Magic Chocolate Flan Cake

   
   

In a previous post I made an Orange Flan.  My search engine on this site is wonky, so if you want to see it, Google Orange Flan Shenandoah and it will come up.

While researching flan recipes, I found a lot of references about flan cake.  I didn't see how flan, which is a type of custard worked with cake. My daughter, Trista, lived in Mexico for a year and she said it was one of her favorite things.

Then I bought a one year subscription to Cook's Country magazine.  Not only is it as magazine with recipes, but it shows how they change and develop them and gives recommendations for all things cooking related.  This month featured a Magic Chocolate Flan Cake recipe.  It went into the make-for-Christmas pile on my counter.  The magic takes place when you cook the flan cake.  You put the cake batter in a Bundt pan first and then pour the flan on top.  They switch places during the baking process.  It's is fun and delicious and a science experiment all in one.  You gotta try it!

Magic Chocolate Flan Cake


Cake

1/2 cup caramel sauce or topping
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I had some dark chocolate chips left over and used them!)
6 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Flan

2 (14 oz)  cans sweetened condensed milk  They recommended Eagle Brand
2 1/2 cups whole milk
6 ounces cream cheese I used Philadelphia.
6 large eggs plus 4 large egg yolks...you're gonna need 10 eggs and a whole dozen for this recipe!
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

First off you need to know that you will need to make this about 10 hours before you plan to eat it.  It takes time to bake and then chill. Twelve hours or overnight wouldn't hurt.

   

Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease a 12 cup non-stick Bundt pan.  I used wax paper and Crisco to grease the pan because the Bundt pan instructions said that I should not use Pam or any other spray and it came out so easy.

   

Buy some fancy caramel sauce, because you won't be making it and you want the best.

   

 Heat it a bit in the microwave to make it pourable and pour it evenly into the Bundt pan.

   

Put the chocolate and the butter in a large bowl and microwave just until melted.  It may look like it isn't melted, so take it out every 30 seconds or so and stir it a bit.  Whisk in the buttermilk, sugar and vanilla extract.  Then add the two eggs.  I did it this way so the heat of the melted butter and chocolate wouldn't curdle the eggs.  They are added last after everything has cooled off a bit.

   

Set a sifter on a small plate.  Place the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in the sift into the chocolaty mixture. Stir until just combined.  Spoon on top of the caramel in the Bundt pan and smooth out the top.

   

Now for the flan part.  My blender will not hold 2 quarts, so I had to divide this into 2 parts.  If yours will hold that much, go ahead and put everything in at once.  I wanted to make sure I didn't have too much in one part and not enough in the other so I divided it equally.  This is how I did it.

   

Place one can of the sweetened condensed milk and 1 1/4 cup whole milk in the mixer.  Add 3 eggs and 2 yolks and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.  I had an 8 ounces package of Philadelphia cream cheese.  I cut it into fourths.  I put one whole section and then 1/2 of a second section in the blender.  Process until smooth.  It will take about one minute.  Pour that over the cake and then do the same thing one more time.  You will have one section of the cream cheese left over.  My cake started to float up before I finished processing the second part of the flan.  Don't worry if this happens.  It will do it in the oven in a bit anyway!

   

Just so you know, there will be a lot of dishes to do while you are waiting for the flan cake to cook!

   

Place the Bundt pan in a large roasting pan and place everything in the oven.  Pour hot water in the roasting pan until it reaches half way up,  being careful not to put any in the Bundt pan.  You should be careful not to burn yourself during this process and don't ask how I know this is an issue. : )

   

Bake in the 350 oven until a toothpick comes out clean from the cake and the flan is 180 degrees.  Mine was done at about 70 minutes, but the recipe suggested 75 to 90 minutes.  Remove the roasting pan and set on the stove.  Using mitts remove the Bundt pan.  Don't get your mitts in the water! 

   

It is cold here and I didn't start cooking as early as I should have, so I put my Bundt pan out on the table in the screen porch to spead up the cooling process. It may take you 2 hours to cool enough for it to go in the refrigerator.  Then chill 8 hours by their recommendation.  I  kept it in rigerator for 4 hours after an hour on the 40 degree porch and it worked out fine.

   

To remove the flan cake from the Bundt pan, fill the sink with hot tap water so that it will cover one third of the pan.  Set it in there for 1 minute.  Don't cheat.  Set it back up on the sink, dry the bottom and loosen the edges of the cake with a plastic knife.  Place a large serving plate over the top of the pan.  Hold the pan with one hand and the plate with the other and flip it over.  It will fall right onto the plate and the caramel sauce will ooze down the sides.

 

    

 

 

Serve big giant hunks to everyone or you will end up with  the rest to eat by yourself and you will have to put off your resolution to lose weight until next week.

Orange Flan or Flan de Naranja

 

One of the things I miss about living in California is the great Mexican food.  There are Mexican restaurants here, but they are not as good as the ones I am used to in California.  I don't know if it is because they change the flavors to suit a Southern palate or why it is.  I ALWAYS go to a West Coast chain called El Torito when in California.  This time they had a meal that included a miniature flan.  It was delicious.  Think custard or crème brulee but without the crunchy caramelized topping.  Instead it is upside down with a caramel sauce topping.

I looked around for a flan recipe.  I found one with orange and lemon in it.  Sounded good to me. 


Orange Flan
       or
Flan de Naranja

I speak a little Spanish, but mostly just enough to order food!

Caramelized Sauce

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice

Flan

2 cups half and half
zest of one orange
zest of one lemon
1/2 cup orange juice (I used 3 large oranges for the whole recipe)
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar

First get everything out you will need to make this.  It will use most of your pans and you don't want to go searching for them in the middle of cooking.

You will need a 9 X 13 baking dish and 6 ramekins.  I used 2 saucepans, a medium and a large.  Get out a strainer,a micro plane,  a mixing bowl and measuring cups.  You may need another mixing bowl if you don't have a quart size measuring cup.

Preheat oven to 325.

 

First remove the stuck on labels and wash the fruit.  I used one lemon and three oranges.  I was buying one orange anyway for the zest.  You may want to buy one and use OJ from the refrigerator, but I used fresh.  Zest the lemon and one orange and set aside.  Use a bowl or a plate.  MORE stuff to get out and then wash!  You want to zest before you squeeze them.  I just used my hands over a quart size measuring cup.  If you have a small amount of oranges, have some OJ in the refrigerator or freezer, just in case!  You will need one cup, divided use.

 

Break the eggs in a medium bowl.  Add the sugar and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.  Set aside.  Keep the whisk, you will want to stir it again just before you use it.

Heat a medium sauce pan over a medium burner and then add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup orange juice.  If you did your own squeezing, you should strain it so you don't get seeds and pith in it.  Yes, that is a word and no, I am not lisping.

 

You will need to stir this almost continuously.  Take a few breaks.  Like right now.  Put the zest and the cream and the other half cup of orange juice in the large saucepan.  Put it on a burner over medium low heat.  You want to cook this JUST until it starts to think about boiling.  It will start to bubble around the edges.  Then turn off the heat.

The sugar and OJ mixture will take longer to cook.  You want to reduce it by half.  It will turn a darker color but the OJ will keep it from becoming as caramelized as you would want for regular flan.

At some point you will find yourself stirring both pots at once.  That is OK.  If you get over busy, turn off the milk.  You just want to scald it, not boil it.  It only takes a few minutes and the sugar/OJ mix takes about 10 minutes.

Now take a break and put about 4 cups of water in the microwave or heat it in a kettle.  You will need it for the water bath for the ramekins and you want it very hot. 

After the sugar/OJ mix is reduced, quickly pour a small amount into each ramekin.  If you wait it will harden. 

Take a small amount of the hot milk and drizzle it into the egg mixture while you are whisking.  If you just dump it in you will have scrambled eggs.  Orange flavored scrambled eggs.  You need to temper it by slowly bringing the egg mix up to temperature.  Then add the rest of the egg mix, while still whisking.

 

Pour this through the strainer into a bowl or measuring cup with a lip.  Carefully pour about 1/2 cup into each ramekin.  Place them in the large baking dish. 

 

Carry the baking dish close to the oven door.  Set it down and THEN add the hot water until it is halfway up the sides of the ramekins.  This way you won't have to carry the hot, unwieldy dish all across the kitchen and risk burning yourself.  And it is a risk.  Use mitts and both hands.  Carefully place it in the oven and set the timer for 50 minutes. 

Test with a clean knife by inserting it in the custard.  If it comes out clean you are done.  If not, set the timer for 10 more minutes and test again.  Mine took the whole hour.  Don't worry about how it looks  You will serve them upside down!

 

Remove from the oven and once again be careful not to spill the water.  It is hot.  Use a pair of tongs to remove the ramekins to a wire rack to cool.  Don't drip across the finished ones.  Pull from the side that has the wire rack.  When cool enough to touch, put them in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

To serve, take a knife or small spatula and run it along the inside edge of the ramekin to loosen.  Hold a plate upside down over the ramekin and turn everything over.  Tap the bottom of the ramekin if it doesn't come out right away.  You may have to encourage it with a knife. 

The custard will come out with the orangey caramelized sauce over the top and down the sides.  Yum.

I added a few strawberries and a bit of Cool Whip, but it was fine all by itself.