids into the pan along with the sugar and the salt and warm through stirring occasionally. Take your milk off the heat.
- Crack 6 eggs into your blender along with the vanilla extract and pulse/blend slightly to create an even mix.
- Now while your blender is running on low pour the milk mix into the blender through the feed tube/opening, stop running the blender as soon as it is all in. If you are not comfortable pouring while blending then just wait for your milk to cool to room temperature and pour it directly into the blender.
- Pour the mixture into your caramel dish, you can remove the foam from the top.
- Place the pan inside the roasting pan with water and gently pour in more hot water so that only the top inch of the pan isn't submerged.
- Bake until the sides are set and the center is still jiggly, 50- 55 minutes for a loaf pan, 40-45 for a round pan. When you touch the top it will seem soft but set.
- Cool completely (4 hours+ in the fridge) then run a knife along the edges to seperate them. Invert in a dish with high sides and pour the remaining caramel sauce in the pan into another small bowl for your grateful loved ones.
Video
Notes
- If you want to skip warming the milk in the caramel pan then simply pour it into the blender as is.
- If some of the caramel stays stuck to the bottom of the pan after you flip the custard/flan then pour over some boiling water to loosen it up
- For more tips and tricks please read the blog post!
Want to see some more of my childhood favourites?
Muriam says
My gosh what a HIT!!! Absolutely delish ❤️
Thank you Sarah @ flour and spice for such a foolproof recipe! I cannot tell you how good this was- everyone loved it Alhamdulilah! Thank you for always sharing the best recipes. Love them.
Sarah Mir says
Yay yay yay! I am SO SO happy to hear that! This is one of those all time classics and so close to my heart!
Kiran says
All your recipes are brilliant! This one turned out impeccable!
Sarah Mir says
aww thank you Kiran!
Haniya says
Sarah I don't know what makes its more tempting your way or writing a blog post or the pictures. But i guess its your way of writing that made us revisit the taste most of us had in some stage of our life. Either its in restaurants or at some dawat. I don't know how i missed it earlier but when i saw it this weekend on Marium's stories I knew what i want to make for kids in coming days. Going to try it soon and Insha Allah will let you know too how it turned out.
Sarah Mir says
thank you so so much Haniya! It means a lot when something resonates - do keep me posted on how it turns out!
Hina Sharif says
So excited to make one
Let me know which cream can I use in Karachi. Sometimes hard to find whip cream
Sarah Mir says
milk pak works! let me know how it goes!
Naomi says
Hello! I have made this custard maybe 5 times now. Every time I've made it there hasn't been a deep caramel color. I make sure to let the caramel brown evenly until it is an amber color. I think some gets stuck to the pan because it hardens almost immediately once I put it in the pan while I make the milk mixture. Do you have any idea why this is happeing or what I can do to fix it??
Sarah Mir says
Hi Naomi! My guess is that you need to let the caramel go longer to cook to a darker colour than you are now and that would fix the issue! For the caramel to harden is not an issue at all, I find how much of it 'releases' varies by pan so I put what I know is a comfortable amount for most dishes.
Matia says
Loved loved the recipe! All the tips were so helpful. Turned out to be amazing Alhamdulillah. Thanks a lot
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Awesome!!! Thank you Maria!
Areeba Qazi says
Amazing recipe! Tasted delicious. Check out the caramelization videos on the instagram to get it jusst right!
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Thank you Areeba!!!!
Fatima says
Thanks for great recipe! I tried it today but fir some reason my caramel was very hard and stuck to the bottom of loaf pan when I inverted it over. Did you hear that one before? Do you know what could be the reason so I can avoid it next time?
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Hi Fatima! There seems to be a fair bit of variation by pan but as long as you still got a generous amount of sauce (which everyone else is still getting) you should be ok! You can add a little boiling water to the bottom of your pan to create more sauce or even just use less sugar for next time. Hope that helps!
Salwa says
THE most amazing and easy to follow recipe ive ever followed. And so well explained ❤ thankyou for this amazing recipe. Ive made it twice already in this week.
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Thank YOU so very very much for making and sharing it!!!!!!
Ayesha C says
The. Best. Caramel. Custard. Ever. 😄
Amna says
Love, LOVE it! Thanks for a stellar recipe, Sarah!
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Thank you SO much Amna! I am so glad you liked it!
Anum Zaidi says
I so want to try this today, but I don't have the traditional blender, rather have the ninja bullet. Therefore, do not have the option of pouring in while the blender is on. Can I use an electric beater instead? Or can I blend it all in one go?
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Hi Anum! You can totally use the Ninja if it's big enough. Don't worry about warming the milk, blend about a cup of the liquid (cream + milk) with the eggs and then whisk the rest in a bowl. If you have an immersion blender that works too. Basically all you're trying to do is avoid eggy bits
Saleha. says
Grew up worh this dessert but in Dubai, an indian neighbour would make ir in her pressure cooker, whenever she would
Come she would have this in her hands.
Otherwise there was a packet one which we made by adding in boiling
Milk, when i was in 4/5th grade. Now
I make it as nostalgically as you wrote in your blog. Much love.
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Hi Saleha - thank you for sharing these memories with me. Some desserts seem so intertwined with our own personal histories and I loved that this dessert is like that for you
Eraj says
Man this took me back to my Saudi childhood. It was my mother's signature dawat dessert. I still remember there was only one Aunty in the entire social circle who wasn't a fan. Also after life in Saudi this dessert kind of disappeared from our lives and if I can be honest, I never had the slightest urge to revisit it. Now, though.. lol now I'm tempted 😃 you throw a reference to Serious Eats into a discussion of a Pakistani/Saudi childhood classic and somehow it seems cool again 🙈🤣
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Ok so I automatically don't like this Aunty who dislikes this dessert lol
I used to make this a lot at some point (in Karachi) but then when I made my karachi version again here it just didn't do it for me. This one's taken some tweaking but I am absolutely in love with it! Hope you try it!
Gill Karran says
I do wish you would also put actual weight/volume of ingredients. In the UK we don’t use ‘cups’.
Sarah Mir says
Fair. I am based out of Canada where they are the norm, but I will be mindful and try to update recipes with conversions. Thank you!
Sarah says
Hi. Thank you for the recipe, I’ve grown up making this but now want to experiment with new recipes. If I want to skip the cream altogether how much milk would I need to swap it with? 1 cup?
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Hi Sarah! Am so excited to hear that you want to try it! If you want to skip the cream then you're right it's one cup milk 🙂 Do keep me posted on how it turns out!