Creamy Coffee Flan {Coffee Crème Caramel}

Classic crème caramel with a coffee twist! This Coffee Flan (Coffee Creme Caramel) is made with coffee flavoured cream, and is a family favourite of ours! Perfectly cooked, delicate, super creamy custard with an irresistible coffee flavour throughout! If you love coffee, you’re going to adore this coffee flan!

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Well, there’s not much to say here. If you love coffee, you’re going to go NUTS over this creamy coffee flan!

And what-do-you-know, I love coffee too! 🙂 In fact, a little too much, you might say. I have gone from not drinking coffee at all in my younger years, to drinking 8-10 shots of espresso a day when I used to work as a barista. I no longer need that much coffee thankfully, but I still take my coffee seriously. And I LOVE, LOVE working with coffee flavour in my cooking and baking.

This Coffee Flan (Espresso Creme Caramel) is pretty straight forward. I took my husband’s favourite dessert (creme caramel pudding, also known as caramel flan) and gave it a coffee twist. I knew we were both going to enjoy it, but I honestly did not foresee how much Mr K was going to love it! It’s been several years and many dozens of times since I first made this for him, and he still goes nuts for this coffee flan. Every. single. time.

There are so many things I love about this coffee flan. It’s easy to make, the flavours are unforgivingly addictive, they are great crowd pleasers, and by making them in ramekins, I make individual portions. I have shared recipes for this poached apple & cinnamon creme caramel, and classic creme caramel before. I’ve been meaning to share the recipe for this coffee creme caramel for a long time too now, and I finally got around to it. 🙂

I have made this coffee flan with instant coffee as well as freshly ground coffee beans, and I personally prefer the taste of fresh coffee beans. However, the instant coffee version leaves no fine coffee in the custard since it dissolves completely, if that’s something that appeals to you. I, on the other hand, freakin’ LOVE that dark coffee top you get on the custard with freshly ground coffee, and it even infuses the coffee flavour into the caramel too.

As you can see, the caramel layer at the bottom on each ramekin (which ends up on top when you flip over the custard) is caramelized a little darker than usual. This is because I caramelize the caramel to a dark amber before adding it to the ramekins – this adds a great depth of flavour of the coffee flan.

The caramel layer in the ramekins

The ratio that I always use for the custard base in this coffee flan is,

3 cups of creamy liquid (half and half, cream or a mix of cream and full cream milk)

4 yolks and 2 eggs

2/3 cup of sugar &

Vanilla

There are slight variations depending on the flavours that I work with, but this is the base recipe that I always build on. And then bake for approximately 25-30 minutes (exact time varies depending on the oven) in the oven in 1/2 cup ramekins. Let ’em cool down. Chill in the fridge. Enjoy! This creamy coffee flan is a truly addictive dessert.

Do keep an eye on them when they’re baking. Over-baking will result in a “dry”custard. The key is to bake until there’s just a little wobble in the middle of the surface of the pudding. The surrounding area will slightly bubble up and this is normal. This will result in a perfectly cooked custard, with a super creamy creme caramel, that is an absolute dream to devour! 🙂

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Coffee Flan {Coffee Créme Caramel}

Servings: 8 - 9 4 oz portions

Author: Dini from The Flavor Bender

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Ingredients

Coffee Custard

• 2 cups half and half
• 6 tbsp coarse ground medium roast coffee
• ⅔ cup sugar
• 1 cup cream whipping cream, or double cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 whole eggs
• Pinch of salt

Caramel layer

• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tbsp corn syrup

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and have a baking tray (large enough to hold eight 4-ounce ramekins) and hot water ready.
2. Lightly grease the ramekins with butter or oil.

For the Caramel

1. Add the sugar into a saucepan and pour the water along the side of the saucepan. Add the corn syrup and let it heat gently on medium heat. Do not stir. When the sugar starts to dissolve, gently swirl it to mix the water and sugar together.
2. When all the sugar has dissolved, swirl the saucepan occasionally to mix the caramel. Keep an eye out for the caramel changing colour and then immediately remove from the heat when it starts to turn dark amber in colour.
3. Carefully pour this into the ramekins and swirl gently to spread the caramel on the bottom. Set aside.

For the Custard

1. Whisk the eggs, yolks and vanilla together until foamy. Add the 1 cup of cream and whisk to combine.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, ground coffee, 2 cups of half and half, and heat gently until the sugar completely dissolves and the milk just starts to simmer. Turn off the heat and let the coffee steep for about 10 minutes.
3. Strain the coffee-milk mix through a fine sieve to remove coffee grounds.
4. Whisk a little of this coffee-milk mixture into the cream and egg mix slowly to temper it, and then carefully add the rest to the whisked eggs. Strain the mix through a fine sieve to remove any large egg pieces.
5. Pour into the ramekins and place them in the baking tray. Add hot water into the tray to fill it half way up the sides of the ramekins to form a water-bath. Bake the custard in the water-bath for 25-30 minutes until the custard is done. Remove from the oven. The middle of the custard will be very slightly wobbly, but the custard will continue to cook and set as they cool down. Remove ramekins from the water-bath and let them cool down to room temperature.
6. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours. Overnight is better.
7. When ready to serve, run a flat, warm knife along the sides of the custard to loosen it. Invert the coffee flan onto your serving plate.
8. Serve as is, or with some whipped cream on top.

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