When I think of Caramel Custard I think of those long buffet tables at restaurants in Pakistan. The white ceramic bowls with salads and condiments, that array of silver chafing dishes, and then that smorgasbord of desserts at the end. The gulab jamuns lazing in their syrupy bath, the sponge cakes iced with cream swirls dotted with jam. Then came this simple beautiful thing; a gently baked Caramel Custard with it's pool of caramel sauce. As a child my primary mission was to scoop up as much of that sauce as possible onto my plate. As an adult I take a polite amount for decorum's sake.
I started making this custard sometime in my teens and remember loving the results. However as an adult that childhood recipe of mine has failed me. I have several theories as to why, but since none of them are particularly scintillating I will skip them.
Long story short it has taken a few tries to get here, to a point where the caramel is just right, where the custard feels like rich velvet, where giving it to other people to try is a genuine act of love because I'd really like to eat the whole thing myself. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that although there were many great resources on Custard the Serious Eats article was my favourite.
Why label this Caramel Custard as Pakistani?
When I was in college I went to an International Students event where someone had made a Caramel Flan. It was one of the South American students. I gleefully cut myself a big piece and then. Well, then I was confused as hell because even my college going self could tell something was not right. That custard had a deeper sweetness, a dense texture. It was good. Very good, but it just wasn't the same. Since then I have learnt that the set of ingredients can be different and so I call this a Pakistani custard because it is made the way I grew up eating it in Pakistan. Without condensed milk or evaporated milk etc.
Caramel Custard FAQS
It seems only fair that I share a little of what I learnt along the way, right?
1.) Why does my Caramel Custard/Flan taste eggy?
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.
2.) What is the best way to mix a Caramel Custard?
It is hard to evenly disperse all those eggs into the Caramel Custard base. I have used a hand mixer/ electric beater, an immersion blender and a blender. With the hand mixer it was a bit of an eggy bits gong show that required some straining and massive annoyance. The immersion blender worked well and in a pinch I would use it again. The blender however was the best. It allowed me to warm the milk in the pan I used for the caramel thereby amping up the caramel flavour (a tip I got from Serious Eats) and pour it in without risking any curdling. It's also incredibly quick then and what's not to love there.
3.) What kind of milk or cream should I use?
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)
- Whole Milk or 2% (1.5 cup) and Half n Half (1.5 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!
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
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
- Spread the sugar evenly across the bottom of a heavy based pan
- Sprinkle the sugar with water so that it disperses evenly and all the sugar is moistened. If you need to add more water that is fine, just sprinkle it over top and 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.
- While the milk mixture is heating 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.
- 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.
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?
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?
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!
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 🙈🤣
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!
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.
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
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?
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
Love, LOVE it! Thanks for a stellar recipe, Sarah!
Thank you SO much Amna! I am so glad you liked it!
The. Best. Caramel. Custard. Ever. 😄
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.
Thank YOU so very very much for making and sharing it!!!!!!
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?
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!
Amazing recipe! Tasted delicious. Check out the caramelization videos on the instagram to get it jusst right!
Thank you Areeba!!!!
Loved loved the recipe! All the tips were so helpful. Turned out to be amazing Alhamdulillah. Thanks a lot
Awesome!!! Thank you Maria!
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??
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.