Apparently This is a Thing
May. 3rd, 2021 08:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerThis week's Resolution Recipe: ChocoFlan.
This is going to seem like a lot of work, and it's moderately fiddly and uses ingredients I never keep in the pantry - but it's MAGIC.
Base:
125 g salted caramel sauce
Cake:
150 g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing the tin
190 g soft brown sugar
1 medium egg
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
200 g plain flour, sifted, plus extra for flouring the tin (I used flour spray instead - much easier)
30 g cocoa powder
1 tspbicarbonate of baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp instant coffee granules
230 ml whole milk
Crème caramel:
600 ml evaporated milk
1 397g tin condensed milk
4 medium eggses
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
pinch salt
Heat oven to 350 F. Grease and lightly flour the inside of a 23cm bundt tin. Find a roasting tin big enough to hold the bundt tin comfortably and deep enough for water to come 2/3 of the way up the side of the bundt tin. Pop a tea towel into the base of the roasting tin.
Put the salted caramel in a microwaveable dish and warm for just long enough to make it runny, about 20 seconds. (We don't have a microwave. Heat salted caramel in a water bath over low heat to make it runny - much, much longer than 20 seconds.) Pour into the base of the tin, avoiding drips on the sides. Tap on the worktop to level off.
Make the cake by whisking the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until you have a really light and fluffy mixture. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix in. In a separate bowl, add the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and baking powder and mix really well.Now, spoon the coffee into a small bowl, add a few Tbsp of the milk, and heat for a few seconds in the microwave until the coffee has dissolved. Mix, pour into the remaining milk, and stir through.
Sift a third of the flour mixture onto the butter, sugar, and egg mixture and fold in with a large metal spoon. Fold in a third of the milk, then repeat until all the flour and milk has been mixed in. When you have a smooth batter, spoon over the salted caramel, tap the tin on the worktop to remove any bubbles and make sure you have a level top. Put the bundt tin into the centre of the roasting tin.
Make the crème caramel mixture by mixing the evaporated milk, condensed milk, eggses, vanilla, and salt in a fud processor until smooth and even. Pour on top of the cake batter and level the top. Have a jug of hot water ready. Put the roasting tin with the bundt tin into the oven. Before you close the door, pour the water straight onto the tea towel in the roasting tin, making sure the water reaches at least 2/3 of the way up. Bake for one hour and don't be tempted to open the oven. Once cooked, take out and leave to cool in the tin for another hour, then flip over onto a serving dish and it is ready to eat.
What worked: This is the cool magic part. When you put the batters in, the cake is on the top and the flan is on the bottom. As it bakes, they switch places! You get a layer of cake topped with a distinct layer of flan.
The texture difference between cake and flan was nice, and the flan was tender, not eggy or rubbery. Overall, this was a nice showy dessert. I left out the coffee, because 1) the wife loathes it (even though I believe that she wouldn't taste it, she'd refuse to try if she knew it was there); and 2) instant coffee is an Abomination Before the $Deity, and we have none in this orthodox house.
What didn't: The salted caramel is supposed to stick to the top of the cake. It... didn't. It just puddled all over the place. Overall I found it a bit too sweet, and the chocolate cake was not chocolatey enough. (Switching out cocoa powder for dark chocolate would probably interfere with the culinary magic.) The last few slices weren't as over-sweet, so not having puddled caramel might be the trick.
Will I make it again? I'm not putting it in the recipe box, but I might for a showy potluck. However, I'd be inclined to lightly drizzle caramel over the top after it comes out of the bundt tin - or possibly use a dark chocolate syrup/thin chocolate sauce instead. Putting orange essence in the flan batter was also mooted about.
There are also other similar recipes out there; I might look at them to see if any address the things we didn't like as much.
This is going to seem like a lot of work, and it's moderately fiddly and uses ingredients I never keep in the pantry - but it's MAGIC.
Base:
125 g salted caramel sauce
Cake:
150 g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing the tin
190 g soft brown sugar
1 medium egg
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
200 g plain flour, sifted, plus extra for flouring the tin (I used flour spray instead - much easier)
30 g cocoa powder
1 tsp
1 tsp baking powder
230 ml whole milk
Crème caramel:
600 ml evaporated milk
1 397g tin condensed milk
4 medium eggses
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
pinch salt
Heat oven to 350 F. Grease and lightly flour the inside of a 23cm bundt tin. Find a roasting tin big enough to hold the bundt tin comfortably and deep enough for water to come 2/3 of the way up the side of the bundt tin. Pop a tea towel into the base of the roasting tin.
Make the cake by whisking the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until you have a really light and fluffy mixture. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix in. In a separate bowl, add the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and baking powder and mix really well.
Sift a third of the flour mixture onto the butter, sugar, and egg mixture and fold in with a large metal spoon. Fold in a third of the milk, then repeat until all the flour and milk has been mixed in. When you have a smooth batter, spoon over the salted caramel, tap the tin on the worktop to remove any bubbles and make sure you have a level top. Put the bundt tin into the centre of the roasting tin.
Make the crème caramel mixture by mixing the evaporated milk, condensed milk, eggses, vanilla, and salt in a fud processor until smooth and even. Pour on top of the cake batter and level the top. Have a jug of hot water ready. Put the roasting tin with the bundt tin into the oven. Before you close the door, pour the water straight onto the tea towel in the roasting tin, making sure the water reaches at least 2/3 of the way up. Bake for one hour and don't be tempted to open the oven. Once cooked, take out and leave to cool in the tin for another hour, then flip over onto a serving dish and it is ready to eat.
What worked: This is the cool magic part. When you put the batters in, the cake is on the top and the flan is on the bottom. As it bakes, they switch places! You get a layer of cake topped with a distinct layer of flan.
The texture difference between cake and flan was nice, and the flan was tender, not eggy or rubbery. Overall, this was a nice showy dessert. I left out the coffee, because 1) the wife loathes it (even though I believe that she wouldn't taste it, she'd refuse to try if she knew it was there); and 2) instant coffee is an Abomination Before the $Deity, and we have none in this orthodox house.
What didn't: The salted caramel is supposed to stick to the top of the cake. It... didn't. It just puddled all over the place. Overall I found it a bit too sweet, and the chocolate cake was not chocolatey enough. (Switching out cocoa powder for dark chocolate would probably interfere with the culinary magic.) The last few slices weren't as over-sweet, so not having puddled caramel might be the trick.
Will I make it again? I'm not putting it in the recipe box, but I might for a showy potluck. However, I'd be inclined to lightly drizzle caramel over the top after it comes out of the bundt tin - or possibly use a dark chocolate syrup/thin chocolate sauce instead. Putting orange essence in the flan batter was also mooted about.
There are also other similar recipes out there; I might look at them to see if any address the things we didn't like as much.
