Chocolate Flan Cake 2.0

I really didn't think it was possible but there is a way to make the unbelievably delicious Chocolate Flan Cake recipe from America's Test Kitchen even better. I posted the recipe before but now I need to repost it with one definite improvement — Use salted caramel. 

The good news is that you don't have to make the salted caramel yourself. Just buy a jar of salted caramel topping and you are good to go.

This cake needs to be made a full day in advance because it has to chill in the fridge for 8-12 hours before serving and has a few steps but it's not hard to make and always gets rave reviews.

Here's the updated recipe:

Chocolate Flan Cake 2.0
Note: A 12-cup nonstick bundt cake pan is needed for this recipe.

Cake:
1/2 cup cup salted 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. 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. Pour the flan mixture into the pan. When you do this, the cake batter will float to the top of the pan. And be careful not to overfill the pan. You might have a little flan mixture left over. If you do you can put a little caramel sauce in the bottom of a paper lined muffin tin, top it with the left over mixture and bake for a cook's treat.

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.

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.