Vegan Flan with Pear & Coconut – Crème Caramel Custard Dessert

Refreshing and delicious no-bake vegan flan or crème caramel custard dessert made with coconut milk, no tofu, no soy. A layer of stewed pears and optional Marie biscuit create a wonderful topping and base that add a nice twist to this classic dessert.

May is my favourite month of the year not only because it’s SisterLovlie’s, BoyfriendLovlie’s and my own birthday (I don’t really like it when it comes to my own birthday though!) during this month but also because we get the nicest weather over here, I think. This transition month from summer to winter offers nice temperatures and good weather in general (well, I think so anyway! I don’t like scorching waves of heat). The mornings are slightly fresher. But the days are getting shorter! I really need to go and enjoy a few hours at the beach a few times more before it gets chilly! Having said that, winter is not too bad over here though; pretty mild.

Well, I made these refreshing little coconut custards or vegan flan two days ago, while we’re still enjoying the warm weather. They are light and don’t require any baking.

I used a large pie dish and made some in little ramekins. The ramekins are supposed to be turned upside down before serving; I also added some vegan chocolate coated Marie biscuits to go on the bottom when turned.

I made the caramel as optional to be poured over. Without caramel, this is a lighter more refreshing dessert.

Now, about the caramel, I don’t know how others manage to get it right, but I’ve never been able to make caramel according to the recipes that I seen before where they say to add 2 tablespoons of water to 100g of sugar and allow it to melt gently until it changes colour et cetera. I’ve tried a number of times but it just becomes a solid block in the end when it cools down! Hhh!

I might be missing something! Anyway, I usually just make the caramel my style and they taste and look like caramel! I’m happy with my version of caramel! What I do is I just add some boiling water at the end and stir vigorously to prevent the caramel from turning solid and it remains a thick syrup consistency. I also use demerara sugar. It is slightly trickier to know when the sugar has actually caramelized when using demerara. At some point the sugar will become very flaky then starts to melt, this is the turning point and care should be taken at this stage not to burn the caramel.

I got 5 small ramekins and 1 pie dish of 8 servings for the quantity I used. If using just regular ramekins you might get around 8 – 10 or you could use a deeper pie dish than the one I used and make 10 – 12 servings depending on how big you cut the pieces.

Vegan Flan with Pear and Coconut

Crème Caramel Custard Dessert

This pear flan is a relatively easy dessert that doesn’t take a lot of time.

Start by peeling and cutting the pears into small pieces. Then, place them in a saucepan and with the lemon. Stir to mix well.

Let them cook on low heat for about 20- 30 minutes or until the pears are soft or just slightly crunchy, if you prefer.

Arrange the cooked pears in the ramekins or pie dish. Set aside.

Note: It’s important NOT to make the custard while the pears are still cooking as it will start to set as soon as it is cooked. Wait for the pears to be ready, then start making the custard cream.

To make the flan, in a saucepan on medium heat, add the coconut milk and 700 ml of water.

Mix the custard powder in 200 ml water until completely dissolved. Add this to the saucepan, stirring as required to avoid lumps from forming.

Add sugar and stir well until dissolved.

Mix the agar agar powder with 100 ml water until dissolved completely. Add this to the saucepan stirring as required.

Then, add the vanilla.

Allow the custard mixture to heat up until boiling, stirring to avoid burning.

Switch off heat as soon as it starts to boil.

Immediately pour into ramekins or pie dish over cooked pears.

Arrange Marie biscuits on top of the custard cream if desired.

Leave to set undisturbed at room temperature until cooled enough to go into the refrigerator. Then, refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

The caramel sauce is drizzled on top before serving. To make the caramel:

Place the sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a saucepan on low heat. Allow sugar to melt stirring once or twice. Sugar will turn flaky then will start to melt.

When all sugar has melted, add about 5 tablespoons boiling water, stirring vigorously. This keeps the caramel from going rock solid.

To serve, run a knife around the edge of the ramekin to slightly detach the flan. Place the serving plate on top, then flip upside down. For pie dish version, cut into squares or triangles and serve upside down. Top with caramel and grated fresh coconut.

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You might like these other no-bake dessert recipes from the blog:

Jackfruit Milk Jelly
Fruit Terrine
Peanut Butter Chocolate Avocado Mousse