This Pumpkin Flan (Flan de Calabaza) is so creamy and delicious, one of the best pumpkin dessert recipes you should try this fall!
Silky. Creamy. Lucious. and decadent 🙂
Add some pumpkin to all the above and you get the most delicious Cuban dessert recipe.
Fall is synonymous with everything pumpkin! More pumpkin dessert recipes not to miss include moist mini bundt pumpkin cakes, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin and pear bundt cake, or pumpkin chocolate spiced loaf bread!
Best Pumpkin Dessert Recipe!
What is Pumpkin Flan (Flan de Calabaza)
Flan is a beautiful custard dessert you can find in so many cuisines across the world.
From Europe to Asia and all the way to South America.
The signature of pretty much every flan recipe is the delicious caramel coating. That excitement and scare at the same time, when you are releasing it from the mold to see that golden brown sauce topping the firm custard…Yum!
I grew up with my mum loving creme caramel and making it any occasion possible. I can still remember the smell of fresh caramel sauce coming from the kitchen, and no matter how big she was making it, was never enough.
If you love flans as much as I do, you should check out this delicious and easy caramel flan recipe.
I think it was one of my favorite desserts during my childhood, after Hungarian Kürtőskalács (Chimney Cake) and Plum dumplings. At that time, around 30 years ago, creme caramel was the only recipe and ah! we were missing on so many great flavors.
Until a couple of weeks ago, had no clue there is a pumpkin flan recipe out there.
I mean…pumpkin flan!
That’s the ultimate fall dessert in my books!
Ingredients
- sugar
- evaporated milk,
- sweetened condensed milk,
- egg yolks,
- eggs,
- cream cheese,
- pumpkin puree
How do you make the caramel
The trickiest part of this recipe is making the caramel.
The process is simple:
- Add sugar, water and some creme of tartar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat and you watch it like a hawk….don’t walk away from it. Stir constantly. There is a very fine line between deliciously caramelized caramel and burnt one.
- When caramel is done it has an even light amber brown color throughout. And it smells fantastic!
Once this step is done, the rest of the recipe is a breeze.
What I like the most about this recipe?
It is not overly sweet. That means you can eat how much you want, right :)?!
Make yourself a favor and save this recipe and try it! Thanksgiving it’s coming and I guarantee all your guests will be blown away by this amazing Cuban dessert recipe!
More Pumpkin Dessert recipes to enjoy:
Pumpkin Flan Recipe
Creamy pumpkin flan recipe made from scratch, perfect fall dessert recipe
4
servings15
minutes1
hour10
minutes4
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- Caramel
1 cup 1 granulated sugar
1/4 cup 1/4 water
1/2 tsp 1/2 creme of tartar
- Custard
1/4 cup 1/4 granulated sugar
1 can 1 evaporated milk (12oz)
1 can 1 sweetened condensed milk (14oz/ 396g)
3 tbsp 3 cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup 1 pumpkin puree
5 5 eggs
1 tbsp 1 cornstarch
1/2 tsp 1/2 cinnamon
2 tsp 2 vanilla extract
Boiling water
Directions
- Start making your custard mixture first so when the caramel is done, you can just pour it and put in the oven.
- In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, sugar, eggs, cornstarch, cinnamon and vanilla essence. Whisk all ingredients until you get a smooth consistency. Strain the custard mixture through a fine sieve into a new, clean bowl and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 300F/ 150C.
- Start making your caramel. In a medium saucepan, add sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved, about 2-3 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, and boil, without stirring, for about 10 minutes, until caramel turns a light amber brown color,
- Remove from heat and quickly pour the caramel in your mold. Swirl it as quickly as you can around it to coat the sides too. Be careful, the pan will get very hot, so you will need pot holders!
- After you finish, pour over the pumpkin custard mixture. Arrange the mold in a large deep roasting pan and pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes about halfway up the side of your flan mold. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted near center, comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 30 minutes before putting in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
- To unfold, I usually put the mold in some warm water for a couple of minutes, then remove and invert onto a plate. If you are having trouble, run a sharp knife around the rim of the mold and gently shake to loosen before inverting onto a plate.
Notes
- This recipe will work great for a large 9-10 inch (23cm) mold or you can divide the mixture into several other smaller sizes molds.
Zoe Thompson
Sunday 7th of February 2016
It's yummy !!!! You can substitute with yams and it's a double yum!!!!!
Ohmydish
Sunday 8th of November 2015
Hi ! Just wanted to let you know that we've added this recipe to our top 100 recipes for thanksgiving 2015! Check it out: http://ohmydish.com/100-best-thanksgiving-recipes-for-2015/ :)
Adore Foods
Monday 9th of November 2015
Thank you for this!
Sara @ Life's Little Sweets
Sunday 1st of November 2015
This looks so good, I love this twist on flan!
Rachel @ Simple Seasonal
Saturday 24th of October 2015
Flan is one of my favorite desserts. I'm sure this one would be no exception. You can go wrong with pumpkin and this one has such a pretty presentation!
Lokness
Thursday 15th of October 2015
I can't believe there is pumpkin flan out there, but it does make a lot of sense! These flans are delicious looking, especially with the molds that you used. Please send down one to me. ;)