Chocoflan is a Mexican dessert that combines chocolate cake and flan. It is also referred to as 'Impossible Cake', because the layers reverse during the baking process.
Chocoflan is a great dessert to make for a party or get together. It looks fancy, but we're making this easy with a box cake mix and 4 ingredient flan mixture.
If you want to go the extra effort and make you own chocolate cake, go for it! But I've made this recipe with both box mix and a homemade cake, and honestly I preferred the box mix better. It was more moist and had more chocolate flavor.
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What Does Pastel Imposible Mean?
Pastel Imposible translates to 'Impossible Cake'. This name comes from the magical process of the cake reversing layers during the baking process.
The chocolate cake batter is layered first then the flan mixture is poured on top. During the baking process, the flan mixture sinks to the bottom and the cake mixture rises to the top.
And somehow the cajeta or caramel sauce still stays on the bottom. It's a really cool process when you think about it, and it just makes this dessert that much more fun!
Since the cake needs to be inverted onto a platter, make sure the Bundt Pan is greased really well with butter. This will ensure it comes out clean!
Ingredients for Chocoflan
Cajeta is a dulce de leche or caramel sauce made from goats milk. Most stores will carry cajeta or you can use regular caramel.
For the Chocolate Cake Mix, I used chocolate fudge cake, and made it according to the package directions. The only substitution I made is milk for the water. I feel like this makes the cake more richer.
For the flan mixture, we're using 4 ingredients: evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, and half a block of cream cheese to a blender.
If you prefer to have more of a vanilla flavor, add 1 tablespoon of vanilla before blending.
How to bake it in a water bath
Similar to my Jericalla recipe, the chocoflan is bake in a water bath. Simply boil water and pour it into a large roasting pan. The pan needs to be big enough to fit the bundt pan.
Baking the chocoflan in a water bath ensures the cake and flan cook evenly without cracking or getting overcooked on the edges.
After 1 hour of baking, remove the pan and check the cake. If it's still jiggly, then remove the foil and place the bundt pan back into the water bath in the oven.
Check every 10 to 15 minutes. I ended up baking it for an extra 25 minutes. Once a toothpick comes out clean, remove the cake from the water bath and allow it to cool on a baking sheet for at least 1 hour.
Serving the Chocoflan
After the chocoflan cools for an hour on a baking rack, the fun part comes!
Use a large serving platter, cutting board, or cake stand to invert the cake onto the platter. You may need to tap on the top and give the bundt pan a little jiggle for it to come out.
While the layer's don't look very distinguished on the outside of the cake, once you slice into it, you'll see the 2 layers. The chocoflan can be served after it cools, or you can keep it refrigerated until you are ready to serve it.
Serve with extra cajeta, whipped cream, or fresh berries if you like. If there are leftovers, they can be refrigerated up to 3 days and served cold.
Chocoflan is such a delicious dessert, I enjoy it with a nice cup of coffee.
Check out these other desserts:
Chocolate Pecan Pie, Jericallas, Apple Empanadas
Watch the YouTube Video
Chocoflan Recipe
Equipment
- Oven and Water Bath
- Blender and Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Butter to coat the bundt pan
- ¼ cup Cajeta Dulce de leche, or Caramel Sauce
- 1 Chocolate Box Cake Mix + Ingredients to make the cake
- 4 oz Cream Cheese Softened
- 4 Eggs Whole
- 14 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 12 oz Evaporated Milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the Bundt pan with butter all around the sides, middle, and crevices. Add cajeta to the bottom of the bundt pan, you can reserve some for serving too.
- Water bath: In a small pot, bring a couple cups of water to a boil. Enough to cover 1 inch of a large roasting pan. (The roasting pan needs to be big enough to fit the bundt pan inside).
- Make box chocolate cake mix according to package. Pour batter evenly in the bundt pan over the cajeta.
- In a blender, add cream cheese, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk. You can add a tablespoon of vanilla if you like too. Blend until smooth.
- Slowly pour the flan mixture over the chocolate cake batter. You don't want the flan to mix into the cake batter. Be sure to pour it evenly and slowely around the entire bundt pan.
- Spray a large piece of foil with oil and cover the bundt pan. Make sure the sides of the foil are not touching the bottom.Add the hot water to the roasting pan and place the foil covered bundt pan inside. Carefully place the roasting pan in the preheated oven and bake the chocoflan for 1 hour.
- Remove the chocoflan and foil after 1 hour, if the top is not set, place back into the water bath without the foil, and check every 10 min. I ended up baking it for 25 more min, so 1 hr 25 min total. When a toothpick is inserted it should come out clean.
- Remove chocoflan from the water bath and cool on a baking rack for 1 hour. Using a large cake stand or cutting board, invert the chocoflan, tap the top and carefully jiggle it out of the bundt pan.Serve with more cajeta, whipped cream, or fresh berries.
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