MANDARIN AND ALMOND FLAN

Preheat your oven to 160 deg C . I used a premade pastry case (9"), which I baked blind in a hot oven for 15 minutes . To prepare the filling I beat 2 eggs together with 1/2 cup of castor sugar on high speed for 5 minutes until thick and creamy . Then I added 2/3rds of a cup of cream , 1 cup of almond meal , 2 tbs of lemon juice and 1/2 tsp of lemon essence , 1/2 tsp of almond essence and continued to beat until smooth . Now pour the almond mixture into the flan . Bake in the preheated moderate oven for 1 hour or until firm to the touch . Cool completely before adding the topping . I drained a 410 gm can of mandarin segments and bordered the flan with the segments and used the excess segments in the centre . Fished off by adding thickened cream , flaked almonds and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar .