The Best Flancocho Ever—Dominican Cake + Flan

INGREDIENTS

• For the Caramel
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• For the Flan
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 12 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 12 oz evaporated milk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp rum
• For the Dominican Chocolate Cake
• 1 box Angela’s Dominican Chocolate Cake Mix
• 6 eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 16 oz unsalted butter
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup corn oil

Chili Cheese Burger Bowls

DIRECTIONS

• Make the Caramel Topping
• Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter or grease a bundt pan—thoroughly.
• Pour the sugar into a skillet set to medium-high heat. Stir the sugar constantly while it caramelizes. The sugar will first start to clump at first, but once it gets hot enough, it will start to turn a golden color. And then it will melt into a liquidy dark brown caramel.
• Keep stirring until all the sugar has been liquified and there are no clumps left in the skillet. (Do not leave the stove while doing this. Your caramel can go from perfect to burnt in the blink of an eye!)
• Now, be careful with this next step: Carefully and slowly pour the water into the pan with the caramelized sugar. The water will probably splash, so stand as far back as you can so you don’t burn yourself.
• You will notice the caramel hardens up when you add the water. Keep stirring with your spatula until all the sugar has re-melted into a thin, light syrup. When the syrup is smooth and back to its deep amber color, remove from the stove and immediately pour the hot caramel into your greased bundt cake pan.
• Swirl the pan around so that the caramel spreads evenly across the bottom of the entire bundt pan. Very carefully rotate the pan so that the caramel also coats the sides. Keep rotating the caramel until it cools and hardens to the point that it no longer moves around. Set the cake pan aside and allow the caramel to cool and harden.
• Prepare the Cake Batter
• Make the cake mix according to the box instructions: beat the eggs, butter, pineapple juice and corn oil in a bowl. Set aside.
• Make the Flan
• In a blender, place the eggs, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, rum and vanilla extract. Blend on high until fully mixed.
• Mix Your Half Flan, Half Cake Batter
• Slowly pour the blended flan mix over the hardened caramel in the bundt pan. Tilt to spread it evenly.
• Spread the chocolate cake batter across the top of the flan mix.
• Bake Your Flancocho
• Place the bundt pan with the flan and cake mix in a water bath. (Angela and Rose usually use a large turkey- roasting pan, but any large pan will do, as long as you are able to add water to it, up to the middle of the height of the bundt pan.)
• Bake for 90 minutes (although it might take less time, depending on your oven, says Rose). Starting at 50 minutes from the time you put it in the oven, check your flan. Insert a toothpick in the cake to make sure it comes out clean. This means it’s done baking. If not, keep baking and checking every 5 minutes—until the toothpick comes out with no trace of flan or batter.
• Let the flan cool. Then transfer the bundt pan to the fridge. Let it chill for at least 3 to 4 hours and preferably overnight.
• Ready for the Party? Unmold and Serve
• When ready to plate and serve, remove the flancocho from the fridge. Using the same large pan you used for the water bath, add a couple inches of new hot water. Sit the bundt pan in the hot water for a few minutes. This will help loosen the caramel from the bottom by melting it slightly.
• Give the bundt pan a little jiggle. If the flancocho moves around, you are good to go. Otherwise, place it back in the hot water for a few more minutes and try again.
• When it is jiggling just right, place your serving plate on top of the mold, count to three and flip your flancocho onto the plate!
• Put your plated flancocho back in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it muy frío. Féliz whatever you are celebrating!

NOTES

• When using Angela’s Dominican Cake Mix, you will only be using half of the total cake batter for this recipe. Freeze the other half of the batter to later bake another whole flancocho, cupcakes or a mini bundt cake. Up to you!
• Be very careful when working with caramel. It can get extremely hot and can cause severe burns if you accidentally splash it on yourself. Consider wearing oven mitts and handle working with caramel very carefully.
• This flancocho takes 90 minutes to bake because the bundt cake is so deep. At first we found the time surprising since flan usually takes only 50 minutes, but it truly does take that long.

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