Baking and cooking are acts of love, as Grace McNeil (Hugh Jackman’s mama) would tell you. I often think back to the days when my own mother cooked for our family. She’d be so tired from working all day as a seamstress and later on a manicurist, but we would always have a hot meal ready for us. Sometimes, Mom would even make us dessert.
One of my favorite desserts she made was a steamed flan or crème caramel. My mother rarely wrote down her recipes and eyeballed all her ingredients. She would usually trust her gut or the whispers of her ancestors, and her food would come out just right.
Hugh Jackman’s mama, on the other hand, has a whole book of handwritten recipes to pass down to her son. As a cookbook author, I can’t help but feel envy. Luckily for us, Jackman generously shared one of those recipes on his Instagram feed, lovingly titled “Hughby’s Favorite Crème Caramel.”
Reading about it, I couldn’t help but feel a tug of nostalgia. Since I can’t quite recreate the flan my mother made in the nineties, I decided to try McNeil’s recipe. Jackman had a name for the recipe, too—Mum’s Crème Caramel—and his baked version looked perfect on Instagram.
How To Make Hugh Jackman’s Favorite 5-Ingredient Dessert
For the custard:
1 pint whole milk
1/2 pint heavy cream
6 large eggs
3 leveled tablespoons vanilla sugar
For the caramel:
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 tablespoons water
Hughby’s Favorite Crème Caramel (or Mum’s Crème Caramel) recipe calls for eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar, whole milk, and heavy cream. Just these five ingredients will result in a creamy, silken tofu-like flan that you’ll want to bake again and again.
Since I didn’t have vanilla sugar handy, I used granulated sugar and mixed a splash of vanilla extract into the eggs. McNeil’s recipe uses six eggs, a pint of milk, and half a pint of heavy cream, so I recommend you have a large ceramic tart pan or Mexican flan mold handy. My mom would just use a large stainless steel mixing bowl to make flan or crème caramel.
If you’re only making the dessert for one or two, I suggest you halve the ingredients and use three eggs instead of six, and so forth.
Simply Recipes / Kat Lieu
First, preheat the oven to 320°F and position a rack in the center. Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl, then whisk in the vanilla sugar.
In a saucepan, heat the milk and cream over medium heat until small bubbles form around the edges and the mixture begins to simmer. Be careful not to let the temperature exceed 160°F, as this could cook the eggs prematurely.
Slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the eggs while continuously whisking. This gradual process incorporates the hot liquid without scrambling the eggs. Set the custard mixture aside and start making the caramel.
Add the sugar and water to a small saucepan and cook over medium heat undisturbed (as stirring can cause crystallization) until caramelized and thickened, 10 to 15 minutes. You’re looking for a dark amber color, but be careful not to burn the caramel.
Pour the caramel carefully into the pan or flan mold. It will be very hot. Give the pan or mold a swirl so the caramel coats the bottom and sides. Let the caramel harden for a few minutes before pouring in the custard.
Bake in a bain marie (or a pan with about an inch of hot water inside) until the flan is set but the center remains wobbly. If your flan is on the thinner side, this takes only about 30 minutes. Thicker flans will need to bake for 45 to 60 minutes.
Refrigerate for a few hours before you “run a knife around the edge and turn out onto a serving dish,” as McNeil wrote in her recipe book.
Tips for Making and Serving Hugh Jackman’s Flan
Sometimes, you come across a dessert or dish that’s already quite perfect as it is, especially when it comes from a mother’s heart. I like serving flan or crème caramel topped with sliced strawberries and a few blueberries, with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar over the fruits.
When I’m feeling adventurous, I sometimes change the flavor of the custard and mix in drops of ube or pandan extract. Or I mix in a pop of balancing savoriness with a teaspoon of miso.
For ultimate comfort, however, I’d make this dessert as-is. There’s no wonder it’s Hughby’s favorite, and a new favorite of mine (and my mother’s) as well.
