The Ingredient To Add To Flan For A Creamy Boost

If you're making a flan, you may be looking for ways to give it the dreamiest texture. One way to take this dessert from basic to extraordinary is to add some cream cheese. According to Juliane Grasekamp, Recipe Developer at Bonni Bakery, texture is the most noticeable difference you'll get when incorporating this secret weapon into your flan recipe: "... cream cheese transforms it from a light, wobbly dessert to a richer, slightly denser one — somewhere between a flan and a baked cheesecake." She added, "When you take a forkful, you'll see a more velvety texture that takes a little longer to melt on the tongue." Additionally, she noted that cream cheese brings a much-welcomed depth of flavor to the dessert. While not as intense as sour cream, good-quality cream cheese will always deliver a subtle level of tanginess. 

It's important that you use cream cheese in more classic flan recipes — aka ones that require you to bake the custard (which is one of the three types of custard cooking methods). Grasekamp doesn't recommend using the cream-cheese trick for a gelatin-based flan, which calls for you to let it set in the fridge. Similarly, if you're making your dessert in the microwave like Martha Stewart, you'll also want to skip the added dairy. But a classic flan? That's the perfect candidate. "Baked cheesecakes [which commonly use cream cheese] are actually technically a type of baked custard[,] so incorporating cream cheese into a classic custard flan is a natural pairing."

When using cream cheese to make flan, there are just a couple of things to keep in mind. For example, you may need to adjust your recipe a bit. "Depending on the amount of cream cheese added, you may want to add some extra egg yolk to ensure the flan still sets smoothly without cracks," Juliane Grasekamp recommended. She also explained why egg yolks are essential to the flan: "The proteins in the yolks will help to stabilise the flan without making it rubbery." Similarly, the yolks also work to blend the fats and liquids to create a smooth and creamy texture. For every 8 ounces of cream cheese used, she recommends adding one additional egg yolk.

According to Grasekamp, one of the biggest errors you can make when preparing flan is to skip the water bath. "While it may seem unnecessary, using a water bath is absolutely essential to ensure a perfectly smooth flan or cheesecake, so it is especially important when incorporating cream cheese into a flan recipe," she said. Another common mistake you'll want to avoid is forgetting to bring your cream cheese to room temperature. This can lead to a grainy final texture or even some "lumps of unmixed cream cheese in the custard." If you forgot to remove cream cheese from the fridge, you can try an easy hot bowl hack to soften it up in a snap.