Chocolate Flan Cake

A couple of months ago, I participated in a fun recipe swap! This is what I shared over at It’s Yummilicious.

I remember the first time I ate flan. I had never heard of it until I went to college. One of my roommates insisted that flan was a birthday treat. I guess in her family, they got flan instead of cake for birthdays. I thought it was so strange, but then I tasted it and knew why. It’s pretty special. To me, it almost tastes like creme brulee, if you’ve had that. When I ran across this recipe a few months ago for Chocolate Flan Cake, it reminded me of my roommate!

Chocolate Flan Cake
recipe adapted from Cooks Country

This cake looks WAY harder to make than it actually is. The layers of rich chocolate, creamy flan and caramel are really meant to be eaten together! It’s pretty magical.

Because there are different layers, you make 2 separate mixes plus the caramel sauce. You do bake it all together, so I’ll show you how to mix up each layer and then how to assemble it.

Caramel Layer:
1/2 C caramel ice cream topping

Chocolate Cake Layer Ingredients:
1/2 C + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/3 C cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt (if you use salted butter, eliminate this ingredient)
4 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 C buttermilk (or you can substitute 1/2 tsp vinegar + 1/2 C milk – mix and let it sit for 5 min before mixing in the cake)
1/2 C sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Flan Layer:
2 cans of sweetened condensed milk (I used Eagle Brand and I definitely recommend using that! Different brands set the flan up a little different!)
2 1/2 C milk
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 large eggs, plus 4 large egg yolks
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Cake Directions: 
You do not need to use a blender for this cake. It’s pretty much a one bowl operation. Get a large bowl. In the microwave, combine the butter and chocolate. Microwave at 50% power for about 1 minute. Stir it up. Keep microwaving in 10 second intervals, mixing in between, until the chocolate is all melted. One at a time, and mixing well between each addition, stir in the buttermilk, sugar, eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa and baking soda. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Stir until just combined – don’t over mix! The batter will be kind of thick, but don’t worry…it’s supposed to be that way!

Flan Directions:
Add all of the ingredients to the blender and blend about 1 minute (or until smooth). If your blender is too small, just blend it in batches.

Here’s how to assemble the cake:

First, microwave the jar of caramel topping for about 30 seconds to soften it up.  Pour 1/2 C into the greased bundt pan.

Next, spoon the cake on top of the caramel.

Last, slowly pour the flan mix over the cake.

Sometimes when I pour the flan the cake batter rises to the top. If it doesn’t right away, it will during baking. It’s kinda fun to see it swap places!

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP!! The trick to getting this cake to bake right is to bake it in a water bath. Put the bundt pan in a larger roasting pan and add water. You’ll want the water to go about half way up the bundt pan. The water helps the flan bake evenly. It really is the difference between a successful cake and a fail.

Bake the cake at 350 for somewhere between 75 to 90 minutes. Mine took exactly 75 minutes. It’s done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove the bundt pan from the roasting pan. Let it cool on the counter for about 2 hours and then set up in the fridge for 8 hours. This is perfect to make the day before company is coming!

Once it’s cooled at set up, here’s how to quickly and easily remove it from the pan.

Here’s how to get the cake out of the pan perfectly:
First, grab that roasting pan that you used during baking and fill it with hot, hot tap water. Put the bundt pan back in and let it sit for about 1 minute.

Grab a serving platter or cake plate and place it on top of the cake. Try to center it as much as you can.

Then, flip it over. The cake should just magically slide out.

My favorite part is lifting the bundt pan off and seeing the beautiful cake

Yumm!!!