Leche Flan Cake

We ate Leche Flan Cake all the time when we were growing up in the Philippines. There was a canteen near my Lolo’s (grandpa’s) office that sold it for a few cents a slice. It was always such a treat to go visit my Lolo at work because he invariably would give us some money to run down to the canteen for a slice of Leche Flan Cake. Looking back, I think it was probably his way of getting rid of a bunch of noisy kids so he could work in peace for a while. LOL! Either way, I always thought the cake was the best part of visiting my Lolo at his work. Now, I make my own leche flan cake and hopefully, it’s created some fond memories for my own kids to look back on, too.

Traditional leche flan cake has a thin layer of flan on top of a thick layer of cake, but my Old Goat would always ask if I could make the flan layer thicker (like I do with Chocoflan Cake). So I finally gave in and that’s why my leche flan cake doesn’t look anything like traditional Filipino leche flan cakes. I have to admit he was right though. I do like it better with a thicker layer of flan. The fam sure does, too. And so will you!

FILIPINO LECHE FLAN CAKE

For the Caramel Sauce:

• 2 cups white sugar

1. Pour sugar into 9×13-inch metal baking pan and set on stove over low heat.
2. Cook sugar until it melts and begins to turn caramel colored.
3. Tilt pan so caramel coats the bottom evenly. Use oven mitts! The pan will be hot!
4. Set aside to cool. The caramel will harden and could crack as it cools. Don’t worry. This is normal.

For the Leche Flan:

• 2 whole eggs
• 4 egg yolks (save the whites for another use)
• 2 cans evaporated milk
• 1 can condensed milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

1. In a bowl whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, evaporated milk, condensed milk, sugar, and vanilla.
2. Pour the mixture over the cooled caramel in the baking pan.

For the Cake:

• 1½ cups cake flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ cup whole milk (or buttermilk)
• ¾ cup oil
• 4 egg yolks (save the whites to make meringue)
• 1 tsp. vanilla

1. Sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Make a well in the center.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the milk, oil, egg yolks, and vanilla.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the well of dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
5. Set batter aside and make meringue.

For the Meringue:

• 4 egg whites
• ½ tsp. cream of tartar
• ½ cup sugar

1. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar on high until frothy.
2. Decrease speed to medium and gradually add the sugar.
3. Continue beating on medium until eggs whites are glossy and form stiff peaks.
4. Take a third of the meringue and carefully fold it into the cake batter to lighten it.
5. Fold the rest of the meringue into the cake batter until no more white streaks remain.
6. Pour batter slowly over the leche flan mixture in baking pan.

To Bake:

1. Place baño maria (water bath) inside oven. You can use a large roasting pan for this.
2. Fill with enough water to come at least halfway up sides of baking pan.
3. Turn oven on and preheat to 325ºF.
4. When oven is ready, carefully lower baking pan with batter into hot water in baño maria.
5. Close oven door and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center.
6. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool completely; then chill in refrigerator overnight.
7. Run a knife along the sides of the cake to loosen it from the pan.
8. Turn cake out onto serving platter with a rim to catch any caramel sauce that might drip.

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