Chocolate Flan Cake

A month or so ago, I just happened to be flipping through television channels as I was folding a load of laundry, and oh my, I saw the most luscious looking Chocolate Flan Cake being tasted by Christopher Kimball on an episode of "America's Test Kitchen".

The slice of cake, with its dense dark chocolate base against a thick layer of cold smooth and creamy flan, looked so good. Mr. Kimball raved about it and I could tell he was dead serious. He thought it was divine!

Needless to say, the laundry could wait —  I ran to my computer, searched for the recipe online and printed it off.

Fast forward to yesterday, we had a birthday celebration at the Wednesday Community Meal for my dear friend Cheryl and this was the cake I made for her. It tasted better than I imagined it would. Cheryl and our friends loved it too. The sweetness of the cake was perfect and the cold flan was silky and refreshing.

This Chocolate Flan Cake is exciting because it's so different than anything I've ever seen and it's not hard to make. The only stress inducing part of the recipe is releasing the cake from the bundt pan with the help of a dip in a hot water bath and fingers crossed.

The cake did release for me although it took two dips in the hot water and some praying. After it came out, a few cracks formed in the cake. I was really disappointed about the cracks but not anymore since tasting the cake. Seriously, who cares? — because it is a darn delicious cake.

One last tip: The cake requires 8 to 12 hours of chilling time in the refrigerator before releasing it from the pan so be sure to start the cake early in the day. Trust me, you don't want to have to get up in the middle of the night to release the cake.

The three cracks that formed after I released the cake bummed me out at first. But, in the end they didn't matter one bit. My friends and I love this cake.

Chocolate Flan Cake
Note: A 12-cup nonstick bundt cake pan is needed for this recipe.

Cake:
1/2 cup cup caramel sauce or topping
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used dark chocolate chips)
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Flan:
2 14-oz. cans sweetened condensed milk
2 1/2 cups whole milk
6 ounces cream cheese
6 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12-cup nonstick bundt cake pan.

Pour the 1/2 cup of caramel sauce in the pan.

In a medium-sized bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Put the 4 oz. of chocolate and 6 tablespoons of butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at 50% power for 1-minute increments, stirring in between, until the mixture is melted and smooth.

Add the eggs, buttermilk, sugar and vanilla to the melted chocolate mixture and whisk.

It will look like this.

Add the cocoa powder and flour mixure and whisk again until combined.

Spread the chocolate batter over the caramel.

Using a blender, process all of the flan ingredients until smooth. It will look like this.

Pour the flan mixture into the pan. When you do this, the cake batter will float to the top of the pan.

Place the cake in a baking dish or roasting pan filled with warm water that reaches halfway up the sides of the bundt pan. I added the water after the pan was in the oven. It's much easier this way. Bake the cake for 75 to 90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean and the flan registers 180 degrees.

I checked the cake after 75 minutes and took it its temperature. It wasn't quite ready and in the end took just over 80 minutes to reach 180-degrees. Place the baked cake on a rack to cool completely at room temperature. After cooling, refrigerate the cake for 8 to 12 hours before removing it from the pan.

To remove the cake, fill a bowl with hot water and place the bottom third of the bundt pan in the water for 1 minute. Place a cake platter with at least a 1/2 inch rim to hold the caramel sauce on top of the cake and flip the cake over. Slowly remove the pan, letting the caramel drizzle over the top of the cake. Serve chilled.

Slices of the cake.