Magic Flan Cake (Chocoflan) (2024)

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This Magic Flan Cake is a delicious dessert with both a chocolate cake and flan layer. The magic happens as it bakes, the chocolate layer floats to the top and the flan to the bottom.

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Magic Flan Cake (Chocoflan) (1)

Magic Flan Cake or Chocoflan

It’s time for another magic cake recipe. If you’ve never experimented with whipping one of these up, believe me you’re in for a treat. Not only is this magic flan cake completely delicious and drool worthy, chock full of chocolate and caramel, but it’s also the 8th wonder of the man made world.

In all the baking that I’ve done over the years, I have to say this is my favorite cake that I have ever made. That’s saying a lot, but I absolutely love flan, and when paired together with a delicious layer of chocolate cake, you have magic. Although the ingredient list seems long, and it does take a while for this cake to bake, it’s all worth it in the end. Trust me!

Ingredients You’ll Need

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Chocolate Cake

  • Caramel sauce –Store bought or you can make your own, here’s a simple 1 ingredient caramel sauce recipe.
  • Flour –All purpose is all we need for this cake today.
  • Cocoa powder –We want this chocolate cake to be rich, complex, and oh so chocolatey.
  • Spices –We need a bit of cinnamon to spice up our chocolate cake.
  • Baking powder –The leavening agent in our cake, to ensure volume and texture.
  • Seasoning –All baked goods need a bit of salt, without it your cake will taste bland.
  • Chocolate –Bittersweet baking chocolate chopped up.
  • Butter –Unsalted as to control the salt content of our dish.
  • Buttermilk –This ingredient will ensure our cake is tender, full of dimension and complexity.
  • Sugar –I used white granulated sugar today.
  • Eggs –2 eggs to ensure our cake turns out exactly the way we want it to.
  • Vanilla –Secret flavor weapon.

Flan

  • Condensed milk –Just one can of the stuff, believe me every good flan needs it.
  • MilkWe’re using whole fat milk, I recommend keeping this ingredient as high fat as possible.
  • Cream cheese –Keep at room temperature so that it blends easily.
  • Eggs –We’re using both whole eggs and egg yolks, we’re using a lot of eggs for this recipe so be sure to stock up.
  • Vanilla – Just a bit of vanilla extract to flavor our flan.

How To Make Magic Flan (Chocoflan)

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  1. Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Prep the pan: Spray an angel food cake pan or a 12 cup bundt pan (without a removable bottom) with cooking spray generously. Pour the caramel sauce evenly over the bottom of the pan.
  3. Combine the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and mix; set aside. In a microwave safe bowl and the chocolate and butter and microwave in 30 seconds intervals until chocolate is melted and it’s smooth. Mine took about 1 minute and 30 seconds.
  4. Combine the wet ingredients: Add buttermilk, sugar, eggs and vanilla to the melted chocolate and whisk until it’s smooth. Pour chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until it well incorporated and smooth. Pour the chocolate batter evenly over the caramel in the cake pan.
  5. Prepare the flan: To make the flan simply add all the flan ingredients to a blender and process on low until smooth. Be careful, there’s a lot of batter here, so you want to make sure you do this on low otherwise it might explode all over. Pour the flan batter over the chocolate in the pan
  6. Bake the cake: Place the cake pan in a large roasting pan and place it in the oven. Add enough hot water to the roasting pan to reach halfway up the sides of the pan. Careful so you don’t burn yourself. Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, mine took about 1 hour and 40 minutes, or until you insert a toothpick in the cake and it comes out clean.
  7. Finish the magic cake: Cool the cake in the pan for about 15 minutes then carefully invert onto a cake platter. Cool completely at room temperature then chill for at least 4 hours before slicing and serving.
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Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Magic Flan Cake?

This magic flan cake is also known as chocoflan. The magic in this cake is that when you make the cake, the chocolate batter is at the bottom, and as it bakes, it floats to the top and the flan settles on the bottom.

What Pan Should I Use?

Please note to use an angel food cake pan without a removable bottom or a 12 cup bundt pan.

Find The Cake A Little Too Eggy For Your Liking?

Some of you may come and say to me that you loved it but it was too eggy. Well did you see how many eggs go into this cake? 12 eggs in total! It will be EGGY! It’s a flan cake! It’s an eggy custard. Just saying! But if you love flan and you love chocolate cake, then oh boy this magic flan cake is for you.

No Buttermilk?

If you don’t have buttermilk, you canmake your own using 2 cups of regular milk, and 2 tbsp of either lemon juice or white vinegar. Let it stand for 15 minutes before incorporating.

Can I Make This Gluten Free?

You can substitute the flour used in the chocolate cake today for whichever brand of gluten free flour you prefer, but be sure that you include xanthan gum in the dry ingredients of this recipe in that case. Use 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum for this recipe.

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Expert Tips

  1. You do need to make a water bath bath for baking this cake, so you’ll need a large roasting pan, one that’s large enough so that your cakepanfits in it. You need to pour enough water so that it’s half way up the sides of the pan.
  2. The flan cake requires a long baking time, I baked mine for about 1 hour and 40 minutes, you will want to do the toothpick test to make sure it’s done. Each oven is different, so it may take more or less time for you.
  3. Traditional flan cake does not include cream cheese, but it will make the flan cake layer much creamier.
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Leftovers

In the fridge this chocoflan will last up to5 days, just be sure it’s stored in an airtight container.

Freezing

This chocoflan can also be frozen! In the freezer it’ll keep for up to a month due to the flan portion of the dessert. When thawing you’ll want to remove it from the freezer and allow to come to temperature in the fridge for a few hours, then remove it and allow to come up to room temperature right on the counter.

Magic Flan Cake (Chocoflan) (7)

More Great Recipes To Try

  • Magic Cake
  • Lemon Magic Cake
  • Chocolate Swiss Roll Cake
  • Pumpkin Magic Cake
  • Nutella Magic Cake
  • Sticky Toffee Pudding
  • Rum Baba
  • No Bake Oreo Cake Pops
  • Creamy Flan Recipe

Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.

Magic Flan Cake (Chocoflan) (8)

Magic Flan Cake (Chocoflan)

Prep 30 minutes minutes

Cook 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Total 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

14

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This Magic Flan Cake is a delicious dessert with both a chocolate cake and flan layer. The magic happens as it bakes, the chocolate layer floats to the top and the flan to the bottom.

Video

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

  • ½ cup caramel sauce
  • cup all-purpose flour
  • cup cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 4 ounce bittersweet chocolate (chopped)
  • 6 tablespoon butter (unsalted)
  • ½ cup buttermilk
  • ½ cup sugar (granulated)
  • 2 eggs (room temperature)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Flan

  • 28 ounce condensed milk (sweetened)
  • cups whole milk (room temperature)
  • 6 ounce cream cheese (room temperature)
  • 6 large eggs (room temperature)
  • 4 large egg yolks (room temperature)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 350°F.Prep the pan: Spray an angel food cake pan or a 12 cup bundt pan (without a removable bottom) with cooking spray generously. Pour the caramel sauce evenly over the bottom of the pan.

  • Combine the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and mix; set aside. In a microwave safe bowl and the chocolate and butter and microwave in 30 seconds intervals until chocolate is melted and it's smooth. Mine took about 1 minute and 30 seconds.

  • Combine the wet ingredients: Add buttermilk, sugar, eggs and vanilla to the melted chocolate and whisk until it's smooth. Pour chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until it well incorporated and smooth. Pour the chocolate batter evenly over the caramel in the cake pan.

  • Prepare the flan: To make the flan simply add all the flan ingredients to a blender and process on low until smooth. Be careful, there's a lot of batter here, so you want to make sure you do this on low otherwise it might explode all over. Pour the flan batter over the chocolate in the pan.

  • Bake the cake: Place the cake pan in a large roasting pan and place it in the oven. Add enough hot water to the roasting pan to reach halfway up the sides of the pan. Careful so you don't burn yourself. Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, mine took about 1 hour and 40 minutes, or until you insert a toothpick in the cake and it comes out clean.

  • Finish the cake: Cool the cake in the pan for about 15 minutes then carefully invert onto a cake platter. Cool completely at room temperature then chill for at least 4 hours before slicing and serving.

Notes

  1. You do need to make a water bath bath for baking this cake, so you’ll need a large roasting pan, one that’s large enough so that your cakepanfits in it. You need to pour enough water so that it’s half way up the sides of the pan.
  2. The flan cake requires a long baking time, I baked mine for about 1 hour and 40 minutes, you will want to do the toothpick test to make sure it’s done. Each oven is different, so it may take more or less time for you.
  3. Traditional flan cake does not include cream cheese, but it will make the flan cake layer much creamier.
  4. In the fridge this cake will last up to 5 days, just be sure it’s stored in an airtight container.
  5. This chocoflan can also be frozen! In the freezer it’ll keep for up to a month due to the flan portion of the dessert. When thawing you’ll want to remove it from the freezer and allow to come to temperature in the fridge for a few hours, then remove it and allow to come up to room temperature right on the counter.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1sliceCalories: 460kcal (23%)Carbohydrates: 57g (19%)Protein: 13g (26%)Fat: 21g (32%)Saturated Fat: 12g (75%)Trans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 200mg (67%)Sodium: 309mg (13%)Potassium: 447mg (13%)Fiber: 2g (8%)Sugar: 45g (50%)Vitamin A: 685IU (14%)Vitamin C: 2mg (2%)Calcium: 277mg (28%)Iron: 2mg (11%)

© Author Joanna Cismaru

Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.

Magic Flan Cake (Chocoflan) (2024)

FAQs

How to know when chocoflan is done? ›

Place cake pan in large roasting pan; add 1 inch of hot water to roasting pan. Bake 1 hour 20 minutes to ensure cake AND flan layer bake completely (toothpick inserted in center of cake will come out clean).

Why did my chocoflan fall apart? ›

Chocolate flan tastes best at room temperature. Be sure to let it cool completely before flipping it onto a serving plate, as it might fall apart when inverted. Drizzle the cake generously with extra cajeta caramel sauce for serving.

Why did my chocoflan not cook? ›

Chocoflan baking temperature

Getting the magic flip to happen is dependent on temperature. If the oven is too cool, the leavening agents won't react well enough before the starches gelatinize. The result is a dense cake that won't be light enough to rise up through the flan batter.

Can you leave chocoflan in the pan overnight? ›

Once the chocoflan is cool, you need to refrigerate it to set the flan even more. Tightly cover the top of the bundt pan in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.

How to check if flan is done? ›

Out of the oven

The flan is ready to be removed from the oven when it has begun to set. Gently shake the pan: the centers of the custard should jiggle slightly. You can also insert the tip of a knife into the custard near the center; if the flan is still liquid, it needs more time in the oven.

How can I check if a cake is done? ›

Check the edges of the cake, they should slightly pull away from the cake pan. Check the colour – golden brown for lighter cakes, or a shiny matte look for chocolate. The toothpick test – a toothpick or knife should come out clean after inserting into the centre. The internal temperature should be around 98°C/210°F.

How long to let flan cool before flipping? ›

Cool fully in the refrigerator at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. When ready to serve, run a paring knife or offset spatula along the edge to loosen the flan from the dish and flip over onto a rimmed plate to catch the caramel sauce.

Is chocoflan supposed to be refrigerated? ›

Cook's Note. The batters may appear to mix when you pour them into the pan, but they completely separate while baking, with the flan ending up on the bottom when it's inverted. I like eating it warm, but traditionally, it is chilled 24 hours before serving.

Did I overcook my flan? ›

The center should be almost set, but will still be a little bit jiggly. (Do not overcook – otherwise your flan will have “bubbles” on the side and will have a curdled texture to it.)

Why did my cake not cook through? ›

There's too much liquid. Opening the oven or moving pans during baking. Oven temperature is too low, or cake isn't baked long enough.

Why is my cake not cooking properly? ›

One problem, lots of possible reasons: a/ too much fat has been used to grease the tin, b/ the cake tin's not sufficiently lined c/ the oven's too hot, d/ the cake's been left in the oven for too long or e/ it contains a fat not suitable for baking. 7.

How long should I let flan cool down? ›

Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until flan is set but still jiggly in the center. Remove flan from water bath and cool on a rack for 30 minutes. Refrigerate, uncovered, until cold and firm, at least 8 hours or up to 3 days.

Why is flan unhealthy? ›

Flan does contain high amount of calcium but the cholesterol and amount of sugar over powers the calcium benefits. One serving (3.5 oz / 100g) of flan has close to 36 grams sugar. It is and seem quite high until you compare it with a can of soda which contains about 44g of sugar.

Do you flip flan right away? ›

Remove the foil and allow it to cool on the counter for 1 hour till it comes to room temperature. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours. Once fully cooled, run a knife around the edges and then place a plate onto the flan. Flip quickly and give it a quick wiggle.

Is flan supposed to be jiggly when done? ›

and if your oven isn't calibrated correctly. it'll end up either under baked or over baked. a perfectly cooked flan should be firm around the edge. and still have a little bit of a jiggle to it in the center, it'll finish setting as it cools.

How do I make sure my flan is cooked? ›

After 1 hour, check with a knife inserted just off-center into one of the servings: If the knife comes out clean, the flan is ready. If not, leave it in the oven for 15 more minutes. If baking a whole flan, thump the side of the dish after 1 hour, and if it wobbles as one, the flan is ready.

How long do you have to let flan cool? ›

Cool fully in the refrigerator at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. When ready to serve, run a paring knife or offset spatula along the edge to loosen the flan from the dish and flip over onto a rimmed plate to catch the caramel sauce. Sprinkle with Maldon salt to taste. Keep in the fridge covered for 3 to 5 days.

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