Custard Cake also known as Leche Flan Cake is made of chiffon cake with creme caramel or Leche flan on top. It’s one of the most popular cakes in the Philippines and a favorite dessert or snack.
This Filipino Custard cake is technically a custard upside-down cake, layered with caramel, flan, and chiffon cake (sponge cake).
The sugar is melted, caramelized, and cooled in the baking pan. The Flan or custard mixture is added and the airy light sponge cake batter is on top, then bake in the oven with a water bath (Bain-Marie).
After baking, it will be inverted on a serving plate. The cake at the bottom and the caramel from the top run down the side of the flan and cake.
How to Make Custard Cake (Leche Flan Cake)
Step 1. Make the Caramel. Add the sugar and water to a saucepan. Melt over high heat and let it simmer until amber colour. Swirl the pan to evenly distribute the heat (to avoid burning the caramel) until golden brown. Immediately remove from heat and pour into the baking pan.
Step 2. Make the Custard In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the whole eggs, egg yolks, pure vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Add the whole milk and condensed milk. Mix until well blended and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and boil water for the water bath while making the vanilla chiffon cake.
Step 3. Make the Vanilla Chiffon Cake
Make the cake batter. In a large bowl, add all the wet ingredients. Mix until well blended. Sift the dry ingredients over the wet ingredient mixture. Mix until smooth
Make the meringue. In a bowl of the stand mixer, beat the room-temperature egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed while gradually adding sugar. Beat until stiff peaks or until glossy and holds its shape. Be careful not to overbeat the meringue. Otherwise, it may result in a dry chiffon cake.
Slowly add the cake batter to the meringue or add in four additions. Use a spatula or whisk in a folding-scraping motion until there are no streaks of cake batter.
Step 4. Layering the custard cake. With the fine mesh strainer, pour the flan mixture into the baking pan with the caramel that has been cooled. Add and pour the vanilla chiffon cake batter over the flan mixture. Use a cake tester or toothpick and swirl the cake batter to remove some air bubbles, and to even out the top.
Step 5. Bake the Custard Cake. Place it on the lower rack of the preheated oven inside the rectangular baking pan. Pour the hot water into the rectangular baking pan to steam and bake at 350°F for 50 to 55 minutes.
Step 6. Remove the custard cake from the pan. Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. Let it cool in the pan but still warm to the touch for about 15 to 30 minutes max. Otherwise, the caramel will be hardened and it might be hard to remove it from the bundt pan.
Removing this custard cake from the bundt pan is a bit tricky. I made this in a loaf pan, round pan, rectangular and square pan. It is much easier to release the cake while still hot. All the caramel will drip on the side of the cake when inverted.
Step 6. Transfer the custard cake inverted on a cake server. It tastes best when served chilled.
Pro Tip:
- Use a cake tester or toothpick to check the cake. It’s done baking when inserted into the cake and it comes out clean.
- The longer the cake cools in the pan the caramel hardens and might not come out easily. If this happens, place it back in the water bath with boiling water to reheat the caramel for 5 minutes.
- Removing the cake from the pan immediately from the oven while still hot may result in the flan breaking and the cake may shrink or squish a bit.
Removing the cake from the pan immediately from the oven while still hot may result in the flan breaking and the cake may shrink or squish a bit.
More Cake Recipes
Chocolate Marble Mirror Glaze Cake
Strawberry Pineapple Vanilla Chiffon Cake
Storing: Store the custard cake in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days (best quality).
Custard Cake
Watch How to Make It
Equipment
- 1 10-cup baking pan Bundt pan, tube pan, round pan, and a rectangular or square pan can be used.
- 1 Roasting Pan for water bath
Ingredients
Caramel
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 3 tbsp water
Leche Flan
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 whole eggs or substitute with 4 egg yolks
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- 1 cup whole milk or evaporated milk
- 300 ml condensed milk
Wet Ingredients
- 3 large egg yolks at room temperature
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Dry ingredients
- 107 g cake flour ¾ cup sifted
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
Meringue
- 3 large egg whites at room temperature
- ⅛ tsp cream of tartar optional
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
For cake water bath
- 1.5 litre hot water
Instructions
- For the Caramel. Add the sugar and water to a saucepan. Melt over high heat and let it simmer until amber colour. Swirl the pan to evenly distribute the heat (to avoid burning the caramel) until golden brown. Immediately remove from heat and pour into the baking pan.
- For the Flan. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the whole eggs, egg yolks, pure vanilla extract and lemon zest. Add the whole milk and condensed milk. Mix until well blended and set aside.
- Preheat the oven while making the vanilla chiffon cake.
- For the cake batter. In a large bowl, add all the wet ingredients. Mix until well blended. Sift the dry ingredients over the wet ingredient mixture. Mix until smooth
- Make the meringue. In a stand mixer bowl, beat the room temperature egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed while gradually adding sugar. Beat until stiff peaks.
- Slowly add the cake batter to the meringue or add in four additions. Using a spatula or whisk in folding-scraping motion until no streaks of cake batter. Tap to remove some air bubbles.
- Layering the custard cake. With the fine mesh strainer, pour the flan mixture into the baking pan with the caramel that has been cooled. Add and pour the vanilla chiffon cake batter over the flan mixture. Use a cake tester or toothpick and swirl the cake batter to remove some air bubbles and to even out the top.
- Bake the Custard Cake. Place at the lower rack of the preheated oven inside the rectangular baking pan. Pour the hot water into the rectangular baking pan, steam and bake at 350°F for 50 to 55 minutes.
- Cooling the cake. Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. Let it cool in the pan but still warm to the touch for about 15 to 30 minutes max.
- Transfer the custard cake inverted on a cake server. Tastes best when served chilled.
Overall good recipe.
I baked 5 minutes less than recommended but cake is still dry.
Hi Ivonne,
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry to hear that it did not turn out the way you like it.
Another reason of dry chiffon cake is overbeaten egg whites. The egg whites should be beat until glossy and just until it holds it shape (stiff peaks). Making chiffon cake is also a bit tricky. From measurement of ingredients, mixing and baking. If you did not over-baked it and measured all the ingredients correctly. The reason might be either over-mixing or overbeaten egg whites.
To fix dry cake- spray or brush the cake with simple syrup. 1:1 ratio of water and sugar to keep it moist.