This Coconut Caramel Flan is a delightful, melt-in-your-mouth dessert that’s both gluten-free and dairy-free! With only four ingredients, this simple recipe combines a creamy coconut egg custard topped with a luscious caramel sauce. It’s a healthier take on a classic flan, perfect for anyone looking for a light, yet indulgent treat. The best part? It’s incredibly easy to prepare and only takes about 45 minutes from start to finish.

Full Recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons caramel sauce (store-bought or homemade)

• 1 can coconut condensed milk (490g), at room temperature

• Soy milk (same measure as condensed milk can), at room temperature

• 6 eggs, at room temperature

Directions

1. Preheat the Oven: Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C).

2. Prepare the Pan: Pour the caramel sauce into a steam pudding pan (which has a lid and a hole in the middle) and spread it around using a silicone brush or a small spatula.

3. Mix the Flan: In a blender, combine the coconut condensed milk, soy milk, and eggs. Blend until smooth.

4. Set Up the Water Bath: Place the steam pudding pan in the center of a baking dish with high sides. Pour the flan mixture into the steam pudding pan, then cover with the lid. Add boiling water into the baking dish until it reaches halfway up the sides of the pan.

5. Bake: Carefully place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 60 minutes.

6. Cool and Refrigerate: After 60 minutes, remove the pudding pan from the oven, keeping the lid on. Allow it to cool for 1 hour, then refrigerate overnight.

7. Unmold and Serve: To unmold, invert the pan onto a large serving plate. Keep it in the fridge until ready to serve. Optionally, add more caramel sauce on top before serving.

Nutrients (per serving)

• Calories: 260 kcal

• Carbohydrates: 39g

• Protein: 6g

• Fat: 9g

  • Saturated Fat: 7g

• Cholesterol: 140mg

• Sodium: 50mg

• Potassium: 128mg

• Fiber: 1g

• Sugar: 33g

The Simplicity of the Ingredients

What makes this Coconut Caramel Flan so easy and delightful is its simplicity. With just four basic ingredients—coconut condensed milk, soy milk, eggs, and caramel sauce—you can create a rich, flavorful dessert that doesn’t require a long list of special ingredients or complicated steps. The coconut condensed milk provides a smooth, rich flavor that gives the flan its creamy texture, while the soy milk helps to keep the dessert light and dairy-free.

For the caramel, you can either use store-bought caramel sauce or make your own at home for an extra touch of homemade goodness. The caramel layer at the bottom adds a sweet, caramelized contrast to the smooth custard that tops it, making each bite a perfect balance of flavors and textures.

The Custard: Creamy and Smooth

The key to a great flan is a smooth and creamy custard, and this recipe delivers just that. The coconut condensed milk, combined with the soy milk and eggs, creates a delicate custard base that has a rich mouthfeel without being too heavy. The eggs help to set the custard, giving it that traditional flan texture—creamy but firm enough to hold its shape once unmolded.

Blending the ingredients together in a blender ensures that the mixture is smooth and free of lumps, which is crucial for achieving the velvety texture flan is known for. The result is a custard that is creamy, subtly sweet, and has a hint of coconut flavor that pairs beautifully with the caramel sauce.

The Caramel: Sweet and Luscious

The caramel sauce adds the perfect touch of sweetness and richness to this dessert. It creates a beautiful contrast with the creamy coconut custard, adding a slightly bitter note that complements the sweetness of the flan. If you’re making your own caramel sauce, you’ll find it easy to prepare with just a few ingredients like sugar, butter, and water. If you’re short on time, store-bought caramel sauce works perfectly as well, saving you even more time while still delivering the same delicious flavor.

The caramel sauce is poured into the bottom of the steam pudding pan before the custard mixture is added, so it naturally creates the signature caramel layer on top when the flan is inverted after baking.

Baking and the Water Bath: Gently Cooking the Flan

The traditional method for baking flan is in a water bath, also known as a “bain-marie.” This technique allows the flan to cook evenly and gently, preventing it from cracking or becoming too firm. In this recipe, the flan mixture is poured into a steam pudding pan, which has a lid and a hole in the middle to allow steam to circulate. The pan is then placed in a larger baking dish, which is filled with boiling water halfway up the sides of the pan.

This water bath ensures the flan cooks slowly and evenly, giving it that silky-smooth texture we all love. The steam helps keep the custard moist while allowing it to set perfectly, so you can enjoy a flan that’s creamy and tender, with a golden caramel topping.

Cooling and Refrigerating: Patience for Perfection

Once the flan has baked for about 60 minutes, it’s important to let it cool for at least an hour before refrigerating overnight. This cooling period helps the flan firm up slightly, allowing it to hold its shape when unmolded. Refrigerating the flan overnight allows the flavors to deepen and the texture to become even more creamy.

The next day, the flan is ready to be unmolded and served. The key to perfect presentation is gently inverting the pan onto a large serving plate, which will reveal the beautiful caramel topping that has naturally formed during baking. If you like, you can add extra caramel sauce on top for added sweetness and richness.

Serving Suggestions

Coconut Caramel Flan is a showstopper dessert that can be enjoyed on its own, but it also pairs beautifully with a variety of sides. Serve it with fresh berries or a light fruit salad to add a refreshing contrast to the richness of the flan. The bright flavors of citrus or tropical fruits, such as pineapple or mango, would complement the coconut flavor in the flan perfectly.

If you want to enhance the dessert even further, serve it with a small cup of espresso or a light dessert wine to balance the sweetness and richness of the flan. This would make for a wonderful end to a special meal or gathering.

Nutritional Information

Each serving of Coconut Caramel Flan contains approximately 260 calories, making it a relatively light dessert despite its richness. With 6 grams of protein, it offers a good source of protein from the eggs, which helps make the dessert more filling. The 9 grams of fat come primarily from the unsalted butter in the caramel sauce and the coconut condensed milk, with 7 grams coming from saturated fat. This is to be expected from a dessert like flan, which relies on butter and milk for its creamy texture.

The dessert is also low in carbohydrates (10g), with 7 grams of sugar. It provides 1 gram of fiber, primarily from the soy milk and the coconut milk. The dessert contains moderate levels of cholesterol (140mg), but it’s relatively low in sodium (50mg), making it an option that can be enjoyed in moderation as part of a balanced diet.

Customizing the Recipe

While this recipe is already delicious, you can easily customize it to suit your preferences. For a richer caramel flavor, you can make your own caramel sauce instead of using store-bought sauce. You can also experiment with adding other flavorings to the custard, such as vanilla extract or a pinch of cinnamon, for a unique twist on the traditional flan.

If you prefer a non-coconut flavor, you can swap the coconut condensed milk for regular condensed milk (though this will make the dish no longer dairy-free). For added texture, you can fold in some shredded coconut into the flan mixture before baking.

Conclusion

Coconut Caramel Flan is a delicious and elegant dessert that is surprisingly easy to prepare at home. With its creamy coconut custard, golden caramel topping, and tropical flavors, it’s the perfect indulgence for anyone looking for a lighter yet rich treat. The simplicity of the ingredients and the ease of preparation make it an ideal dessert for a special occasion or a delightful end to a weeknight meal. With its melt-in-your-mouth texture and irresistible flavor, this flan will become a new favorite in your dessert repertoire.