These chocolate flan desserts are also called "pastelitos imposibles" because the cake portion magically rises to the top of the dish as it cooks (due to expansion making it lighter than the flan above). In fact, it's relatively easy to make. This is an intensely chocolate-y version from Cooks Country February/March 2023. They claim that you must use Cajete instead of the easier-to-find Dulce de Leche due to the latter's density, but that doesn't make sense due to the layering, and is empirically untrue. The hardest part is combining the ingredients for the cake as it's quite dense; the flan is trivial in a blender.
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| Dulce de Leche on top, then flan, and cake on bottom |
This makes six 8-ounce ramekins, or four 12-ounce oven-safe ceramic bowls that are large enough to split between two people; eight 6-ounce ramekins would be a fine size for a single person.
90 ml 6 Tbs Cajeta or Dulce de Leche
Cake:
70 g 6 Tbs Sugar
45 g 5 Tbs AP Flour
0.6 g 1/8 tsp Baking Soda
0.8 g 1/8 tsp Table Salt
57 g 1/3 C Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
60 ml 1/4 C Whole Milk
22 g 1/4 C Dutch-processed cocoa powder
37 ml 2 1/2 Tbs Vegetable Oil
1 large 1 large Egg
1.25 ml 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
Flan:
235 ml 1 C Evaporated Milk
235 ml 1 C Sweetened Condensed Milk
85 g 3 ounce Cream Cheese
2 large 2 large Eggs
10 ml 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 g 1/8 tsp Table Salt
Heat oven to 160C/325F (convection is fine, too).
Spray ramekins with oil or paint with butter.
Find a lasagna pan or similar, big enough to hold your ramekins in a water bath.
If necessary, heat Cajeta or Dulce de Leche gently in a microwave until spoonable, then add a Tablespoon to each of the ramekins.
Cake:
Whisk Sugar, Flour, Baking Soda, and Salt.
Heat Chocolate, Milk, and Cocoa in a small sauce pan over low heat until melted and smooth, 3-5 minutes; let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
Whisk Oil, Egg, and Vanilla into chocolate mixture until smooth.
Whisk in sugar mixture and combine thoroughly; this is pretty stiff but it will come together.
Divide the thick batter between the ramekins, trying not to mix into the Cajeta/Dulce too much.
Flan:
Bring 1 quart/liter of Water to boil for the bain marie.
Process all ingredients in a blender until smooth.
Divide flan mixture between the ramekins; this loose liquid probably won't disturb the thick cake batter much.
Add the ramekins to the lasagne pan then fill this pan with boiling water to make a bain marie.
Spray oil or smear butter over a piece of foil and cover the bain marie.
Bake 50 minutes for small ramekins, or 70 minutes for larger ones; you want enough time for the egg to set the flan.
Test that a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Remove ramekins from water and let cool, at least an hour.
Invert the ramekins onto serving plates, and top with remaining sauce from the ramekins.
You can eat these barely cool, and they'll be pretty soft, but they're quite good after being chilled in a fridge where they will firm up a bit.
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