instructions

• Caramel
• Place sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat.
• Keep stirring the sugar to help it melt evenly.
• Once all sugar has melted and it has a deep amber color, add the water.
• Be careful with this step, as the hot caramel will bubble up vigorously once you add the water.
• Once the water has been added, some of the sugar will harden up and crystallize. Simply continue to stir over medium heat for a few more minutes, until the sugar re-melts completely.
• When the caramel is smooth, and all the sugar has melted, pour it on the bottom of an un-greased large bundt pan.**
• Place the bundt pan on a flat surface in the fridge, or freezer, until the caramel hardens up, this can take from 30 minutes to 1 hour. It’s very important that the caramel is hardened before you pour the flan in the pan.
• No-Bake Flan
• Pour 2/3 cup of milk in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over the milk. Let it sit for 5 minutes to bloom.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 1/3 cups of milk in a small saucepan, over medium heat.
• Let the milk come to an almost boil, but don’t let it actually boil.
• Once you see the first bubbles emerge, turn the heat off.
• Pour gelatin and milk in the pan with the hot milk. Whisk until the gelatin has melted completely and incorporated into the milk.
• In a bowl, mix table cream (or heavy cream), with condensed milk, and vanilla. Add hot milk/gelatin mixture to the bowl.
• Add food coloring, or turmeric for coloring*** if using any. Whisk until incorporated.
• Let flan mixture cool down slightly, for about 10 minutes.
• Pour it over the hardened caramel.
• Place pan in the fridge for 6 hours or overnight.
• On the next day, remove it from the fridge, and use a knife to run around the edges of the flan, and in the middle too. Be careful when doing this, so you don’t cut through the flan. Slowly start to run the knife around the edges, until you reach the bottom of the flan. It’s important to make sure the whole flan lose from the sides of the pan. If one section is still stuck to the pan, but the rest is not, the flan might break when you flip it onto the plate.
• Keep slowly running the knife around the edges of the pan, and jiggle the pan every so often, and when you see that the flan is loose in there, it’s time to flip it onto the plate.
• Storage
• The flan will store well for 4-5 days in the fridge.
• Table Cream: 450 ml will be 1.9 cups, so just slightly less than 2 cups. If you can’t find Table Cream, substitute with heavy cream. Table Cream should be easily found in the latin food aisle at the store.
• Bundt pan: I used a 12-cups bundt pan, a 10-cups bundt pan will also work.
• Coloring: To give the flan that characteristic yellow tone, you can add a couple of drops of yellow food coloring to the batter, or from 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder, if you want to. This amount of turmeric won’t alter the taste of the flan.