Did you ever attend one of those birthday parties where the featured entertainment was a wacky performing magician? You know, pulling quarters from behind peoples’ ears and extracting rabbits from top hats? I haven’t been to one in a while… perhaps they’re now pulling credit cards from behind ears and iPhones from top hats. (M.! Your cynicism is showing!)
I did attend a few back in the day, and I remember being pretty unimpressed. Not because I was immediately able to identify the solution, but because I knew there was one. And I was perfectly fine leaving it at that.
I do remember being way more concerned about the likelihood of acquiring a second and third piece of birthday cake.
Priorities, people.
I think that baking is a special form of magic, and no recipe exemplifies that more clearly than Chocoflan, also known as flan imposible.
The making of a magic Chocoflan goes something like this:
Step 1: Spread chocolate cake batter in the bottom of a pan.
Step 2: Pour flan batter on top of the cake batter.
Step 3: Bake for a long time in a water bath.
Step 4: Cool the cake.
Step 5: Invert and unmold the cake.
And it’s magic!
During the baking process the two elements of the cake will have switched places with the porous cake floating to the top and the dense, milky flan settling on the bottom. Everything bakes and sets and it’s a gloriously rich, impressively stacked treat.
But it seems impossible! And there are many opportunities for self-doubt along the way. Just before setting my filled dish in the oven I noted that some of my cake batter had already floated into the flan. Was it a flan fail in the making? I checked my gut, put my cake in the water bath and then in the oven, and hoped for best.
When the time had finally arrived, the magic appeared to have worked!
The top of the pan boasted a fluffy, baked cake.
But what lay underneath? And would this chocoflan be willing to come out of the pan intact?
I paced my kitchen as things cooled and set.
I baked my chocoflan from this recipe, so when it came time to unmold I looked to the copy that I printed out to be sure I was doing things correctly.
And what a coincidence! A typographical error in the original actually came to life as I inverted my chocoflan and suffered from a bout of Nervous Laughter Syndrome. So you shouldn’t forget to giggle a little as you unmold your chocoflan.
And it worked! The giggling worked!
The results are flawless. And delicious! Chocoflan really is a pretty impressive piece of magic that you can share with your friends and family at your next party. No wacky performing magician necessary. But you may want to pull an iPhone out of a top hat, just for fun.
Chocoflan
recipe adapted from Marcela Valladolid’s Mexican Made Easy
For the cake:
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. white sugar, granulated
1 large egg, room temperature
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/3 c. cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 1/4 c. buttermilk (Note that I substituted whole milk here.)
softened butter to coat pan
1/4 c. cajeta to coat pan (Note that I had cajeta on hand from when we made cajeta the other day. You could substitute caramel sauce or even dulce de leche if you choose.)
For the flan:
1- 12 ounce can evaporated milk
1- 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 large eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
For garnish:
1/4 c. cajeta or caramel sauce
1/4 c. chopped pecans (Note that I did not garnish my chocoflan at all.)
Butter a 12-cup capacity Bundt pan and line the bottom with the cajeta. Place the prepared pan into a large roasting pan and set aside.
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°.
To prepare the cake, add the butter and sugar to a bowl and, using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa in a medium bowl. Beat 1/3 of the flour mixture, and 1/2 of the buttermilk into the egg mixture. Repeat, ending with the flour mixture. Blend until well incorporated.
To prepare the flan, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs and vanilla in the bowl of blender. Blend on high for 30 seconds.
Scoop the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and spread evenly. Slowly pour the flan mixture over the cake batter. Cover with foil and add about 1-inch of hot water to the roasting pan.
Carefully slide the pan into the oven and bake 1 hour until the surface of the cake is firm to the touch or an inserted toothpick comes out clean. When the cake is done, remove it from the water bath and allow it to cool completely to room temperature, about 1 hour.
Invert a large, rimmed serving platter over the Bundt pan, grasp tightly together, giggle a little and flip over. Remove the pan and scrape any remaining cajeta from the pan onto the cake, garnish with chopped pecans and serve (this cake is traditionally served after being chilled for 24 hours, but you can also serve it warm or at room temperature).
YIELD: approximately 10 servings
I’m making this for a party this weekend and I have two questions. Do you simply pour the cajeta into the bottom of the pan or do you spread it up the sides of the pan as well? Also, I live about 6,500 feet above sea level. Do I need to make any high altitude adjustments?
Hi Theresa! With regard to the cajeta, I pour mine into my pan just before I’m ready to fill it with batter, and then tilt the pan to spread the cajeta over as much of the pan’s bottom and sides as possible – it doesn’t need to be an exact process. With regard to high altitude baking, I have found this primer from King Arthur Flour to be quite helpful: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/high-altitude-baking.html. That said, in the case of this specific recipe, I think the only adjustment I would make is to reduce the baking powder and baking soda each to just a quarter of a teaspoon. This cake is a complex blend of flan and cake and I just don’t think it will be helpful to start making other adjustments, especially if they will ultimately cancel each other out.
In addition, you may note that a number of other bakers who have attempted this recipe have had to add 30-45 minutes to their baking time. You may find, at your high altitude, that this is not necessary. I would start checking for doneness after the prescribed hour, adding on time in 15 minutes increments as necessary until your cake is risen at the top of the pan and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let me know how your chocoflan turns out!
OH MY!!! Complete, utter, delicious MAGIC!! Tried this for the first time (with company coming over!) last night. SHEER PERFECTION! AND I didn’t bring my cream cheese to room temp and I, as someone else commented, was a little unsure on how much caramel to use in the pan before putting in the batter, so it pretty much got poured evenly around the pan and then just rolled around a bit (since I though it was more for the finished flan portion than for the whole thing) … still PERFECT! and UTTERLY DELICIOUS!!! Thanks for such a wonderful recipe. This one will definitely get a work out!!
Hey guys I had to cook mine an extra 30 minutes also. After 1 hour the cake was still pudding. I’ve never had a problem with my oven b4. Cake is cooling now. Will keep u posted.
Hello! I tried this cake for the fisrt time a week ago when my husband brought one home as a suprise. I fell in love with it and desired to be able to make it on my own. I searched online for the recepie and yours seemed the most helpfull. Everything was great, flan was delicios, cake came off easily from the baking pan excpet my cake part – it turned dry and hard not moist and spongy like the original I tried. Please advice what should I do to correct that problem the next time I bake it.
The only things I can guess: 1. Did you cream your softened butter and sugar well enough? And then your eggs into the creamed butter mixture? 2. Did you use full fat buttermilk? I’ve honestly never experienced trouble with the cake being hard and dry; I hope you’ll give this recipe another try and let me know how it turns out. Thanks for reading, Ania!
I had been so excited to try this recipe from the moment I saw it on Pinterest! Looked amazing and I love any custard dish, sweet and savoury alike. However things went a bit oddly for me when I attempted it. I had followed your instructions to the letter and had even gotten a bundt pan (thick-walled cast aluminium) especially for this purpose. But then after an hour in the oven, the cake layer was still very runny and uncooked and I had to keep extending the cooking time in 20 minute increments (it turned out to be 1hr 55m before a toothpick pulled clean). Each time it went back in the oven I made sure the foil covering was wrapped tightly. Admittedly though, I had only waited a little over half an hour for it to cool, as it was close to midnight when the cake was done and I was anxious to have a finished product. Unfortunately the custard layer had barely set when I unmolded it, and I decided to throw it back in the oven for another 20 mins in hopes of resetting the custard. In any case I will be leaving it in a cool place overnight when it comes out and hoping for the best tomorrow morning.
please help! I’m perplexed about the extended cooking time, and whether unmolding it too early had really led to my cake’s failure.
Hmm, Turm, this is a strange case. I’m honestly not sure about the extended cooking time – do you have a thermostat in your oven to ensure that your oven is keeping correct temperature? Did you bake in a water bath? Were you sure to thoroughly grease your pan with cajeta before filling it? And was your cream cheese at room temperature when you mixed it into the flan batter? These are the only things that I can think of, given the circumstances that you describe. I hope you’ll give this cake another try, with better results next time! Let me know and thanks for reading!
This is my favorite cake to bake. I’ve been making it for years. My version is a bit different. I actually make the cake right out of the box and it is so moist and perfect. Also, I’ve always put the flan first then the cake mix in the pan. Your chocoflan looks yummy too.
I LOVE chocoflan and had it for the first time in Mexico and have wanted to make it since then. I was wondering if you could add some chocolate chips into the cake part? Will it still rise when doing that or will the chocolate chips prevent the flipping process?
Great question, Brittni! I don’t know for sure, as I have never tried adding chocolate chips, but I don’t think that they will prevent the flipping. If anything, they may settle into the flan part, which wouldn’t necessarily be a problem. Just to be safe, I would not use large pieces of chocolate, and I might even stick to mini chips the first time I tried it, just to be safe. Let me know how it turns out!
Hi, I have followed your recipe after my 4th chocoflan and it was the best I had ever made
I have a question though, do you know why cake appears in my flan. I mean once I flip the chocoflan the flan is on top and the cake on the bottom, but it’s really irritating to see some cake in the flan on the top part of it. I don’t know what i’m doing wrong. I do pour the cake mix first followed by the flan, so I just don’t know why it comes out like that. HELP please and Thank You
Hi Luisa! I’m so glad that this version of chocoflan has been a success for you! Regarding cake pieces in the flan portion of the finished dish: one thing instantly comes to mind – are you coating the cake pan in cajeta? And, if so, are you coating it with enough cajeta? What I suspect is happening is that, as the flan bakes, the pan is not coated enough in the cajeta, so as the cake batter rises to the top, some of it is sticking to the pan, which results in cake pieces in the finished flan. If you don’t have cajeta you can certainly use a store-bough caramel sauce, or even a cooking spray, but the next time you make this dish, I would be sure to coat your pan with something thoroughly before pouring in the flan batter. I hope this helps – let me know how it turns out!
I have to say I have always wanted to make this, so today I did. However, I dont know if i did something wrong but i really didnt like the chocolate cake part, i dont know if it was the buttermilk or what but it was off in taste. Maybe the coco i used. Any suggestion or comment on thoughts.
Hmmm… I think your assessment is correct: the culprits for an ‘off’ flavor in the cake part of this dish are likely either the cocoa or the buttermilk. Next time I would double-check those ingredients before incorporating, or perhaps even try substituting either sweetened cocoa and/or whole milk. I hope you’ll give it another try!
Hello I’m trying this recipe tomorrow I’m sooooo nervous and excited! I hope you can answer this question before I try making it =P if it comes out good I want to make it for my family for Christmas.
So my question is for the water bath can the roasting pan be a foil roasting pan?
Hi Romina! I hope this reply isn’t too late! A foil roasting pan is fine – you really just need something strong enough to hold the water bath and filled cake pan. Let me know how your chocoflan turned/turns out!
It was AWESOME!!!!!!! My boyfriend had it for breakfast lunch and dinner until it was gone haha.
I made this recipe and it is fantastic!! Really amazing cake!!
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this cake! Have a fantastic day!
I se its a 12 cup bundt pan but what type of larger pan did you use?
Ah, I see! OK, sorry: for the water bath I used a large roasting pan that measures 12″ x 16″ with a 3″ depth.
Hi, im just wondering what size and type of pans did you use? Thanks, im trying this tomorrow for the first time. Tired of paying 15 a cake lol
Hi Stephanie! I used a 12-cup Bundt pan made by Nordic Ware. Let me know how your cake turns out!
I am making this for the first time for a party tomorrow and I was wondering if I can leave it in the pan to refigerate over night or if I should remove it from the pan and then refrigerate? I’m hoping I can leave it in the pan for easy transportation and flip it when I get to the party. Thanks!
I think you can leave it in the pan and refrigerate overnight, but I would really try to let the cake get to room temp before attempting to unmold. If you try to remove it from the pan while it’s still cold, I’m afraid the flan part may stick to the pan…
OMG. I made this cake and had a bit of a scare, because the first line of instruction and the third line give you the same instruction (coating the pan with cajeta). Then I didn’t know – coating the bottom – did that mean only the very bottom or did that mean coat the entire inside? I was a nervous wreck. After 1 hour, I took it out, sitting and cooling for about 15 minutes while I was rushing around with a 2nd cake. I decided to take a peek and almost fell over. It wasn’t done (very wet on top)! And I already threw the water out! Warmed up some more water, turned up the heat again, and popped it in. I had no idea how long to bake it. And then after about 20 minutes, I realized the door wasn’t completely closed! EEEK! Close the door! After about another 10 minutes or so, I took another peek and thought it looked pretty good, so I set it to cool. Unmolding it, I could just tell…this was going to be heaven. And it was. Once again, Scarletta, you have scored the GOLD medal of cakes! I could kiss you! Thank you!!!
Your comment scored a total LOL from me, Lane! This recipe IS a bit of a knee-knocker, but the end results are totally worth the frayed nerves. I’m so glad that you were happy with the cake as well. Enjoy!
P.S. Thanks for the heads-up on the duplicate instructions – I’ve cleaned them up.
The two best things combined. I made this for my family and literally they were obsessed. I’ve never had such a reaction from them like that. It was a bit difficult, and I accidentally forgot the cream cheese but it was still amazing. Actually the flan held well even without it. Im definitely going to be repeating this recipe!
Fantastic, AJ! I’m so glad it was a hit!
Meagan – I made this chocoflan a few days ago for a dinner party. What an amazing idea! I absolutely loved it (as did the other guests!). Thanks for posting it
So glad this cake was a hit, Hilary! LOVE the idea of an ‘F’-themed party!!
I just made a chocoflan recipe (not this one I’m afraid. I didn’t find yours until I was scouring the internet looking for tips) I didn’t realize that the cream cheese was supposed to be room temperature. I started mixing mine straight out of the fridge. Now my flan mixture has little chunks of cream cheese in it that I can’t get rid of. I’m worried it won’t turn out right when I pop it in the oven. Any suggestions?
That’s a tough one. I think you have two choices: 1) run the flan batter through a fine mesh sieve to strain out the cream cheese chunks. It sounds like you were able to incorporate some cream cheese, so eyeball how much you strained out and simply replace that same amount (this time at room temp) back into the batter. 2) Leave the cream cheese as-is in the batter and hope for the best. The cream cheese will melt and incorporate in the oven, just not as well as if it had been fully mixed in advance. I hope this helps! Let me know how it turns out!
YUM! This will have to be added to my “list”. Speaking of spanish desserts – I’m craving this and some tres leches cake. Love!
I currently have your recipe for this in the oven however I has misread and my pan is only a 10 cup oh ooo, I hope it turns out OK, also I don’t have catjes here so I put a little brown sugar in the bottom of the pan :/ fingers and toes crossed its OK lol
hi I am really looking forward to make this but my pan is 10cup capacity,can you please suggest me how would I adjust the ingredients?
thanks
I would cut all the ingredients by 1/4. I know this is somewhat crude, but I think it’s the best way for you to get this done with a 10-cup capacity pan. Try to be as exact as you can once you’ve adjusted the recipe, and if given the choice I would round down. But I think you’ll be fine. Let me know how it turns out!
Thanks a lot, I will definitely let you know after I make this.Thanks again:)
Hi I made this today…it was really yummy..but only one problem was that some flan stuck to the pan and i was sad as my flan portion became thinner:(..can you suggest why? and did you turn invert it onto the plate right after it cooled down to room temperature? i thought my flan wont set like that so i refrigerated it for 2 hours before inverting onto the plate…do you think was it bcz of that some flan stuck onto the pan? i did grease the pan well before pouring the ingredients..i am a bit sad that it didnot look good:(
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that your flan stuck! Did you line the greased pan with cajeta before pouring the batters in? I did not refrigerate mine before popping out – I simply allowed it to cool to room temp before inverting and gently shaking the cake out. I would say next time to be really generous with the cajeta in the bottom of the pan, and then just let the cake rest at room temperature instead of refrigerating.
hi thanks a lot for your reply, i actually did pour enough cajeta but next time i will put some more…and also grease it more, maybe it was just my bad luck, and i shouldnt have put it into refrigerator, i did it so that the flan sets better like we do with traditional flan, but next time i will follow your guideline.thanks a lot again:)
what brand of cocoa powder do you use/suggest?
I most often use Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder, which you can find here: http://www.amazon.com/Ghirardelli-Chocolate-Baking-Cocoa-Unsweetened/dp/B0005Z83E0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338404390&sr=8-1
Made this today and I am so pleased with how great it turned out! I too had nerves and paced, but the end result was better than expected. Thank you for posting
It is a bit of a nail-biter, isn’t it? So glad it turned out well, Priscilla!
I just made this today and even though I forgot to cover the pan with foil it still came out so yummy and moist. I am making another one tomorrow to take to a potluck, but I will not be forgetting the foil. Thank you for sharing this recipe. Chocolate and custard are my most favorite things on earth.
So glad it turned out so well, Malou!
So I added all my wet ingredients to the blender and added the buttermilk also, so i left out the cream cheese and added two more eggs to it. I hope this mistake works. I will let you know.
Yes, please do!
I have tried this recipe. The cake is amazing, and it’s magic. I remember sitting there in awe when the cake was finished baking. How does it do that?
Agree! Love the mind-bending aspect of this cake.
I wish mine would come out like yours..got to keep practicing to be more successful making cakes..
This one looks like it would melt in my mouth! Stunning photos!!!!
I love this idea! Such a lovely presentation as well in the bundt pan! Congrats on the Top 9, well deserved for creating this pure deliciousness
!
Looks amazing! I have to try it!
I made this cake yesterday & it turned out amazing! Thanks for sharing. It is a gorgeous thing.
OH YES,,, and DELICIOUS TOO…!!!
SO glad you gave this cake a try, Deb! And it sounds like it was a huge success – awesome job!
Amazing recipe, may I asked what brand is your bundt cake pan?
Yes! My 12-cup Bundt pan was made by Nordic Ware.
I love to bake and I recently bought a great pan that I think this recipe will be perfect for.
Gonna try it. Looks awesome and delicious.
You definitely don’t need to go with a Bundt pan for this one – just make sure your pan has a 12-cup capacity or you’ll need to adjust the recipe. Let me know how it turns out, Maryann!
what is cajetas?
Gloria, cajeta is a caramel sauce made from goat milk. Here is a recipe: http://scarlettabakes.com/making-cajeta/
I bought a can of that stuff and it was right next to the condense milk. If you didn’t want to make it.
You make me smile & my tummy hungry every time. Never stop doin’ whatcha do. Thanks.
xo
http://allykayler.blogspot.com
this is a delicious dessert
That is so cool! It’s like magic!!!! I love it
Wow! That is a pretty neat recipe. : )
Ohhhhhhh…Ahhhhhhhhhhh! It is magic! I love it!
Whoa. What a combo of everything I love so much about dessert! I recently went to Cuba and tried flan for the first time ever… yeah, a little late on that one. This version looks like a flan I probably shouldn’t wait tp try.
This is real food magic gonna have to try this because of the magic and the giggles I just love anything chocolate especially chocolate based.
How funny! I’ve never read a recipe where giggling was part of the process but hey! It worked! I am book marking this to make with my little nieces – this will really tickle them!
Hee hee, the “giggle” part made me giggle. I definitely think laughter is necessary in the success of most things, both inside and outside the kitchen
This looks seriously amazing. I just “pinned” it! Def gonna try it soon.
I adore Bundts! What a fine recipe, a bit of magic and patience is always a winning combination.
Love Chocoflan- but I make Rick Bayless’ recipe. It’s really good and also very reliable. I use cajeta -it’s called Coronado Cajeta Quemada.
Never saw this cake before. Pretty cool…
Your braveness paid off, this looks absolutely incredible! Love those contrasting textures…wish I could dig in with a big spoon right now!
Love the “giggle” instruction!
Chocoflan! I just love it. And that typo…how adorable is that?
Food magic is fun and this looks delicious!
Look at that! Food alchemy!
I love chocoflan! there’s a lady that makes it here super delicious with a dulce de leche salsa on top!!
Yours look just like her’s!
This seems like such a nail-biter of a baking project…can’t wait to see, maybe just maybe, if after it’s all done it will actually work! And it DID! Gorgeous!
My husband has been begging for a chocoflan ever since we saw that episode of Mexican Made Easy. I more than giggled when I saw the typo. The unmolding would be the only thing stopping me from trying to do miniature versions of this dessert. Great job!
I have never seen anything like this before! This looks crazy unique. Yum!
Floored. Again. You ARE the queen.
Hello Scarletta:
I have a pecan pie recipe with three layers that change place. So so cool!
For me your custard layer sounds so rich and sweet. Do you think that this could be done with something like a creme caramel or creme brulee custard?
Thanks for sharing
Have a Joyful Day
Charlie
Hi Charlie, I think you probably could use a different sort of custard here if you wanted (I am assuming you are talking about for the flan layer). But I wouldn’t mess around with it too much – there’s a lot going on, what with the cajeta, the cake, and the flan, and you want the flavors to work together and the layers to separate and set properly. A simple vanilla custard substitution for the flan would probably work out just fine.
Oh wow, this does look amazingly delicious!
They switched places? That is so cool! I need a bundt cake pan!
Suppose you can try it in any cake pan that can contain the same size of contents. Or reduce the ingredients accordingly. Does shape of the pan do any magic to the recipe?
Btw, can the flan layer be made with just custard powder or instant cream caramel? Too much of condensed milk seems heavy, and cream cheese together- my guilt will kill the whole chocoflan!
Great questions! I think you’d be good making this cake in any shape pan, but I do recommend really trying to stick to the 12-cup capacity. As far as the ingredients for the flan go, for this cake I would really recommend sticking as close to the original recipe as possible. I have seen lots of other flan recipes that are very different from this one, but I frankly wouldn’t want to start messing with the special ‘alchemy’ that makes up this finished cake. If need be, you could easily substitute low- or no-fat cream cheese and even use Egg Beaters in place of the eggs. I hope this helps!
I remember watching Marcela make this on tv and was determined to make it. How did I forget about it?!? This looks absolutely amazing! I need to NOT forget to make this! Thanks for sharing this deliciousness!!