Did you know that October 1 is international coffee day? I am currently hosting a blog event, which features blogger recipes containing coffee. For this special occasion I wanted to bring a recipe from Colombia: flan. Do you know flan? This is a custard originally from Spain, which has become very popular in all of Latin America. Obviously I already have a recipe for regular flan on my blog. This time I wanted to create great coffee flavor. So when I started consulting the Internet for recipes, I realized that almost all used instant coffee or espresso granules. I didn’t like that too much. I was extra happy when I found out that my Colombian cookbook creates the coffee flavor by making a coffee syrup first. This helps bring the coffee flavor to the front, but is not as bitter. 
I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I don’t like flan or quesillo too much. But when I tried this version with coffee flavor, I was sold. So creamy and delicious! I especially like that the coffee flavor comes through, but not in an over the top kind of way. As flan traditionally is made with a layer of caramel on the top, I felt that the bitter coffee flavor combined with sweet caramel, you got the dream combo going.
Ursprung: Leicht angepasst vom Kochbuch “The Food and Cooking of Colombia and Venezuela“, Seite 118-119 (auf Englisch)
Coffee flan is a custard made with a caramel layer. I made a version with coffee flavor containing a coffee syrup. In this video you can see how I make it. First you will make a coffee syrup. For this bring 350 grams of water to a boil in a smaller pot. Add the ground coffee to it and let sit for about five minutes. Strain with a coffee filter or cheese cloth and add 200 grams of sugar. Bring this mixture to a boil and boil until you have 250 grams of coffee syrup left. It took me around ten minutes. Let cool. Meanwhile look for a pot with a lid you can place in another cassrole. Also look for the casserole and bring water to a boil for the waterbath. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Then slowly melt the remaining 150 grams of sugar in that said pot on medium heat until you have caramel. Let hardenen. Combine the sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, eggs, vanilla extract, and coffee syrup in a large bowl and whisk until combined. Pour the egg mix on top of the hardened caramel, then place the lid on top. Put the pot into the casserole, then pour the boiling water into the casserole covering at least 1-2cm. Bake for about 60min on medium rack, as with a cake, an inserted toothpick should come out clean. Let the flan sit in the oven with the temperature turned off, then slowly let come to room temperature. Transfer to the fridge and let chill at least for a few hours or overnight. Once ready, you may heat the pot briefly to release the caramel, the release the edges with a knife and insert onto a plate. Enjoy.Coffee Flan from Colombia
Ingredients
Instructions
2 Comments
Valerion
Wednesday October 8th, 2025 at 07:50 AMWhat type of Colombian coffee works best for making the syrup in this flan recipe?
Jenny
Wednesday October 8th, 2025 at 08:01 AMHi, any works, Colombian coffee is usually mild.