Crème caramel with condensed milk is a delicious oven-baked flan made with eggs, milk, condensed milk, sugar, and vanilla extract.
This French classic is a caramel-topped custard known for its beautiful amber color and creamy texture. You know a dessert is delicious when variations of it exist around the world. In Venezuela, this caramel flan is known as quesillo.
This is a favorite dessert for my kids, including my toddler. I serve it with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream (trust me on this). The smooth texture of the creme caramel goes with the creamy ice cream.
Ingredient Notes
Custard mixture: This crème caramel recipe uses canned sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk. Both are canned, but condensed milk is sweetened (whereas evaporated milk is not). The custard ingredients also include whole milk, large eggs, vanilla extract, and white sugar.
How To Make Crème Caramel
In a small saucepan, boil one cup of water and one cup of sugar for about 5 to 6 minutes until the sugar dissolves, and the liquid caramel turns an amber gold. Monitor at all times because the caramel burns quickly!
Quickly pour the caramelized sugar into a 9" cake pan, swirling the caramel until all surfaces are coated. Use oven mitts (not shown); the caramel coating is hot! Set aside.
Add the eggs, sugar, milk, condensed milk, and vanilla extract to a blender. Blend on low (this reduces the amount of air bubbles). Pour the milk egg mixture into the caramel-coated cake pan (or flan pan). Tap the mixture on the counter to remove the air bubbles.
Cover the cake pan with aluminum foil. Press the edges tightly.
Put the cake pan in a larger baking dish with sides (like a deep roasting pan). Add water to the pan to create a water bath. Bake at 350 ℉ (175 ℃) for about 75 minutes.
The flan may have a slight jiggle. When a knife is inserted and comes out clean, it's finished.
Cool the flan to room temperature, then refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours. Remove the foil. Place a flat serving platter on top. Flip the crème caramel quickly, similar to how you flip maqlouba.
Serve this classic crème caramel with some of the dark brown caramel sauce spooned on top.
Caramel Tips
- The hardest part of this recipe (in my opinion) is the caramel sauce. Firstly, the caramel sauce burns quickly, so you must always monitor it. Secondly, when the caramel cools, it hardens. Once you remove the caramel from the stove, time is ticking! Swirl the caramel as fast as possible to coat the cake pan (bottom and sides). You may need mitts because the caramel (and cake pan) will be hot. Tip: Heat the cake pan in the oven so it's hot when swirling the caramel. That will give you a little extra time to coat the pan.
- Cleaning the caramel pan: Pour water into the caramel saucepan and let it soak. Don't try to scrub the pan. The caramel will dissolve and be easy to clean after about an hour.
- If there isn't enough caramel to coat the sides of the cake pan, it's not the end of the world. You may need to run a clean knife along the edges to loosen the creme caramel from the cake pan before you flip it. The bottom of the cake pan must be completely coated with caramel.
Recipe Fails
Here are my recipe fails, so you don't have to make the same mistakes.
- First fail: Not allowing the creme caramel time to cool in the fridge. You need a minimum of four hours (it's better to let it cool overnight). If you rush the fridge time, the flan will not release from the cake pan smoothly.
- Second fail: Not using a water bath in the oven. The flan needs a water bath, so the flan can cook evenly and not boil over.
- Third fail: Not measuring the milk with the condensed milk cans. There needs to be equal parts condensed milk and milk. Use the condensed milk cans to measure the milk so you don't add too much extra milk. Even a little bit of extra milk affects the consistency.
- Fourth fail: Not waiting long enough for the liquid caramel to turn an amber gold color. The caramel adds so much flavor to the flan, so make sure it reaches the right color. The right color = the right flavor.
📋 Recipe
Crème Caramel with Condensed Milk
Ingredients
Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white sugar
Quesillo Flan
- 8 whole eggs
- 28 ounces canned condensed milk
- 28 ounces whole milk use the condensed milk cans to measure it
- ⅛ cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
Caramel Sauce
- In a saucepan, add the white sugar and water. Bring to a boil without stirring. Watch it carefully. Once it turns medium gold, pour it directly into a cake pan and swirl it around to coat the pan. Act quickly before it hardens! One tip to help with this step is to pre-heat the cake pan. This gives you a little more time to swirl the caramel around the pan.
Creme Caramel with Condensed Milk
- Add the eggs, white sugar, condensed milk, whole milk, and vanilla extract in a blender. Pulse on high until combined.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the caramel-lined cake pan. Tightly wrap aluminum foil on top of the cake pan, pressing the edges firmly.
- Place the cake pan into a pan with high edges. Pour water until it reaches 50% up the side of the cake pan. Bake at 350 ℉ (175 ℃) for 75 minutes.
- Remove the cake pan from the oven and let it refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours. Once the flan is cold, remove the foil. Place a large flat surface on top, and flip the flan 180 degrees. The flan should easily flip onto the surface. If the flan is stuck, run a knife around the edges to loosen it.
Equipment
Notes
- There are two methods to make this flan recipe: oven or stovetop. I prefer the oven because the flan comes out smoother. Here is the recipe post for the stovetop flan recipe (quesillo).
- There are flan pans that are quite helpful when making this recipe. They are not absolutely necessary, though, if you don't have any on hand.
- The caramel hardens quickly. Heat the cake pan in the oven before swirling the caramel to give yourself more time. The caramel should coat the entire pan. This ensures that the flan won't stick when you flip it over.
- Add some salt to make this a salted caramel flan.
- Traditional flan uses cow's milk. If you'd like a dairy-free substitute, use coconut milk.
- Store this flan recipe in the fridge for up to five days. I do not recommend freezing it.
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