One of the desserts that remind me of the holidays the most is leche flan. The days leading up to Christmas are almost always spent in the kitchen, making enough of the custard treat to last us until the new year. Either that, or being on the lookout for online sellers who can still deliver their version of leche flan on Christmas morning.
While I can spend time talking about where you can get the classic leche flan, I think it’s important to recognize how home bakers have been re-inventing this dessert.
La La Leche Flan Cake
Leche flan is famously made with citrus to balance its richness. One of the common ingredients is dayap or lime. In this rendition by Butternut MNL—a cake, at that!—these two ingredients are combined in a layered vanilla chiffon cake filled with a tangy dayap curd and covered in a dayap chantilly creme. And yes, those golden blocks on top are possibly the smoothest leche flan you’ll ever taste.
Graham de Leche
We love our graham cakes, we love our leche flan—but most of all, we love it when these desserts are combined with each other. Graham de Leche cakes are made with layers of graham crackers and cream, then topped with leche flan and caramel syrup. Shakin N Bakin’ makes it possible for you to enjoy a cake on your own, or a barkada-sized cake good for six people.
Leche Flan Tortes
While we’re on the topic of leche flan in layered pastries, let’s talk about leche flan in kakanin-inspired desserts. Meet Sebastian’s Ice Cream leche flan tortes—layers of jackfruit, ube and kutsinta ice cream on top of a latik cookie crust—topped with coconut cream leche flan.
Flandesal
What’s better than waking up to freshly baked pandesal in the morning? Waking up to pandesal filled with creamy leche flan, of course. Flandesals are palm-sized pastries that have a slightly crisp crust topped with caramel syrup. You can find them at Bakedt Homemade Pastries, where a box of six is priced at P100.
LeCheesecakes
If you’re on the lookout for extra creamy desserts, you can always turn to LeCheesecakes. As the name suggests, these are cheesecakes topped with creamy leche flan. You can find bite-sized versions of this at Nikita’s Pastries. A box of six is priced at P700 while 12 pieces cost P1,200.
Custaroons
Here’s a new way of enjoying the classic macaroon: Having the buttery dessert on top of a creamy leche flan base. Thanks to Gigi Gaerlan’s Custaroonery, you can enjoy the amazing combination of macaroons and flans—freshly baked and handmade daily.
Header photos courtesy of Bakedt Homemade Pastries and Sebastian’s Ice Cream
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Writer: ANGELA PATRICIA SUACILLO
