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Exquisitely Decadent Mexican Flan

Yazzy
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Refrigerate At Least 4 hours
Cuisine Fusion, Mexican
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
  • 1 14 oz. can condensed milk
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F and place a large roasting pan in the oven with boiling water, 2" deep. Keep it hot while you prepare the flan.
  • Place the sugar in a medium, heavy, saucepan. Make sure there are no clumps in the sugar; this will ensure an even melting. Melt the sugar over medium heat, watching it constantly so that it doesn't burn. Gingerly, swirl the sugar around in the saucepan (this means handling the saucepan by its handle, moving your wrist in circles and swirling the sugar around; do not use spoons to stir the sugar) until it has evenly melted and has turned golden, but not dark brown (this would mean you have gone too far and the sugar has burned and is bitter). Always be careful when handling hot caramel; it can burn you badly. If you get accidentally splattered, rub your skin immediately with an ice cube for 3 or 4 seconds.
  • Wearing oven mittens, pour and evenly distribute the caramel all over the bottom and sides of a tube or Bundt, non-stick, cake pan, by swirling the sugar around in the pan. Work quickly, as the sugar will become solid as it cools down.
  • Let the caramel cool down a bit. It will make crackling noises in the pan, as this happens; this is normal.
    In the meantime, place the rest of the ingredients in a blender and process them until smooth. If you don't have a blender or your blender is too small, mix them by hand with a whisker in a big bowl until the mix is homogeneous and no stripes of eggs or vanilla are left.
  • Pour the egg and milk mixture over the cooled caramel, into the pan. Cover with foil. If using a Bundt pan, plug the center hole with foil too. Make sure no water can get into the pan; this will ruin your flan.
  • Carefully place the pan inside the hot water bath (open side up) Bake for 1 hr - 1 hr. 15 mins. until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Let flan rest for 1 hour and then refrigerate for 4 hours or preferably overnight.
  • To release the Mexican Flan run a knife between the pan edge and the flan, place a somewhat deep serving plate on top of your pan and invert it; the caramel will have melted and will be runny. Decorate with spun caramel like I did, confectioner's sugar,whipped cream or berries.
    Enjoy!

Notes

If you only have a spring pan at hand, you will need to place a layer of foil between the two parts of it so that the flan stays inside and doesn't leak out and also, so that no water flows into the flan from the water bath. You can also wrap the base of the mold tightly with 2 layers of foil.