Hello there! My name is Caitlin, and I am a food scientist, chef-in-training, recipe developer, & food connoisseur. I am passionate about all things cooking, from restaurants, to recipes, to ingredients, to my gear. I love shopping, curating, & sharing my tips and tricks with you, so that you can do your very best work.

INGREDIENTS

  • Boxed chocolate cake mix + ingredients for preparation on box

  • 6 large eggs

  • 14 oz can sweetened-condensed milk

  • 12 oz can evaporated milk

  • 3/4 C whole milk

  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon

  • 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • 1.5 C white sugar

  • 1/4 C water

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. In a medium bowl, prepare the chocolate cake mix for baking per the instructions on the box

  2. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, canned milks, whole milk, spices, and vanilla extract and mix with a hand mixer until combined

  3. In a small sauce pot, combine sugar and water, cook on medium heat until melted into a loose syrup. The mixture will turn brown. Do not leave the stove this can burn very easily, very quickly

  4. Once your caramel syrup is ready, carefully pour into a stainless steel cake pan in an even coating, this will be very hot

  5. Let that cool for a moment and harden, then carefully add your cake batter mixture on top, making sure you don’t disturb the caramel layer

  6. Next, add your flan mixture carefully on top of the cake mixture

  7. Bake in a water bath at 350 dF for 1 hour uncovered, then covered with foil for another 30-40 minutes. You want to pull the flan when you see it is almost fully set but still has a little wiggle

  8. Cool in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight

  9. When ready to serve, place a serving platter on top of the cake dish and carefully invert the cake out of it’s baking dish onto a platter

  10. Serve with yummy cafecitos & enjoy!

I absolutely love any sort of custard-like desert. This flan is equally as fun to make as it is to eat. During the cooking process, the chocolate cake layer will actually rise to the top of the dish as the flan layer moves to the bottom, creating a flan-soaked chocolate cake with delicious flavor. It blows my mind every time that this happens and stays in tact, definitely a fun party trick. Pro-tip, you can also take the flan recipe and make it without the chocolate cake the same way as written here (and you can even add cream cheese and make a cheesecake-like desert, “flan de queso.”)