French Chocolate Flan

Chocolate flanOne of the products on which almost every Frenchman grows is the Flan, it is actually a kind of custard made from milk or milk and cream, egg yolks, sugar and thickening substances (flour, cornflour) baked without or with dough. If it comes with crispy dough on the bottom and sides, then it is called Flan Patisseier.

Chocolate flanOriginally the flan’s taste is natural, only with a little bit of vanilla. Like many classics, the flan also gets more modern interpretations like caramel flan, pistachio, coffee and of course chocolate flan. By the way, the flan appears in different countries in different forms – Pastel de nate in Portugal, the English custard tart and more.

Chocolate flanOne of my favorite flans is this chocolate flan which is a kind of moist chocolate cake, wonderful for chocolate lovers.

Chocolate flanFrench Chocolate Flan
ring mold 20 cm in diameter, 4-5 cm high


Ingredients

Cocoa pastry dough:
160 g all-purpose flour, sifted
20 g roasted hazelnut meal
110 g butter, cubed
30 g sugar 
pinch of salt
20 g cocoa powder, sifted
35 g milk
1 egg yolk

Chocolate Custard filling:
500 g milk
150 g heavy whipping cream
120 g egg yolks (6 M egg yolks aropx)
130 g sugar
20 g all-purpose flour, sifted
20 g cornflour, sifted
160 g dark chocolate 70%, chopped

Cocoa powder for decoration

Preparation

1. Chocolate pastry dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, hazelnut meal, butter, sugar, salt, and cocoa. Add milk and egg yolk, mix until the ingredients come together into a ball of dough.
2. Remove from the mixer bowl and knead briefly on your work surface until well combined.
3. Lightly sprinkle the top and bottom of the ball of dough with flour (be sure to flour both sides!), put it between two sheets of parchment paper, and lightly flatten it into a disk (don’t roll it out completely). Transfer the dough, with the paper, to the refrigerator and chill for 2 hours.
4. Remove from the fridge, and roll out the dough to a thickness of 3 mm. Line the ring with the dough, making sure that the sides are fully filled in and straight so that they don’t collapse during baking. Using a knife, gently trim the overhanging edges. Freeze the dough-lined ring for about half an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
6. Chocolate Custard filling: In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and cream until simmering.
7. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until they turn a creamy color. Add the flour and cornflour and mix.
8. When the milk and cream reach boiling point, pour 1/3 of the hot liquid over the egg mix. Do this a little bit at a time while mixing, so that you do not cook the eggs.
9. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly so the eggs don’t scorch on the bottom.
10. When the mixture comes to a boil and thickens, remove from the heat, add chocolate and stir till combined to a smooth chocolate batter.
11. Remove the dough-lined ring from the freezer, Place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pour the filling over the dough, flatten and place in the oven.
12. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until the filling is firm to the touch.
13. Remove from the oven, cool to room temperature and refrigerate overnight.
14. Remove from the refrigerator, sprinkle with cocoa powder and slice generously. It is recommended to remove from the refrigerator about 15 minutes before serving.

Chocolate flanBon-Appétit
Sharon

Comments

  • 07 March 2021
    Tolly

    Wow what an amazing recipe, 😋
    In our house we really like to eat flan.
    when we visited France we used to eat those every day.
    Now I have a great recipe and I will challenge myself to bake flan by surprise for the whole family.
    Thank you Sharon for the wonderful recipes and your Instagram account that awakens all the senses.
    We are looking forward to tour with you sometimes in the near future 🙏
    Tolly

    reply
  • 13 March 2021
    Zala

    I am following you on instagram and first of all much respect!! secondly today was the day I first made one of your deserts – flan! and it waaaas amazing!! I said was because is gone! Thank you so much for this recipe, can’t wait for what I’ll try next.

    reply
  • 14 March 2021
    Dominic

    Hi, I was wondering once you take the dough ring out of the freezer, do you leave it in the ring or do you take it out of the ring, fill the dough with the custard and bake without ring?

    Many thanks!

    reply
  • 16 April 2021
    Brian

    If I want to do individual flans in bowls, would it be necessary to use a water bath in the oven?

    reply
  • 19 April 2021
    Valentina

    I love your recipes. Should the dough be put in the ring and in the base or only in the ring?

    reply
  • 30 September 2021
    Sarah Smith

    Hi there,
    If you don’t leave in fridge all night will it not set? In other words, how long does it need to chill before eating? How soon could it be eaten and still stay in tact?

    Thank you!
    Sarah

    reply
  • 17 October 2021
    Colleen

    This looks Amazing! I follow you on Instagram and was wondering what is the flaky topping on your flan on there? Thanks

    reply
  • 02 November 2021
    Trish

    Hello, what size is the ring? 😊 Your recipes are amazing! Thanks 😊

    reply
  • 03 November 2021
    Tina

    Hi Sharon! This flan is amazing! Done it several times already. I have a lot of white chocolate to use at home. Any advice how to use white chocolate in this recipe and make it a white chocolate flan? Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us 🙏

    reply
  • 01 May 2023
    Jose

    Hello from Australia !
    Cannot wait to try this recipe.
    The sugar – what type? We have confectioners / powdered sugar, caster sugar and basic plain white sugar? Is there different sugar in the pastry versus the flan custard?
    Thank you
    J

    reply

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