Vietnamese Flan (Bánh Flan)

Growing up my mom made flan all the time. I remember it as a smooth, sweet, and creamy dessert topped with a caramelized topping. So whenever I see it on the dessert menu, I order it hoping it would be as creamy as my mom’s…but it never is. The ones I’ve tasted are a bit too dense for me.

So I asked her for her recipe and decided to make it myself. Boy, has it been a culinary adventure 🤣.

What is flan?

Flan is a custard dessert made of eggs, cream and sugar. There are many different versions of flan, or as I call it, “flavored” flan. There are peach flan, chocolate flan, pineapple flan, etc. However, my favorite is still the traditional flan, using just eggs, cream, and sugar.

Flan was introduced to Vietnam by the French and it has been a staple dessert since. The word “flan” is derived from the Old High German word “flado” meaning “flat cake”. Flan is said to have originated in ancient Rome as a savory dish due to a surplus of eggs. Eventually, they started to add honey to the dish and its popularity increased worldwide. As the recipe continued to travel, different cultures began to put their own twist on the recipe, making flan what it is today.

How to make flan?

The caramel topping

This is going to sound crazy, but to me this was the hardest thing for me. I must have tried to make the caramel topping a dozen times before I finally figured it out. There are two ways to make the topping. One is the “wet” method and the other is the “dry” method. My mom’s original recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of water and 1/2 cup of sugar. However, when I did this, all I managed to do was to recrystallize the sugar, turning it into a big clumpy mess. I tried adjusting the amount of water but still ended up recrystallizing the sugar. I blame this on my crystallization techniques I learned back in the day 😂.

So I thought why not remove the water and just melt the sugar alone? Voila, it worked…beautiful brown caramel sauce. However, the sauce was still too thick to evenly spread across an 8 inch round baking pan. It wasn’t until I decided to add in 2 tablespoon of water after the sugar had melted that it gave me the consistency I wanted.

So what did I learn throughout this process?

• The “wet” method for making caramel sauce does not work for me. It may work for you, but I did not have much luck.
• Use a deep non-stick pot.
• When adding the water to the melted sugar, add it very slowly to prevent it from bubbling up too quickly. I also made sure I stirred the mixture while slowly adding the water.
• Make sure the sugar completely melts. This will give a nice, smooth, even layer of caramel on the top after baking.

Cleaning up the caramel pot

If you have caramel stuck to your pot, instead of trying to scrape the caramel off, add water to the pot and boil it. It will dissolve the caramel saving you scrubbing time, and your pot if you used a non-stick pot.

The custard

My mom’s recipe calls for a combination of sweet & condensed milk, water, and regular milk. However, I decided to use 2% milk instead to make it a bit healthier. The milk is heated to a boil then very slowly added to the sugar and egg mixture. When doing this, start off adding very slowly 1 ladle at a time. This is to prevent the eggs from scrambling. After the milk and egg mixture is combined, run it through a fine mesh strainer to catch any clumps before pouring it into the pan that has the caramel sauce.

Place the custard pan inside a bigger pan filled with hot water. I have a dedicated aluminum pan that I use for this. The first time I baked this, I forgot to add hot water and the custard came out very rubbery, almost a bread pudding texture, which is not good for flan. So make sure you add in hot water. The water level also matters. I always add enough hot water to make sure it covers at least 60% of the custard pan to ensure it comes out creamy and not rubbery. I used an 8 inch round cake pan.

Serving & storing flan

After the flan is cooked and cooled, run a butter knife around the edge of the cake pan to loosen it. Then place a plate over the top of the cake pan, invert quickly and it should come out easily. I serve flan in slices with some whipped cream on top…and fresh raspberries.

Left over flan can be stored in the fridge covered with saran plastic wrap. To me, it always tastes better the second or third day.

So if you’re looking for a gluten free dessert, give this Vietnamese flan recipe a try. Let me know what you think below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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