Let’s start the week off with a little bit of MAGIC

Magic Flan Cake. Ogled this forever and this year I knew I had to add it to the top of my #recipechallenge and get down to making it!

It’s magic because you pour in the cake batter first, then pour over the flan liquid. When you put it in the oven, the magic starts to happen, it’s glorious! The flan swops places with the cake batter and it’s all just one more-ish dish of amazingness. I’ve made this 3 times already and I’m still not over it! Lol.

I used the recipe on @sprinklebakes blog but I cheated the chocolate cake part ? I used a cake mix from @bettercrocker with one less egg to make it thicker but you can use any thick cake batter you like.

The flan is the easiest flan I’ve ever made and it’s so good!

Here are my 5 essential tips:
1. If the cake batter comes to the top before you get it into the oven don’t stress, just go with it.
2. Don’t forget to do the caramel!
3. Don’t forget to grease your baking tin
4. Don’t use a springform (loose-bottomed) baking pan
5. The cake MUST chill overnight so make it a day or two before.

Recipe:

1. Chocolate cake:
   Any thick chocolate cake made with butter or buttermilk.
   Or use a cake mix, I used the BettyCrocker cake mix.

2. Caramel sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon juice

Heat slowly until completely melted and syrup is clear. Keep a water bath nearby in case it gets too hot too quickly. You don’t want burnt caramel.

Flan from @sprinklebakes
2 cans condensed milk
2 1/2 cups full cream milk, room temperature
170g cream cheese, room temperature
6 large eggs, room temperature
4 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract

Method from @Sprinklebakes

Preheat the oven to 170degC.
Grease a bundt pan with cook and bake spray.
Pour the caramel sauce evenly into the bottom of the pan.

Make your cake batter and pour onto the caramel.

Add all the flan ingredients to a blender pitcher and process on high until smooth (I used an immersion blender). Slowly pour the flan mixture over the cake batter. Place the cake pan in a large roasting pan and then place it in the oven. Carefully pour hot water into the roasting pan (I used hot water straight from the tap) until it reaches halfway up the sides of the bundt pan.

You want it to bake in a water bath for the creamiest flan.
Bake the cake for 80 to 90 minutes, or until a toothpick tester comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging (mine took about 1 hour 40 minutes). Gently remove the Bundt pan from the roasting pan and place it on a cooling rack. Allow it to cool completely in the pan. Refrigerate the cake in the pan for 8 hours, or overnight.

To unmold the cake, fill a large bowl (or your sink) with hot water. Place the bottom of the cake pan in the water to warm the caramel/flan portion of the cake. This will help the cake release. Turn the cake out onto a large serving platter or a cake stand that has a lip. The caramel will drizzle down over the cake as you remove the pan. Store the cake covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator.

Note: Use a bundt pan because your cake is more stable that way, using a round cake pan like mine caused the flan to crack and fall after a while.