• In a large saucepan, bring plenty of water to a boil. This water will be used as a water bath when baking the flan in the roasting pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Preparing the Caramel Topping

• Have an ungreased 9 x 2 inch cake pan, 2-quart baking dish or ramekins set up in roasting pan.
• In a medium saucepan whisk together caramel topping sugar and water. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture begins to boil.
  
• Once the mixture is boiling, stop stirring and let it cook until the color changes to an amber color. Remove from the heat.
  
• Immediately pour caramelized sugar into the cooking vessel of your choice. Carefully tilt and swirl caramel to coat the entire bottom surface of your cooking vessel. Set aside in roasting pan.
  

For the Flan Custard Mixture

• In a saucepan, add bay leaves and heavy cream. Bring to a simmer then turn off heat and set aside, allowing bay leaves to steep in heavy cream.
  
• In a large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, blend together cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar until smooth.
• Mix in the eggs one by one, mixing until just combined after each egg addition. Gradually mix in the sweetened condensed milk, (remove bay leaves), bay leaf cream and orange extract.
• Pour custard mixture over the set caramel layer in your cooking vessel. Set vessel/s in roasting pan. Pour in enough boiling water to reach roughly halfway up the sides of your cooking vessel.
  
• Bake until just set (the custard should have a little wiggle when you move it), about 45-50 minutes.
  
• Gently remove custards from the water bath. Set on a cooling rack for roughly 1 hour. Transfer to a refrigerator to chill, minimum 4 hours to overnight.
  
• Run a sharp knife around the flan next to the top edge of your cooking vessel to loosen the flan for plating. While holding your plate in place over the top of the flan, flip the flan upside down and allow the flan to loosen from the cooking vessel.
  
• Once released, you should have a pool of caramel coating the top of the flan and onto your serving plate.
  
• Keep refrigerated until ready to use.