Posted on | April 27, 2011 | 7 Comments
Crema volteada is a dessert made with eggs, milk, sugar and spices. In many other countries it goes by the name of flan, but Peru likes to be different with things.
It’s called “volteada”, which basically means “turned upside down” – and that’s how it is served. It’s baked with a syrupy layer at the bottom of the dish, and then flipped out upside down onto the plate so that the bottom syrup becomes a topping.
The dish is actually very similar to a creme brulee, the difference being that in crema volteada, the caramel topping is syrupy or soft- in creme brulee, it’s hardened to a thin, crispy shell. (my very fave dessert, by the way)
Egg custard dishes are cooked in a bath. That means that you need to have two dishes, one larger than the other. The custard mixture goes in the smaller dish. The small dish then sits in the larger dish, which is then filled with hot water so that it goes halfway to three-quarters up the side of the smaller dish. This prevents the egg mixture from getting to hot and more evenly distributes the heat – basically, to help it cook more evenly and to prevent the formation of bubbles in the mixture.
There are some variations that include fruits or other additions, but today we’re just going to stick with the basics.
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cans of evaporated milk
- 2 cans of condensed milk
- 2 whole eggs
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 tsp of vanilla
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Make a syrup by cooking the water and sugar in a saucepan. Cook it until the mixture turns a golden brown and thickens enough to start sticking to the spoon.
- Put the syrup into your casserole (or into ramekins), making sure that the entire bottom is covered and dribbling some up the sides. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together with a whisk or a hand mixer.
- Carefully pour the egg mixture in to your baking dish or ramekins.
- Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, until the mixture has set.
Remove the custard from the water immediately so that it can start cooling. Place in the refrigerator and once it is very cool, you can remove it from the pan and “voltear” it for serving.
This video is a different recipe (it uses skim milk, so it’s lower calorie – I haven’t tried it yet, but think I will!) but I wanted to include it to show you the different steps. If you aren’t experienced in the kitchen, you may think this is an advanced recipe, what with making syrups and cooking in water baths. I don’t want you to be afraid to try this recipe! It’s really much simpler than it sounds, and I think watching the video will show you just how easy it is.
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