I've made tons of creme brulees etc...I found a recipe for white chocolate creme caramel and gave it a try today thinking it would be similarly easy flavoring flan as brulee. Although the recipe "worked" I didn't like the fact that the white chocolate seemed to rise to the top, kind of seperating out of the flan ingred..

First, is there a reason why the white chocolate doesn't stay incorporated into the milk mixture the same way it does with cream binding it? I've flavored flan with extracts before as I'm sure many of you have but does anyone have a recipe that works for adding chocolate? Or was this a fluke and it should have worked?

By Mikeh (Mikeh) on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 10:37 pm: Edit

A milk chocolate flan recipe that I have successfully made was in a winter or spring issue of Chocolatier Magazine. It wasn't stellar, but it was good for a flan, which is too eggy for me anyway. It is the issue that has a special on milk chocolate desserts. If you don't have the issue or can't find it, let me know and I will post the recipe.

By W.DeBord on Thursday, September 21, 2000 - 08:24 am: Edit

I do remember cutting out that recipe...thanks I forgot!

By vbean on Wednesday, September 27, 2000 - 03:39 am: Edit

Any slow baked custard will have the heavier ingredients sinking (look at vanilla bean).
My favorite way to cook a custard is stovetop.
Total control of each portion (and how you are going to serve it, in a dish, inside, on top, or just with). America's favorite dessert is creme brulee. The time has come for some change. It has been over 15 years!!!!
Beur mix in your white chocolate or use a hand mixer).
White chocolate is almost pure fat. This rises to the surface.
Oh whatever, I will be heckled anyway.

By W.DeBord on Wednesday, September 27, 2000 - 08:14 am: Edit

The recipe I was thinking about turned out to be a mocha creme caramel and didn't actually use chocolate. So it wasen't help-ful. Could you post your recipe Mikeh, please?

Beur mix (I'm not familar with that term?), but nothing about how I incorporate the white chocolate will change the fact that it rises to the top when baked unless I change the recipe used. It's probably got to be more of a creme brulee with a carmel bottom to work.

I'm interested in adding chocolate to creme carmel/flan not creme brulee, which can not be made stovetop. Staying on topic do you vbean have a recipe for flan that incorporates any chocolate so I could learn what adjustments I need to make in my recipe?

Heckled vbean? You don't proof read what you've written (because if I was yankee I'd be pretty insulted by you today).

By Mikeh (Mikeh) on Wednesday, September 27, 2000 - 10:33 pm: Edit

From Chocolatier Magazine, May 2000:

Milk Chocolate Flan w/ Caramel Rum Sauce
Yield: 7 six-ounce ramekins

Ingredients
----------------
Caramel:
1 1/2c. granulated sugar
1 1/2t. lemon juice

Milk Chocolate Flan:
7 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
2 c. milk
5 large eggs
1/2 c. granulated sugar

Caramel Rum Sauce
2 c. granulated sugar
1 1/4c. water, divided
1/4 c. dark rum

Standard method for flan and sauce, given in abridged version here:
--------------------
1. Make dry caramel from sugar/lemon-juice mixture. Pour approx. 2T each into 7 six-ounce ramekins.
2. Scald milk. Add chocolate and allow to melt off heat. Whisk eggs and sugar until blended. Temper hot milk into eggs. Strain.
3. Divide strained custard between cups. Bake in water bath 40-45 min @ 325degF.
4. Caramel Rum Sauce: Make wet caramel with sugar and 1/4c. water. Carefully add in remaining 1c. water. Allow to cool to 90degF before adding rum -- or it will evaporate off.

By W.DeBord on Sunday, October 01, 2000 - 06:50 pm: Edit

Thank-you for taking the time to post that recipe for me....I do appreciate it!

It looks so similar to the recipe I used I can't imagine there could be a different outcome using milk vs. white choc.. But I will try it this week and see.

Thanks again!