Chocolate Chiffon Flan Cake

How I discovered this cake in just four steps and a few mindless hours:

Stalking Flickr --> Gargantuan thread for food bloggers --> started by Just Pic n' Julie --> who also has a blog called Little Sister Cooks.

I tried out Julie's recipe for Chocolate Chiffon Flan Cake and it was everything she promised: "Creamy leche flan on top, airy chocolate chiffon cake layer on bottom..." Yes, it's delicious. And, yes, you're technically preparing two cakes... aaand you have to let it sit in the fridge for a while before you get to eat it. But, really. It's so worth it. Promise.

Read on for Little Sister's Chocolate Chiffon Flan Cake!

Little Sister's Chocolate Chiffon Flan Cake

I admit I was nervous about letting the flan mixture sit while I made the chiffon cake, I was sure one of the cakes would finish baking before the other, and I figured that the chiffon would fall right through the flan. I should not have worried so much. This recipe just comes together like magic.

You should check out the original recipe, as I made a few minor changes, including using my own recipe for flan (my own being Bon Apétit's Classic Flan recipe via Epicurious), substituting low-fat milk for whole.

Classic Flan (via Bon Apétit)
1 cup sugar, divided
¼ cup water
2 cups low-fat milk
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

1. Stir the ½ cup sugar and ¼ cup of water in a small saucepan over low heat.

3 more minutes to caramel sauce 

2. Once the sugar dissolves increase the heat. Let the mixture boil without stirring-- just swirl the pan around every so often. Pay close attention as this can easily burn. Remove from heat when the syrup reaches a golden amber color.

3. Congratulations. You just made a caramel sauce. Now quickly pour it into a 9-inch round baking dish, swirling it around to cover. Set aside.

4. Stir milk and remaining ½ cup sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat just until sugar dissolves and the milk is lukewarm. Meanwhile whisk the eggs in a medium bowl until blended. Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the eggs. If you're paranoid (I am) about scrambling the eggs, temper them first with 2 tablespoons of the warm milk. Whisk in vanilla and salt.

5. Set the mix aside while preparing the chiffon cake.


Chocolate Chiffon Cake

4 cups water, boiling
²⁄₃ cup flour
¹⁄₃ cup cocoa powder
²⁄₃ cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt, plus a pinch
4 large eggs, separated
¼ cup olive oil
½ tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. cream of tartar

1. Get the water boiling and preheat the oven to 325° F.

2. In a small bowl whisk flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt to combine.

3. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks, oil, and vanilla. In batches, incorporate the flour mixture into the egg mixture until the batter is smooth. It will look way more solid than a regular cake batter.

4. Oh hey, do you know how to whip egg whites? Well you should. Here's the short version:
Add the pinch of salt to your egg whites, beat to foam, add cream of tartar, whip to soft peaks, incorporate remaining sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks are achieved.

 soft peaks

stiff peaks

5. In 3 batches, gently (but quickly!) fold egg whites into the batter until just combined.


Putting it all Together

 water bath

1. Place the caramel-coated pan into a larger pan (something that gives at least an inch all the way around).

2. Strain the flan mixture into the caramel pan.

3. Gently pour the chiffon cake batter on top of the flan.

4. Pour enough boiling water into the larger baking pan to reach halfway up the sides of the pan.

5. Place the whole contraption on the middle rack and bake for about 30 minutes. You know it's done when a tester fork (through the cake and the flan) comes out clean.

Now leave this out to cool. Then put it in the refrigerator, lightly covered, for at least 4 hours or overnight.


Serve it Up

Yeah, there's still more work... So take it out of the fridge and cut around the inside edges of the pan. Now set the pan up in another water bath-- in a larger pan, filled halfway with super hot water. After letting it sit for 3 minutes, take your cake pan out of the water and flip it over onto a serving plate (or adorable cake stand if you happen to have friends who buy you excellent presents).

This cake is a bit more work than usual, but it's pretty much like eating custard-topped brownie batter (yes!) but in a classy way.