I found out about this Filipino dessert called ube leche flan cake.
It’s a layer of an ube cake that has a flan on top…I love ube and I also love flan so I needed to try this.
The flan is so creamy, the caramel adds a nice sweetness and the ube cake is so fluffy. I am in love with this!
Video Tutorial
The caramel
The first thing we are going to make is the caramel layer.
Well I mean I don’t know if it’s fully considered a caramel, it’s just melted sugar, but it tastes like caramel at the end so we’re calling it caramel.
Anyway like I said, it’s just sugar. I used granulated sugar, but caster sugar works too.
All you need to do is heat this in a pot or pan, until all the sugar has melted and has turned an amber colour.
Then you pour this into your tin and leave it to set.
A few tips
Heat this slowly
Whenever melting sugar, there is a risk of it burning, we do not want this.
So it’s best to keep your heat on medium. Don’t try increasing this heat in order to speed up the process, medium heat is best.
Constantly stir
This is another thing to do, to avoid the sugar from burning.
During the whole process, make sure to keep stirring the sugar. You don’t want to walk away from it as it is melting.
The flan
The next step is to make the flan mixture.
Making this is super easy, all you do is throw all the ingredients into a bowl, and gently whisk them together.
Here are the ingredients you will need for this:
- Egg yolks
- Condensed milk – use sweetened condensed milk
- Evaporated milk
- Vanilla extract – for flavour.
- Salt – this will help enhance the flavours.
Make sure to sieve this
I really recommend sieving this, this will give you a much smooth, creamier flan.
But then just pour this mixture into your tin, on top of the set caramel layer. Then leave this aside whiles you make the cake batter.
The cake layer
I would say the ube cake layer is the star of the show, so let’s move onto this now.
This cake layer is essentially a chiffon cake. All I did was add some ube extract to it for ube flavour and it also gave it a nice colour.
These are the ingredients you will need:
- Eggs
- Cream of tartar – this is going to help stabilise the whipped egg whites.
- Granulated sugar – caster sugar works too. In the recipe card below, you will see that I’ve wrote ’60g granulated sugar’ twice. This isn’t a mistake, it’s just that we’re going to whip the egg whites and yolks in separate bowls, with 60g of sugar in each bowl. So this is why there is 2 measurements for the sugar.
- Oil – any flavourless oil does work, but I always used vegetable oil.
- Water
- Ube extract – in the recipe card I’ve said to use 1 tablespoon of this. But you could use less or more depending on how strong you want the flavour and colour to be.
- Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour.
- Baking powder
- Salt
Baking this cake in a water bath
Once the cake batter has been made, we’re going to pour this over the flan mixture and then it’s time to bake.
We’re going to bake this cake in a water bath.
If you’ve never used a water bath before…it’s essentially a bath of water.
All you are doing is getting a large baking/roasting tray that has high sides.
You want to add your tin into this large tray. Then pour some boiling water into the large tray until the water reaches about halfway up the tin with your cake batter and flan mixture in it.
Now carefully place this in your oven and bake.
Why is a water bath used?
Water baths are typically used when baking things like flan, cheesecake…….that’s all I can think of right now.
But let’s just focus on flan for now.
Flans do not like drastic changes in temperature. So if you put it into the oven without a water bath, the eggs in the mixture can curdle. Leaving you with a flan that is not smooth.
The water in your water bath is going to regulate the temperature of the flan as it bakes; it just stops it from getting too hot in the oven.
This is going to leave you with a flan that is sooooo smooth and creamy. We want this, so make sure not to skip the water bath!
MAKE SURE TO LEAVE THIS TO CHILL OVERNIGHT
Once your cake has been baked, it is going to be very jiggly.
This is just because of the flan, it will set as it cools.
If you try taking this cake out of the tin too early, the flan will be way too soft and it will fall apart.
So make sure to leave it to set up in the fridge. 4-6 hours does work, but honestly, leaving it overnight gives you a much better result. So I really recommend waiting, it will be worth it in the end.
Taking the cake out of the tin
The next day, you can finally take it out of the tin and enjoy.
The best way to take this out of the tin is to run a knife around the edge of the tin, to separate the cake from the sides.
Then I like to heat the bottom of the tin.
I use a blow torch for this, but if you didn’t have one you could dip your tin into warm water.
Make sure not to fully submerge it though, we don’t want water in our cake.
But after you have heated the bottom, just flip it over and the cake should come out. Now you can cut into it!
Here are some other recipes I’ve posted recently, I think you should try these too:
Ube Leche
Flan Cake
Ingredients
- For the caramel layer:
200g granulated sugar
- For the flan:
6 egg yolks
320g condensed milk
350ml evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
- For the cake:
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
60g granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
60g granulated sugar
40ml vegetable oil
50ml cold water
1 tablespoon ube extract
100g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Start by pre-heating your oven to 180c/350f.
- For the caramel layer:
- In a pot or pan, add the sugar and place this onto medium heat.
- Keep heating this, whiles stirring, until all the sugar has melted and it is an amber colour.
- Pour this into an 8 inch cake tin, then leave this aside to set at room temperature, this won't take long. Also side note DON'T grease this tin, the cake we are going to make rises better in an un-greased tin.
- Making the flan:
- In a large bowl, add all the ingredients for the flan. Whisk these together.
- Pour this through a sieve, then pour this into your tin, on top of the caramel layer. At this point the sugar will have set up. If it hasn't, wait until it does before pouring the flan mixture over it.
- Leave this aside whiles you make the cake batter.
- Making the cake batter:
- In a large clean bowl, add the egg whites and cream of tartar. Start whipping this.
- Once they become foamy, slowly pour in the first 60g of sugar, whiles still whipping.
- Once all the sugar has been added, whip until you get stiff peaks then leave this aside.
- In a separate large bowl, add the egg yolks and the second 60g of sugar. Whip these just until the egg yolks lighten in colour and the mixture increases in volume slightly.
- Add the oil, water and ube extract into this, whisk these in. Now add the flour and baking powder, whisk just until combined.
- Add half of the whipped egg whites into this, gently fold these in. Then add the rest of the whipped egg whites and fold these in until you can no longer see any lumps or streaks of egg whites anymore.
- Gently pour this into your tin, on top of the flan mixture. They will mix together a little, this is ok.
- Baking it:
- We're going to bake this in a water bath. So add this tin into a large baking/roasting tray that has high sides.
- Pour boiling water into the large tray until the water reaches about half way up the sides of the tin with the batter in it.
- Carefully place this into your oven and bake at 180c/350f for around 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. It will be very jiggly at this point, don't be alarmed it's just the flan, this will set as it cools.
- Take this out of the oven and leave to cool completely, then place it into your fridge and leave it there overnight.
- The next day take it out of the tin, cut into it and enjoy!
