First time making flan. I tried baking them in smaller ramekins so I can take a neat single serving to my mother in assisted living.

I caramelized the sugar to a nice brown, set them in the bottom of the ramekins, poured in my custard - liquids were combined, double strained, but not heated at all before going in.

I put six ramekins in a hot water bath, wrapped foil over the tops of each ramekins but not the water bath tray.

Cooked for 50 minutes at 350 and rotated the tray half way though the cook time.

I let them cool off to room temperature and then put them in the fridge overnight with the foil kept on.

The flan was fully cooked and nicely firm the way I like flan, but there wasn’t much caramel “sauce” because the sugar base didn’t dissolve completely.

• should I have heated the custard liquid before pouring? (Recipe didn’t call for it)

• should I have put an additional foil cover over the water bath tray to add more steam?

Best part of making desserts yourself is getting to enjoy the mistakes before sharing with others (my mom was an excellent baker so I want to impress her)