Chocoflan

I have a bit of an obsession with flan. Whenever I go to a Mexican restaurant, I always try their flan for dessert but I've never tried to make it at home by myself. I always thought it would be very time consuming and if I tried to make it at home, it would be a flan fail. So imagine my surprise when I learned about a cake that is half flan and half chocolate cake (drool) and is very simple to make. I turned to google to look up some Chocoflan recipes and decided to try the one by Marcela Valladolid, the queen of mexican cooking on Food Network. Her recipe is so simple to follow and the end result is FABULOUS!!!

Chocoflan

(Source: Marcela Valladolid)

12-cup capacity Bundt pan

Softened butter, to coat pan

1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce

For the cake:

10 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

For the flan:

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For garnish:

1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Put an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Coat a Bundt pan with a little butter, then coat the bottom with 1/4 cup cajeta and put it in a large roasting pan. (The roasting pan will serve as a water bath during baking.)

For 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.

For the flan: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for 30 seconds.

Scoop the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and spreading 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 cake is done, remove from the water bath and 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!

Cook's Notes: The batters may appear to mix when you pour them into the pan, but they completely separate while baking, with the flan ending up on the bottom when it's inverted. You can it warm, but traditionally, it is chilled 24 hours before serving.