Apparently, by combining baking soda and acidic buttermilk in the cake batter, it produces a gas, making the cake less dense than the flan. The lighter cake layer rises and the denser flan layer sinks. The Chocoflan is then baked in a water bath, which is essential in making the process occur.
First, prep the ingredients for the chocoflan.
- Boil the water for the chocoflan’s water bath. (Prep Time: 10 minutes) You need to bake the chocoflan in a water bath made of very hot water. I like to multitask by boiling the water as I prep the rest of the ingredients. Just be sure to cover the water with a lid when done to prevent it from losing too much heat!
- Prep the ingredients for the flan batter. (Prep Time: 5 minutes) Measure out everything you need to make the flan for the chocoflan. Make sure both the cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature. If they’re cold, the flan batter might come out lumpy!
- Prep the ingredients for the chocolate cake batter. (Prep Time: 5 minutes) Again, measure everything you need to make the chocolate cake batter for the chocoflan. Note that you need melted butter for this recipe. I like to melt it first to give it time to cool slightly before using in the recipe.
This is a great dessert to have with a cup of tea, too! I am linking to Su’s Tea Time in the Blogosphere.
1 cup cajeta (click here for my recipe, or bottled) Vegetable oil, for greasing the moulds
Prepare cake batter: Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda) in a large bowl (photo below, left). Add milk, oil, and vanilla (photo below, right):
It really is not hard to explain this phenomenon; it all has to do with the density of the different components involved. Regardless of how the layers are poured into the pan, they will tend to rearrange themselves in order of density, the one with the highest one at the bottom. In this case, the highest density is for cajeta, with milk caramels having an average density of 1.89 g/cm³; custard is next, with 1.07 g/cm³. Chocolate cake batter is the most complex component, because it includes dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, sugar, leavening agents), wet ingredients (fat, eggs, milk) and also has a fair amount of bubbles, created either by air (from beating before baking) or CO2 (from the leavening agents’ reaction, ignited during baking). There are mixes with high densities, such as 1.18 g/cm³ for Cake Boss™ Milk Chocolate mix to the very low density of Devil’s cake mix, at 0.7 g/cm³. This means that a cake mix with very low density might show the shift to the top even before baking, while a higher density cake mix might stay initially at the bottom, and migrate to the top as the batter cooks and CO2 is released, creating bubbles and considerably reducing the density of the cake.
For the chocolate cake: 2 cups flour 1 ¾ cups sugar ½ cup cocoa powder 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1 ½ cups milk ½ cup oil 1 tsp vanilla 2 eggs
Chocoflan: Flip Out Over Gravity | Hungry for Science
FAQ
Why did my chocoflan fall apart?
How does Mexico’s Impossible Cake deliciously defies the logic of baking?
What is the history of choco flan?
Is chocoflan easy to make?
Let’s make it clear, chocoflan is very easy to make; there is nothing impossible about this recipe. This Mexican dessert is called the impossible cake because it goes in the oven with the flan layer on top and the cake layer on the bottom, but after baking, the layers magically switch places.
What is chocoflan?
Chocoflan is a rich show-stopping dessert that’s as easy as it is magical. Sweet and creamy vanilla flan floats across a horizon of tender chocolate cake while drippings of warm caramel cascade down each and every side. But, perhaps what’s truly amazing it didn’t start out that way.
Is chocoflan a real cake?
All prices were accurate at the time of publishing. Chocolate cake and caramel flan get baked together in a Bundt pan for a delicious hybrid dessert known as chocoflan. It’s sometimes referred to as “flan impossible” or “impossible cake” because of the baking magic that happens in the oven.
How is chocoflan made?
The Chocoflan is baked in a water bath, which is critical as well in order to make the process occur. Flan is typically baked on a base of caramelized sugar. But Chocoflan uses a base of Mexican “cajeta” a sweetened confection of caramel sauce, made with sweetened caramelized goat’s milk.