Chocoflan

Not So Impossible Chocoflan

So I know I'm about two months late with this recipe. I had a good excuse for like the first two weeks of it with my new job. As for after that…I got nothing. But I promise this cake is awesome and hopefully it'll make up for my little disappearance.

Months back I was told about a cake called Chocoflan which I'm sure you already guessed is a combination of chocolate cake and flan. The combo sounded delicious and I immediately started looking up recipes and a lot of them were titled the Impossible Cake. So I put that recipe somewhere in the back of my mind hoping it got lost somewhere and moved on to another cake combo.

Well it wasn't long till the recipe came up again as a birthday request and this time I couldn't yield to the intimidation. So I was back on recipe research and found two versions of this cake. The first version used the classic flan recipe and the other added cream cheese to the mix. I've actually never had flan so wasn't sure which to choose. I personally love the creamy texture and flavor that cream cheese creates so went with that. Thankfully it worked out and that first bite was pure bliss. Also you'll be happy to know it wasn't that impossible.

Now it's you turn to give it a shot.

Yield: 12 to 16 servings

Prep: 1 hour

Bake: °350F, 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes

Cool: 1 hour, refrigerate overnight (unless you want to serve warm)

Chocolate Cake 

(Only using half of cake batter. You can half recipe if you don't want the extra batter.)

Bundt Cake Pan

3/4 cup butter

3 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1 1/2 cup milk

2/3 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips

1/4 cup cajeta

1. Let butter and eggs stand (might as well bring out cream cheese too) at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to °350F. Lightly grease cake pan with baking spray or shortening. Pour 1/4 cup of cajeta to coat bottom of cake pan. You can heat the cajeta in microwave a few seconds for it to spread easier.

2. In a large bowl beat butter on medium speed until smooth, about 30 to 35 seconds. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time and scrape sides of bowl after each addition. Continue beating until light and fluffy, about a total of 5 minutes.

3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in vanilla and almond extract, mix just until combined.

4. In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Alternate between flour mixture and milk as you add into butter mixture. Begin and end with the flour mixture. For each addition beat until well combined. Beat the batter until smooth, about 2 minutes. Fold in chocolate chips and set aside.

Creamy 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

1 1/2 cups of sliced strawberries

2 tablespoons sugar

1. In blender combine evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs, and vanilla extract for about 30 to 35 seconds.

Bringing it all together:

1. Pour cake batter in bundt pan (remember only half if you did full cake recipe). Slowly pour in flan mixture. Cover with foil and place in roasting pan with about 1 inch of hot water. 

2. Bake for about 1 hour or until toothpick inserted near center of cake comes out clean.

3. Remove from roasting pan and place on cooling rack for about 1 hour. Remove from cake pan and then refrigerate over night.

4. About 40 minutes before serving stir together strawberries and sugar and refrigerate for about 25-30 minutes. Add to center of bunt cake and serve!

Sweet Flukes

Surprisingly the impossible cake didn't involve many errors. Time was the only thing not on my side and lack of patience wasn't helpful to the cause.

I've noticed I tend to speed read through my recipes. Turns out I'm not very good at it and I skip some pretty important information. For example, I had planned to do a test run of this cake except i missed that little detail on cooling time. So test cake became THE cake.

I was so relieved the cake was a hit and will definitely come back to this recipe.