Flan is the go-to Cuban dessert, the dessert any self-respecting eatery has on its menu. This humble combination of eggs, milk and sugar has taken on legendary status in Cuba. The Cuban flan has the custardy texture of crema catalana with all the eggy sweetness of crème caramel. Our head of Operations, Liudmila, makes a mean, mean flan. We asked her for her recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 410g tin condensed milk
• 1 410g tin evaporated milk
• 118ml water
• 3 large eggs or 4 small
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• A pinch of salt
• 113g white sugar

Equipment

• Blender
• Small pan
• 16″ flan mould with lid
• Pressure cooker or oven
• High-walled baking tray if using the oven

Method

1. Put the condensed milk, evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla essence and salt in the blender and blitz until well-mixed. Leave to stand.
2. Empty the white sugar into a small pan and cook over a medium flame until the sugar melts and begins to turn gold. Take it off the heat as soon as it has turned gold to avoid burning.
3. Empty the caramelised sugar into the flan mold and swish it about so that it covers all of the mold’s walls.
4. Empty the blended ingredients into the mold and fix the lid.
5. Pressure Cooker Method: Pour water into the pressure cooker and then place the mold inside the pressure cooker. Cook for 25 minutes.
6. Oven method: Pour the water into a high-walled baking tray. Place the flan mold in the baking tray and cook at 180 degrees celsius for approximately one hour. If you stick a knife in the flan and it comes out clean then the flan is ready.
7. Leave the flan to cool for an hour before taking it out of the mold. Remove the lid of the mold and put an up-turned serving plate in its place. With one hand on the bottom of the mold and one on the plate, flip the mold over so that your flan is sitting neatly on the serving plate.
8. Put your flan in the freezer for 10 minutes or so – as soon as it has cooled down you can serve it.

In 7 easy steps there you have it – the perfect Cuban flan!

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