As some of you know, I come from a large Cuban family so we are big fans of flan! Most people have tried regular flan at some point but this FLAN CAKEΒ really takes it up a notch! It’s part cake and part flan and has a caramel sauce that soaks into everything! When my family asks me to bring a dessert, it’s usually flan cake! It has a few steps but nothing is difficult and trust me, it’s worth it!! If you’re not familiar with flan or you’ve never tried it, it’s has a custard consistency and is dense and rich with a vanilla caramel taste. What’s not to love about that right!?
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How to make FLAN CAKE:
- 1 box of yellow cake mix and ingredients to make (Usually eggs, oil, water)
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 1 (12 ounce) can of evaporated milk
- 1 (14 ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk
- 4 ounces of cream cheese at room temp
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pre-heat yourΒ oven at 350 and go ahead and make the yellow cake batterΒ as directed and set it aside.
In a [easyazon_link identifier=”B00NGV4506″ locale=”US” tag=”cocandash-20″]blender[/easyazon_link], add in your evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon. Blend until smooth. So far pretty easy right?! Go ahead and set this aside too.
Next is the part that makes this flan cake so delicious!! The caramel sauce!Β Β Here’s the stages the sugar will go through:
Now this is very important…once your sugar has caramelized,Β make sure you put on some good oven mitts! Trust me when I say, the bundt pan will get super hot from the hot caramel and you don’t want to drop that when you’re in the middle of coating your pan. (And don’t try to stick your finger in the caramel to try it…not that I’ve done that or anything!)
Ok so you have your oven mitts on so go ahead and pour your hot caramel sauce into the bundt pan and continue to swirl it around the pan, coating as much as you can until the caramel starts to solidify. I also sprayed the center post with a little cooking spray AFTER the caramel had hardened.
Now, once your pan is coated, you can pour in the cake batter. (I sometimes leave a little out just to make it only come up half way. Just a personal preference though)
Pour the flan batter over the cake batter. I pour it all around the cake batter as best I can. It’s ok if it’s not perfect. It will spread out and even on its own. (That’s the magic of the flan cake!)
Now, place your bundt pan inside of another bigger pan and add in enough water in the large pan to come up half way up the outside of the bundt pan. I used a slightly larger round pan but you can use any pan that the bundt pan can sit inside of.
Cover the bundt pan with foil and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. When it comes out, you’ll notice that all the cake has floated to the top and the flan has made an even layer on the bottom (which will be the top when you flip it over.)
Let the flan cake completely coolΒ to room temp or you can refrigerateΒ it and then carefully flip it onto a large dish. Make sure that your dish has a lip so the caramel won’t run off the edges!
Note: if you have some caramel stuck in your pan after you flip the flan over, take your bundt pan and warm it over your stove top until that caramel melts. Then you can pour that over the flan as well. I always do this because I hate to waste a drop of that caramel!Β
Flan Cake
Ingredients
- 1 box of yellow cake mix and ingredients to make (Usually eggs oil, water)
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 1 12 ounce can of evaporated milk
- 1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
- 4 ounces cream cheese at room temp
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees,
- Prepare the cake mix as directed on your box and set the batter aside.
- In a blender, add the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon.
- Blend until smooth.
- In a sauce pan, add your white sugar. (Make sure to keep a close eye on this step since sugar can burn quickly!)
- Cook the sugar over medium high heat until it's completely liquified and caramel colored. (stirring occasionaly)
- Remove it from the heat.
- Put on oven mitts and pour the caramel into the bundt pan.
- With your oven mitts on, swirl the caramel around the inside of the bundt pan to coat as much of the surface as you can.
- Keep swirling until the caramel is no longer moving.
- Spray any uncoated parts of the pan with cooking spray.
- Pour the cake batter into the pan.
- Pour the flan batter into the pan.
- Take your bundt pan and place it inside of a larger pan that it can sit inside of.
- Fill the larger pan with water so that it comes about half way up the outside of the bundt pan.
- Cover the bundt pan with foil.
- Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Let it cool completely or refrigerate it over night.
- When you're ready to flip it. Place a large platter over the top of the bundt pan and carefully flip it upside down. Jiggle the pan until you're sure the cake is loose.
13 Comments
Laura | Wandercooks
November 29, 2016 at 5:16 pmYesss, this looks soft and sweet and all kinds of delicious! And I love your detailed instructions (especially about handling the caramel sauce with care – clumsy me needs these reminders every now and again!).
Coco and Ash
November 29, 2016 at 6:21 pmThanks Laura!! I put that in there because I have burnt my hands so many times! I must be just as clumsy lol
Annemarie @ justalittlebitofbacon
November 29, 2016 at 11:14 pmI’ve never thought about flan cake, but I can see why your family always wants you to bring one! The step-by-step directions are great. It’s good to be able to see how everything should go so there is no confusion. π
Coco and Ash
November 30, 2016 at 10:06 amThank you!!
Samantha
April 20, 2019 at 9:11 amHi! Do you grease your entire Bundt before you add the caramel to the bottom?
Coco and Ash
April 20, 2019 at 9:48 amNo grease π the caramel is so hot that it will scorch any oil or butter. But the caramel also helps the cake not stick π
Jewelia Rex
May 5, 2019 at 2:50 pmI love this recipe! I work at a recovery center and have brought this to several meetings. People go back or seconds and even thirds if there’s enough ;-)!
virginia
August 17, 2020 at 2:36 pmHave you ever just made the caramel in the bundt pan?
Coco and Ash
August 17, 2020 at 9:14 pmI have not. My pan has a design in it so it wouldnβt be easy to stir in π
virginia rivero
August 17, 2020 at 9:59 pmMade it today and got lots of compliments:)
Coco and Ash
August 18, 2020 at 2:14 pmAwesome!!
Gina Lindsey
December 24, 2020 at 8:59 pmHi Mindy,
I am a good friend of your Mom and Dad. I made this flan cake. It is delicious but … there was a lot of caramel stuck to my Bundt pan. I was afraid to put my tephlon pan over the flame on my stove. I tried to melt the caramel in my sauce pan but when I poured it over my chilled cake it crystallized again.
Should I have turned the cake over when it was cool before it was refrigerated?
Anyway, it tastes wonderful!
Coco and Ash
December 25, 2020 at 8:45 amHi Gina! Sugar can be temperamental when reheating and cooling. Next time, I would try putting the empty pan (with the stuck caramel) back in the oven to melt it. That way itβs not over a direct flame and it will melt better for you and not re-crystallize π