Chocoflan Impossible Cake
Chocoflan Impossible Cake – Mexican Chocoflan Cake is a dense, rich chocolate cake stacked with creamy vanilla flan, dripping with a delicate layer of cajeta caramel sauce!
Why You’ll Love Mexican Chocoflan Cake
Have you always wanted to try Impossible Cake, but never had the nerve? This easy Chocoflan Recipe, aka “Pastel Imposible” is a winner!
Mexican Chocoflan Impossible Cake is a dense, rich chocolate cake stacked with creamy vanilla flan, dripping with a delicate layer of cajeta caramel sauce! A Mexican caramel sauce made with goat milk.
This amazing Chocoflan will make you do a double-take.
It is a beautiful double-layered cake covered with Cajeta caramel sauce. It is like no other cake I have ever made or enjoyed.
Impossible Cake has the look of a cake you slaved over all day.
Contrary to appearances, it is surprisingly fun and easy to make. However, there are specific steps you must attend to, in order to achieve the desired magic, but there is nothing too hard about that.
This Chocoflan Cake is such a perfect combination of textures and flavors. The moist cake, silky flan, and creamy caramel are not your everyday cake, but you will want it to be. It is impossibly addicting, impossibly easy, and very possibly your new favorite dessert!
What is Impossible Cake?
Chocoflan is often referred to in media as an “Impossible Cake” because it defies culinary logic by inverting its layers during the baking process.
The pan goes into the oven layered with caramel, then chocolate cake, then flan. Then later comes out of the oven with the chocolate and flan layers reversed. When you take the cake out of the pan, the chocolate cake layer will be on the bottom, even though you cooked it in the middle layer!
Apparently, this happens because of science. The flan layer is more dense than the cake layer and will drop down and cook in the bottom of the pan while in the oven.
One bite of our Chocoflan Recipe will leave you believing in the Impossible!
Chocoflan Recipe Ingredients
For the Flan Layer:
- Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Evaporated Milk
- Softened Cream Cheese
- Large Eggs
- Vanilla Extract – Mexican vanilla, if possible
For the Chocolate Cake Batter Layer:
- Softened Unsalted Butter
- Granulated Sugar
- Large Egg
- All-Purpose Flour
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- Ground Cinnamon
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Buttermilk
For the Pan:
- Softened Butter for greasing
- Cajeta (Caramel Sauce)
How To Make Chocoflan
You will need a 12-cup bundt pan and a roasting pan large enough to put the bundt pan inside of and have plenty of room for water. You are creating a Bain Marie or hot water bath to cook the flan layer.
Set one oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the bundt pan with butter and drizzle the bottom of the pan with cajeta.
Boil about 2 quarts of water for the Bain Marie.
For the Chocolate Cake Layer: With an electric stand mixer or any electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beat in the egg. Sift all dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, 1/3 at a time, alternating with buttermilk until all ingredients are incorporated.
For the Flan Layer: Place all the flan ingredients together in a blender and blend on high until smooth, about 30 seconds.
Set the bundt pan inside the roasting pan. Scoop cake mix batter into the bundt pan on top of the cajeta, smooth it out. Then gently pour the flan mixture over the back of a large spoon into the bundt pan so that it lays on top of the cake batter.
Lightly butter a piece of foil and cover the bundt cake pan tightly, butter side down against the cake. Pour boiling water in the roasting pan about two inches high. Gently slide the pan onto the middle oven rack. Bake for 1 hour without opening the oven door. (You need to keep all of the steam inside the oven to do its job.)
Remove the foil and test the cake. It should be firm to the touch, and an inserted toothpick should come out clean. (If not, place back in the oven for another 10-20 minutes.) Remove the cake from the water bath and cool completely to room temperature. When cool, shake the pan from side to side to loosen, place a large serving platter inverted over the cake, hold tightly, and quickly flip over. Once the cake is inverted, the caramel and flan layer will be on the top. With a rubber spatula scrape the remaining cajeta onto the surface of the cake.
Serve at room temperature, or chill and serve cold. Both are super delicious! Garnish with more cajeta if desired.
Pro Tip: Cajeta is easy to find in most grocery stores. Check the Mexican food section or Mexican market. You can also find it online. If you can’t find it you may substitute Dulce de Leche or another type of caramel sauce.
Chocoflan Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Use the right size bundt pan! This recipe requires a minimum 12-cup capacity pan. If you use a smaller one, it might come over the edge of the pan!
- Grease the bundt pan well! The cake came out of the pan much better when I buttered it, instead of spraying it with baking spray. Butter is better! Be sure to get into all the nooks and crannies!
- Don’t skip the water bath! The water bath is critical to making this impossible chocoflan come out perfectly. It will help the flan layer to cook properly and the layers to reverse while cooking.
Storing Suggestions
- To store, place the leftover chocoflan in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days!
- To freeze the chocoflan, tightly wrap the cooled cake in at least two layers of plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 3 months! To serve, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and serve the next day.
Get the Full (Printable) Chocoflan Impossible Cake Recipe Below. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Should The Chocoflan Move When The Pan Is Moved Side To Side?
It can be a tiny bit wobbly when you take it out of the oven, but not a big wobble, or it might collapse.
What Can I Use If I Don’t Have Buttermilk?
You can make your own buttermilk in just a few minutes using this recipe from my blog!
Can I Make This A Day In Advance?
Yes, you can make this recipe several days in advance. Cover and chill, in the pan, until the day you plan to serve it. Then set it out at room temperature for 1-2 hours before flipping it out of the pan.
Looking for More Delicious Cake Recipes? Be Sure to Try:
- Strawberry Yogurt Bundt Cake
- Blueberry Muffin Bundt Cake
- Lemon Olive Oil Cake
- Chocolate Pudding Cake
- Strawberry Crunch Cake
- Easy Magic Custard Cake
- Homemade Strawberry Cake From Scratch
- Best Buttermilk Lemon Cake
- Best Cream Cheese Pound Cake
- Japanese Castella Cake (Wagashi Sponge Cake)
- Better Than Sex Cake (Retro Recipe)
Chocoflan Impossible Cake
Ingredients
For the Flan Layer:
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 12 ounces evaporated milk
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3 large eggs
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract, Mexican if possible
For the Chocolate Cake Layer:
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
For the Pan:
- 2 tablespoons softened butter for greasing
- 1/4 cup cajeta (caramel sauce)
Instructions
- You will need a 12-cup bundt pan and a roasting pan large enough to put the bundt pan inside of and have plenty of room for water. You are creating a Bain Marie or water bath to cook the flan layer.
- Set one oven rack in middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the bundt pan with butter and drizzle the bottom of the pan with cajeta.
- Boil about 2 quarts of water for the Bain Marie.
- For the Chocolate Cake Layer: With an electric stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beat in the egg. Sift all dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, 1/3 at a time, alternating with buttermilk until all ingredients are incorporated.
- For the Flan Layer: Place all the flan ingredients together in a blender and blend on high until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Set the bundt pan inside the roasting pan. Scoop cake batter into the bundt pan on top of the cajeta, smooth it out. Then gently pour the flan mixture over the back of a large spoon into the bundt pan so that it lays on top of the cake batter.
- Lightly butter a piece of foil and cover the bundt pan tightly, butter side down against the cake. Pour boiling water in the roasting pan about two inches high. Gently slide the pan onto the middle oven rack. Bake for 1 hour without opening the oven door. (You need to keep all of the steam inside the oven to do its job.)
- Remove the foil and test the cake. It should be firm to the touch, and an inserted toothpick should come out clean. (If not, place back in the oven for another 10-20 minutes.) Remove the cake from the water bath and cool completely to room temperature. When cool, shake the pan from side to side to loosen, place a large platter inverted over the cake, hold tightly and quickly flip over. With a rubber spatula scrape the remaining cajeta onto the cake.
- Serve at room temperature, or chill and serve cold. Both are !Muy Delicioso! Garnish with more cajeta if desired.
Followed the recipe as it is listed here. Cake came out great. Brought it to a Mexican themed dinner party and it was a big hit. I will be making this again.
I enjoyed the chocoflan just not a fan of adding cinnamon to the mix I will try next time without cinnamon.
It was a fantastic flavorful treat. The beautiful magic that happens and the beauty it turns out to be is worth the anticipation. I love it!
Fantastic cake! I made a complete mistake and added 3 eggs to chocolate batter instead of 1. When I realized the error, added a couple extra tablespoons of flour. Even with that mistake(and I forgot to add vanilla to the flan), it was amazing. My homemade cajeta certainly didn’t hurt either. Can’t wait to make again!
Can I only use half of the recipe for a 6inch Bundt cake?
Hi Christina,
In theory, yes, but I haven’t made this in a smaller pan so I hesitate to offer a baking time. If you give it a try, please report back!
I use box cake mix.
I also use whole 8oz. Cream cheese (like my flan creamier). Also make my own cajeta. Turned out amazing!!
Absolutely delicious! I adapted the cake recipe to make it gluten-free (gf flour blend made with white rice flour, tapioca starch and cornflour, plus some xantam gum), and it came out really nice. The cinnamon flavour of the chocolate cake goes very nicely with the vanilla flan. Make sure to coat the pan very generously with butter, I had a hard time getting it out and was afraid it would break but it didn’t.
We brought it to a Mexican themed dinner party and we were so worried when making this since the chocolate was on the top in the recipe but on the bottom in the photo…BUT! It’s magic! Trust the process and follow the recipe to a T!
Was an amazing cake!
Any suggestions for high altitude baking?
I live in the Denver area and I’ve only ever made boxed brownies, which came out fine (although I think the instructions told me to throw a little baking powder into the mix).
I know this was a year ago, but I live at about the same elevation and I religiously use King Arthur Baking’s high altitude adjustments and it’s worked every time so far! My only addendum to their instructions is I try not to use eggs as the extra “liquid”. It’s fine in cakes, but for other things I’ve gotten a slightly more rubbery texture, so I try to use milk/buttermilk/molasses/whatever before eggs.
I saw this recipe and just had to try it! I’ve never made chocoflan before and this was so fun! My whole family loved it!
Ok, this has taken regular flan to a whole new & even more delicious level!! It is heavenly!! Love the chocolate flavor with the flan & caramel sauce.
I’m going to make this for a Mexican themed dinner this weekend and have a question.
Do you actually place the buttered foil directly on the flan mixture when it goes into the oven? Or does it just cover the top of the pan itself?
thanks!
Hi Linda,
It covers the top of the pan. The butter is to make sure that if the cake rises and touches the foil, it does not stick. :)
to see the batter and the flan shift in the pan after putting it in the oven Is truly mesmerizing! thank you for sharing this recipe!
A beautiful, and delicious cake, follow the recipe. Will put it in my baked goods rotation. Moist, chocolatey, goodness. Thank you.