Pumpkin pudding with pumpkin cream

     I love to experiment, and since the successful diet soda cake, I have been so excited to try on making non-fat desserts. First thing I wanted to make was a flan cake, specifically a pumpkin flan cake. I thought it was a bit far fetched, but when I saw this Pumpkin Spice Cake-flan, I was inspired to give it a go. I was amazed at the chemistry of how the cake batter and the flan mixture swapped places during baking, that even made me more excited.

     But since I wanted it to be as non-fat as possible, I just used 1 egg for the flan and adapted the soda cake mix (without the soda). Was I expecting too much or was I just too excited? Coz when I took it out I was just wonk-wonk-wonk. The flan just became a cream and didn't set at the bottom, the cake became a pudding with the caramel at the bottom. I'm still new at the laws of baking and ingredient proportions, so I'm just figuring out what exactly I did wrong.

     I was disappointed, yes. But after I let it cool down and had a bite my eyes popped. It was sooo good. I loved the creaminess of the custard over the pudding with that hint of caramel at the bottom. It was just perfect, I will definitely make this one again, or maybe dissect it and use the cream as a filling for cream puffs. Hmmmm I guess I have more experimenting to do.

Ingredients:

FLAN
   1 cup pumpkin puree
   1 can condensed milk (use only 1 cup, leave rest for pudding mix)
   1 medium whole egg
   1 tbsp vanilla extract
   1/2 cup sugar (for the caramel)

CAKE
   1 cup flour
   1/8 cup cornstarch

   1/4 tsp baking powder

   1/4 tsp baking soda

   1/4 tsp salt

   2 cups pumpkin puree

   1/3 cup condensed milk (leftover from can)

   1/3 cup sugar

   1/2 cup water

Cooking instructions:

1. Caramelize sugar on the cake pan over low heat and evenly cover the surface of the pan. Set aside.

2. Prepare the flan. Beat the egg. Mix pumpkin and milk and add the beaten egg. Mix well then add vanilla. Set aside.

3. Prepare the cake. Mix together pumpkin, condensed milk, sugar and water until well blended. Set aside.

4. Sift dry ingredients and add to pumpkin mix. Mix well until no more flour is visible. The batter will be thick.

5. Pour cake batter evenly on caramelized cake pan. Sieve the flan mixture while pouring it on top of cake. 

6. Steam for 45 mins - 1 hour.

     So this is what I did, I'm not saying you do the same, too. Maybe you can help me improve it?