Chocoflan

The chocoflan combines two of Mexico’s favourite desserts: chocolate cake and vanilla flan. Layered one on top of the other, the pair are baked together in a cake tin coated with caramel. Traditionally, recipes call for the chocolate mix to be poured in first so that, thanks to the differing weights of the two batters, it rises to the top during baking and, as if by magic, swaps position with the flan — a defiance of logic that’s led to chocoflan being known as ‘impossible cake’. Here, the flan mixture is poured in first and the chocoflan goes into the oven in the same way it comes out. It remains, however, an impossibly good dessert.

Chocoflan by Bricia Lopez and Javier Cabral

SERVES: 12 TAKES: 1 HR

FOR THE CARAMEL

85g white sugar

FOR THE FLAN

430ml sweetened condensed milk 360ml evaporated milk

225g cream cheese

4 large eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

FOR THE CHOCOLATE CAKE

3 large eggs

200g white sugar 120ml milk

120ml rapeseed oil 85g plain flour, sifted 25g cocoa powder 1 tsp baking powder 2 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD

1 Start by making the caramel. Combine the sugar and 1 tbsp water in a saucepan set over a medium heat. Stir constantly until it starts to take on a dark-brown colour. Carefully pour the caramel into a 25cm round cake tin, spreading it around to cover the bottom of the tin, then set aside.

2 Put all the flan ingredients into a blender, then lightly blend in bursts for 1 min until combined. Pour the flan mix into the caramel-lined cake tin.

3 Heat oven to 170C, 150C fan, gas 3½. Put the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl, then beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer until evenly combined. Add the milk and oil and mix until thickened. Once the ingredients are well combined, lower your mixer’s speed to the lowest setting and tip in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, 1 tsp salt and, lastly, the vanilla extract. Stop mixing as soon as the flour is mixed in (small clumps are okay). Spoon the batter into the cake tin, making sure it’s evenly distributed over the flan mix.

4 Fill a roasting pan with water and place the cake tin in it. Bake for 35 mins, or until a fork inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and its hot-water bath and leave to cool, then put in the fridge. Serve cold.

Taken from Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico, by Bricia Lopez and Javier Cabral (£30, Abrams)

37