My second Vietnamese dessert turned out to look so ugly. It honestly looked like mapo tofu and not the good kind. Some of the recipe’s instructions weren’t very clear, but we did a lot better on the second attempt. The recipe said to caramelize sugar in a saucepan and then gave an optional step to stir in espresso mix. I think I misread it, but honestly, the instructions could’ve been clearer. After caramelizing the sugar, I threw in the espresso mix which had water in it and that instantly caused the sugar to burn. It became a sticky, smoky mess that glued itself to everything. I had to start the batch over, which made me a little sad because I wasted ingredients and had to clean up the stickiest mess ever. The second batch went a bit smoother, but we ran into another issue. In the photos, you can see the caramel didn’t coat the entire bottom of the pan. That’s because it started solidifying super fast as soon as we poured it in. I think the problem was that we used a big pan instead of small ramekins. With a smaller surface area, the caramel would spread out and coat evenly. Shawn suggested that maybe we should’ve heated up the pan before pouring the hot caramel into a cold pan. Then came the color issue. Once the flan was done baking, it had this weird grayish tone instead of the pretty golden-yellow color it was supposed to have. Shawn thought it happened because the caramel and custard mixed together in the oven, instead of staying as separate layers. I thought the caramel was supposed to harden at the bottom while the custard set on top, but maybe the uneven coating caused them to blend. I’m still not totally sure. And finally, the texture it was completely off. I know flan should be smooth and a little bouncy, but ours turned out way too soft, almost like tofu. It broke apart so easily when I tried to scoop it. Shawn thought it was fine, but I didn’t love the texture. On top of that, the coffee flavor was way too strong. The recipe called for a full tablespoon of espresso, which I think was too much. It also didn’t help that the caramel layer probably melted into the custard while baking, spreading the coffee flavor throughout. Overall, I’d give this recipe 3 out of 5 cactuses. The flan still tasted okay, but the texture was off and the coffee flavor was overpowering. People in the comments seemed to have better luck with it, so maybe I just need more practice. It was a good learning experience though.