This viral custard flan latte blends a creme caramel cup straight into milk to create the creamiest coffee base! It tastes rich, caramelly, and creamy; it’s also surprisingly easy to make at home. All you need is a creme caramel or flan cup, milk, and espresso!

Here’s how to make this flan latte at home!

Flan Latte Takeaways:

• Blend flan for the smoothest texture!
• Recreate the flan flavor with caramel, condensed milk, and vanilla extract.
• You can use any single-serving flan, creme caramel, or flan cup.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe:

• It’s super easy and takes less than 5 minutes to make a delicious drink!
• It tastes like dessert and coffee in a drink, what’s not to like?
• Use your creme caramel cup in a unique way!
• Curb dessert cravings easily with this dessert-forward coffee.

What is Flan?

Flan is a baked, sweet egg custard with a bitter caramel syrup on the bottom that becomes the top once inverted. It’s also called creme caramel in other cultures, but flan is the more popular name. Flan is a staple dessert in many Latin American and Southeast Asian countries, and is irresistibly delicious.

It’s smooth, sweet, creamy, with a hint of vanilla, and has a really satisfying sweet and bitter flavor from the caramel. The contrast works nicely with the rich custard!

What is a Flan Latte?

A flan latte is an espresso-based beverage with milk, sometimes ice, and flan syrup. However, the best way to create a flan latte is by combining a single serving of flan with milk to create a flan-flavored milk and using that as the base. There’s a social media trend of using the Almarai brand creme caramel cup and making it into a latte. But if you can’t find that brand, you can use literally any other single-serving flan or pudding cup!

You can also use a combination of caramel syrup, vanilla extract, and condensed milk to mimic the flan flavor.

What Does a Creme Caramel Latte Taste Like?

It tastes exactly like coffee flan, which is a coffee-flavored flan. The flan latte has a richer milk flavor since you’re combining the flan with milk, but it’s basically a thinner version of the coffee flan. It also tastes similar to a caramel latte but with a more bitter flavor from the bitter caramel.

It’s basically dessert in a cup, and it’s so delicious.

Custard Flan Latte Recipe: Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make a creme caramel latte:

• Creme Caramel or Flan Cup — Almarai is a popular UAE brand for creme caramel, which is what the social media trend uses. However, I can’t find it in California, so I opted for a Japanese purin (pudding), which is very similar. You can also use a flan cup!
• Espresso — Brew your favorite espresso beans! You can use basically any roast and origin, as long as you think the flavor works well with sweet, creamy, and slightly bitter flavors.
• Milk — I like using dairy, so 2% or whole milk, but you can also use your favorite non-dairy alternative like oat or soy milk.
• Ice
• For the version without actual pudding:
• Bitter Caramel Syrup — This is different from bottled caramel syrup, which is normally made with butter and cream and is much sweeter. You want true caramel, which is just cooked sugar until it turns a dark amber. It will be much more bitter, but that gives you the classic bitter flavor for flan.
• Vanilla Extract — You could also use vanilla bean paste or straight vanilla bean.
• Condensed Milk — This gives your latte that milky and creamy flavor! You can also use some evaporated milk as well.

You’ll also need a handheld frother or mini blender to blend the pudding and milk.

How to Make a Custard Flan Latte

1. Brew Espresso. Brew a single or double shot of your favorite coffee beans using an espresso machine. You can also use a moka pot, coffee concentrate, or instant espresso powder with hot water.
2. Make Flan Milk. Add creme caramel and milk to a glass and use a handheld frother to mix until smooth with no large visible chunks. If you want it smoother, blend it all in a blender until super smooth. Optionally, you can strain it with a sieve.
3. Pudding-less Version: Add bitter caramel, condensed milk, and vanilla extract to the milk and mix until combined with a handheld frother or spoon.
4. Assemble Drink. Add ice to the flan milk, then top with your brewed espresso. Garnish with a sprinkle of brown sugar, caramel syrup, or cold foam.
5. Mix and Enjoy! Serve with a straw and enjoy!

How to Make a Matcha Version

To make a matcha version, you’ll need:

• 1 ½ tsp matcha powder
• ¼ cup water
• Matcha tools: matcha bowl, chasen, and a tea sift

1. Replace step 1 with: Sift matcha powder into a matcha bowl and add hot water around 175 F. Vigorously whisk with a chasen for 20 – 30 seconds in a zigzag motion until frothy and velvety.

Tips for the Best Creme Caramel Latte

• Blend the Flan: If you use a frother to break up the creme caramel into the milk, you’ll be left with some small chunks here and there. But if you want a super smooth texture, blend the flan first, then mix it with milk.
• Add a Cold Foam: For a creamier flavor, make a sweet cream cold foam and top off your latte. It’s basically the whipped cream you make to put on flan, so it’s even more decadent!
• Make a Flan Syrup: Instead of using 3 separate ingredients for the pudding-less version, you can make a flan syrup by combining the ingredients into a syrup. You can use it again and again to make more flan lattes in the future!

FAQ’s

Can I use homemade flan or creme caramel?

Yes, honestly, that’s even better than using store-bought cups. Sometimes the creme caramel pudding cups are made with sugar, oils, and milk-like ingredients without actually having them be made of mostly milk or cream. It also tastes artificial! But if you make flan at home, it’ll be way tastier!

Can I make this hot?

Yes! Combine the flan with milk and warm it all up in the microwave or on the stove until steaming. Then, pour it onto hot espresso in a coffee mug. Top with a drizzle of caramel or whipped cream.

Other Dessert Coffee to Try

This flan latte is every dessert lover’s dream coffee! It’s sweet, creamy, smooth, and one of the easiest to make. If you’re looking for more delicious dessert drinks, here are some other coffee recipes to try next:

• Tres Leches Latte
• Strawberry Horchata Latte
• Banana Pudding Latte
• Egg Coffee
• Tiramisu Latte