Leche flan win.

Ingredients:
1 12 oz can of evaporated milk
1 14 oz can of condensed milk
10 egg yolks
splash of vanilla
orange zest (optional)
up to 2 cups of sugar, but start with 1 cup
2 tsps water

Yeah! I'm so happy about this. I got a dozen eggs today, cracked 10 of them for yolks, whipped the yolks. Added a can each of condensed and evaporated milk with a bit of vanilla and orange zest. Stirred all of that, too. Then I melted a cup of sugar with a little bit of water, saw it boil and bubble, then added more sugar and kept stirring over medium and then high heat, then down to low heat until the liquid browned. I removed the saucepan from the heat and poured the caramelized sugar syrup into a 9" rimmed cake pan.

After 5 minutes, I poured the yolk and milk mixture over the syrup, covered the pan with foil to a near-tight seal, and then put it into a bigger pan, slowly pouring water into it to form a water bath. I also poked a couple holes with a toothpick into the foil as steam vents. I'm not sure if it was necessary, but it made sense to me.

I put this all carefully into the preheated oven at 325°F/163°C for 40 minutes. I then removed it from the oven, let it cool a bit, and transferred the flan onto a plate. Nothing collapsed! I sampled from a corner, and it tasted fine, with a dense but soft consistency. I then refrigerated it for a couple hours to let it set. I took a few more bites and am glad to say it turned out right.

Now that I've made this, I will be more confident about the puto leche flan cake in the future. Both the flan and puto flan require a cake pan, if not precisely a llanera. I believe ramekins would also do, but I'm sticking with the metal for now to avoid time adjustments.

To get these results, I read a few recipes till I got a general feel for this one and talked to a couple friends and the nice manang at the drugstore who all say to use a round cake pan.