Asian In America

The Filipino Flan Cake is a perfect dessert for Easter or any holiday. After the family feasts over the lavish entrees, this is the perfect ender. Just picture the sweet caramel syrup cascading downwards, first over the creamy custard layer. Then slowly, the syrup dribbles down the soft, chiffon cake. Can anything be more irresistible?

 

Nothing else is as heavenly as this favorite Filipino dessert cake. I used to think it was difficult to make and tried to erase images from my mind of the soft flan disastrously sliding off . Till I found a great recipe via fellow Filipino food blogger extraodinaire, Malou Nievera.  Malou has been a great inspiration and I have made a lot of dishes from her blog’s recipes.

Her family recipe of this delightful custard cake is so easy to follow and one of the most affordable ones I found. What I like best is that she made good use of all the eggs in the recipe. I followed her instructions exactly the way she described. Only thing was that I had a deep , round 9-inch cake pan and used that instead. If you decide to do this, be sure to try Malou’s suggestion of a rectangle  pan and the results will be better than mine.

 

 

So get ready for this easy to bake beautiful cake. Simply put together a basic chiffon cake recipe and top it with the light, smooth  vanilla-flavored  flan. Bake bain-marie style and you’ll have a  marvelous custard cake in no time!

 

 

FILIPINO FLAN CAKE :  CARAMEL CUSTARD ON CHIFFON CAKE

*A RECIPE FROM “SKIP TO MALOU’S”
Nana Ming’s Classic Custard Cake

Ingredients:
For the caramel:
1 cup sugar

For the custard:
3 egg yolks
1 can condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk

For the cake
5 egg yolks
2 1/4 c cake flour
3/4 c sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 c of water  mixed with 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

For the meringue
8 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 c sugar

Procedure:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a heavy sauce pan, place the sugar. Do not stir.  Over low heat, caramelize sugar  until it turns golden brown.  Immediately pour it over a 9 inch baking pan. Set aside.

For the custard:

Mix all ingredient together  3 egg yolks, condensed and evaporated milk.  Stir lightly .  Strain and pour it over to the caramelized pan. Set aside.

For the cake:
Sift together all the dry ingredients.  Beat the 5 eggs and gradually add the dry ingredients and the vanilla- flavored water.  Set aside.

For the meringue:

Make sure egg whites are at room temperature so they will result in a good meringue. Add the cream of tartar and beat at high speed in a stand mixer. Continue beating till soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and continue beating until it becomes stiff.

To Assemble:

Fold the cake mixture into meringue mixture, until it is well blended.  Make sure to eliminate any bubbles in the process.

Slowly pour into the pan which has the caramel topping & flan mixture.  Bake “ baine marie “* style for about an hour or until firm.  Let it cool. Once it has cooled at room temperature, cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. The next day, just before serving,  run a knife around the pan and turn it upside down.

 

COOK’S COMMENTS: “Bain marie” is also what we call “bano maria” when baking. In the oven, place the cake pan with the batter on a larger pan that is filled with water. This type of cooking is best when making custards so that the creamy filling and topping do not burn with the oven’s direct heat.

 

 

 

Thanks to Malou Nievera, super talented food writer of the wonderful SKIP TO MALOU blog. Go check out her recipe and family story of this Custard Cake & other delicious Filipino dishes! You’ll never want to leave !