Wonderful Creamy Caramel & Mascarpone Flan Cake

Written by on in All Recipes, Dessert, Sweet

What’s better than combining 2 of your favorite desserts into one? Flan + Cake = this amazing creamy caramel flan cake. Flan or creme caramel is just amazing and I had this for the first time in Spain. To me, it’s a very elegant dessert with subtle flavors but can still be very rich. Normally you don’t add cheese to a flan, but the mascarpone just fits so well and adds to the creaminess and decadence. It is a great dessert for summer and you can even make it a little bit lighter if you would like by completely not doing the cake part on top of the flan. Is still an amazing dessert without it.

I find this caramel flan recipe to be quite flexible, you can replace the milk for most plant-based milk, I tried this recipe with oat and hemp milk and they both turned out great. You also don’t have to use white granulated sugar but can go for coconut or cane sugar, works just as well. Just be aware that your caramel sauce will look a lot darker with coconut sugar. I just find it very important that recipes are a little bit flexible because sometimes you just want to bake with what you have in the pantry and not go to the store for a special kind of sugar or milk.

Personally, I don’t drink normal milk at all so I always use plant-based milk in my recipes, they turn out just as great. My favorite is definitely oat milk because it is still very creamy and I love the oaty taste. The only one I don’t like to use is almond milk because most of the time it is just too watery for me. But yeah, so don’t be afraid if you don’t have a certain sugar or milk in your fridge. Let’s get to the magic and super simple ingredients of this beautiful caramel flan cake!

This is an adaptation of the amazing recipe on youtube by Hida Mari.

Ingredients

For the caramel sauce you will need:

  • 120 g | 1/2 cup white sugar, I tested this with coconut sugar as well and that works fine
  • 120 ml | 1/2 cup water

For the flan:

  • 200 g mascarpone, at room temperature
  • 4 eggs
  • 120 g sugar
  • 240 ml milk, turns out great with oat and hemp milk as well (haven’t tried almond or coconut)
  • 100 ml heavy cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • For extra flavourings: 1 cinnamon stick or/and 1 tablespoon of citrus zest (preferably orange)

For the cake bottom:

  • 2 eggs
  • 60 g sugar
  • 60 g flour

Method

  • Heat your oven to 150.
  • Let’s start on the caramel with grabbing a small sauce pan and adding your sugar and water to it. Heat the pan to low-medium heat, stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture starts to boil. Stop stirring and let it boil until it has an amber color, then remove from heat. Caution: the sugar will be very hot. Pour it into a loaf pan.
  • Now start on your flan mixture. Add the mascarpone to a big bowl and mix it together with the sugar. Add your eggs and mix with a whisk until smooth.
  • In another small saucepan add your choice of milk, heavy cream, vanilla, cinnamon stick and citrus zest. Bring it to low-medium heat and let it on for about 5 minutes, until you see steam coming of from your mixture. Strain this mixture to get out the cinnamon stick and zest and slowly pour it into your egg and mascarpone mixture while continously whisking. Whisk for another minute and pour it on top of the caramel sauce in the loaf pan.
  • Get another bowl and add the 2 eggs and sugar to it. Mix these 2 with a handmixer until the mixture turns pale and fluffy. Mix in the flour with a silicon spatula and slowly evenly pour it on top of your flan mixture in the loaf pan. This feels a little bit counter intuitive, but the mixture should stay on top.
  • Now put your loaf pan in a bigger pan and fill the bigger pan with hot water. The water should come up halfway of the loaf pan. Because of this your flan will cool more evenly. Put it in the preheated oven for 55 – 60 minutes. Let it cool down and put in your fridge for at least 5 more hours. Enjoy!
Yes please to this delicious matcha cheesecake🍵 Actually the first time I used matcha in baking, and definetely not the last time! This cheesecake is super creamy and rich with white chocolate and a lovely crunchy base with toasted oats🥰 If you are having some spare lemons, this is the perfect loaf cake for you🍋 This fudgy and fluffy lemon and poppy seed loaf cake is sooo good. With some extra poppy seeds because you know how I think of recipes that promise you a flavour, but then when you read the recipe they only add a miniscule teaspoon🤔 This one is made with lemons out of our garden🍋🍋🍋 Can't believe I didn't post some pictures of these amazing choux au craquelin yet! I really felt like making something more pastry like and something with a little bit more technique involved but still really simple to make. I was actually surprised how easy it turned out to be and it is SOOO good especially filled with some homemade vanilla pastry cream🥐 find the recipe via the link in my bio or on www.doughtodelight.com🍒 Something different than my usual baking✌ Have a try at this simple and rustic marinara sauce🍅🍅🍅 made with lots of tomato and fresh basil, good for all your pastas and pizzas😍 find the recipe on my blog via the link in my bio or www.doughtodelight.com🍅 Have you already seen my new recipe for these ginger and caramel fudge cookies? I just loveee the combination of ginger and caramel, its just so good. Normally gingercookies just use powdered ginger, bit youu reallly want to go for that little extra with freshly grated ginger. I always keep some ginger in my freezer, so it keeps good for a long time and it is easy to grate✌ So better get your ass over on my blog😘 When you can't make a nice clean cut through the middle😂😭 #rusticfood More recipes with almonds🌰 these Amaretti cookies are so simple to make and super delicious with their chewy insides and crispy crackly outsides🥰 also a great gluren free option for cookie lovers❤ find the recipe via the link in my bio or on www.doughtodelight.com 🍪 Ohh yess, more recipes with berries, because why not. I mean we are all craving these fresh and moist treats for summer right? This berry and almond cake with lemon and berry icing is amazing for every afternoon tea. I just love almonds and have another recipe in the making with it🙊 This cake is super simple to make and has a great almond flavour with A LOT of berries, you can either use fresh or frozen ones (I won't tell anyone and we always have a bag of frozen berries our freezer just in case). Look for the recipe through the link in my bio or on www.doughtodelight.com 🍓🍒🍇 Peanut Butter & Cherry Cookies 🍒 these two are just amaxing together in this soft chewy cookie. These cookies were gone in a sec as my partner and I are both big peanut butter lovers. I also just love how the cherries look like little hearts when cut in half❤ These are super simple to make and only require 10 ingredients! The peanut butter couldn't be any other than @picspeanutbutter 🥜 find the recipe on my blog www.doughtodelight.com

If you tried to make this caramel flan cake, let me know on Instagram @doughtodelight! If you are looking for something more cheesy, try these matcha cheesecake bars or this super decadent chocolate cheesecake. Enjoy!