Saturday, April 2, 2011

Flan Cake. Totally worth it !


all i can say is OMG !!!

absolutely CARAMELICIOUS !!!


i might have just found the 8th wonder of the world...
the answer to all ones problems...(at least mine)
the reason for all things being...
this could actually be 
THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD !


do i like this cake...why, yes, i DO
do i suggest you make this cake...yes, i DO !!!

as you might know, i did try to make a Flan Cake last week.  total Flan Cake FAILURE as seen HERE.
i knew the idea of this cake sounded fabulous, but i had no idea it was going to be this good.  as i mentioned in the "failure post" i wasn't going to give up and i'm glad i didn't.   i tried a different recipe.  i think the first one had the wrong milk to egg ratio, but of course it could have been cook's error as well.

this recipe is pretty easy.  if you break it down it's all simple stuff, but you just have to have some patience and some faith.  if you intend to have it for a dinner party i suggest you start it in the morning or it can even be made the day before.  i had to let mine sit overnight because dinner was canceled.  the cake is easy to throw together, then bakes for about an hour, cooled down for another hour, then goes into the fridge for a couple of hours or over night...then before serving it comes out of the fridge and needs to come to room temp for about 2 hours.  this is where the patience comes in play.  FAITH?...you need it for the final unveiling...hoping that everything has cooked through and set properly.  no worries with this recipe if you follow it as i did.  
by the way...many thanks to the original blogger at What's Cookin, Chicago?
Joelen calls this a Tres Leche Flan Cake.  i'm not quite sure where the "Tres Leches" comes into play, but i love the secret ingredient of Coca Cola.  i think it's the perfect thing to add that extra caramel-ness to the store bought box cake.  i bet no one would ever know the cake part came from a box.


so...on with the recipe?...
i usually copy the recipe for your convenience, but this time i don't want to miss a step or make some typo that would send your cake to the failure pile like my first one...

BUT i will give you my few tips i think are necessary for success.
you might want to cut and paste these tips for the actual baking day.

1.  make sure you preheat your oven well
2. important....the time and temp works best for a regular oven setting...not convection.
3.  while prepping the cake, put some water on to boil for the bain marie.
4.  don't go overboard with the caramel in the bottom of the pan.  as you can see in my photo vs the original photo of Joelen's, my cake had a little dent on the top from the caramel ring....not a bad thing by any means, but you can always add some on after it is unmolded.  i found the real caramel called Cajeta de Leche at a Mexican market.
5.  DO use the Coke to replace the water.  i did NOT use the full can.  i used the amount the cake called for
6.  for the bain marie...make sure you put your bain marie vessel (i used a roasting pan) in the oven while it is preheating.
7.  put your cake in the bain marie pan and fill the bain marie with almost boiling water.
8.  after the long 2 hours of bringing it to room temp after refrigeration, you will have a pool of soupy caramel in the middle of the bundt pan...do not be alarmed.  either before or after you unmold the cake you should scoop this out with a small ladle and save for pouring over the cake.  if you don't, when you slice it you could have quite a flowing gush of caramel on your cake plate.

so without further adieu...
i give you the link to one of the best cakes i have ever made and ever tasted !

from Joelen at What's Cookin' Chicago?
the instructions are very well written and easy to interpret.
she also has a printer friendly app that come in handy.


29 comments:

Federica Simoni said...

una vera squisitezza!buona domenica!!baci!

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

Say no more, you've got me convinced!! I am sooooo going to make this cake!!

:)
ButterYum

I Sing In The Kitchen said...

I LOVED reading about your triumph. Woo HOO!! That is the best looking flan cake I have seen around the net. I can't wait to try it.

Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said...

My friend's made this before and it's splendid!

What's Cookin Chicago said...

So glad you liked it! It's definitely one of my ultimate faves where I can have creamy flan & my yellow cake too. BTW, it's even more amazing with devils food cake (if you're a chocolate lover!)

Carolyn Jung said...

Flan WITH cake? OMG! Now, how can anyone resist two desserts in one? Yum!

Medifast Success Stories said...

Well with all the praise of this flan cake how can I not try and make. To the kitchen we go. Thanks so much!

Anonymous said...

Holy moly, this looks AMAZING! The photo alone makes me want to make it right now. Saw this post on foodgawker and knew I had to get the recipe. Thanks for sharing! (PS- I think the "tres leches" come into play with the 3 milks used in the recipe. Condensed milk, evaporated milk, and caramel sauce. Sounds divine!)

Jules and Ruby said...

Anonymous...hey, i never thought of counting the caramel as one of the milks...then "Tres Leches" it IS. thanks for stopping by a clearing that up...jules

Anonymous said...

I cant seem to pull up the receipe. Would you be able to email me: keonaokealoha@aol.com I really really want to try making this onolicious receipe :) Thank you!

Jules and Ruby said...

Hi Anonymous sure I'll email you. I'm out of town so let me try from my iPad

Ambika said...

OMG!! That is soooo delicious, and love the lighting in your photographs! Do you use artificial lighting??

Jules and Ruby said...

hi Ambika...i try to use natural light whenever possible, but now that the time changed i'll probably use more artificial...or maybe just wake up and cook earlier?

Rina said...

Jules: What size is your bundt pan? I had a little trouble with a volcano of cake.

Jules and Ruby said...

RINA...hi...what happened?...i just went and measured. it's 10 inches across and is a 12 cup heavy Nordic Ware pan. i actually poured 12 cups of water in to make double sure for you. i hope it wasn't too big of a mess and i hope you try again. like i said...it's TOTALLY worth it.

Rina said...

Thanks Jules. I'll double check once I pull it off the top. We are still in salvage mode (I don't give up easily). Fortunately the bain marie caught all the droppings. I turned it over this morning and am now waiting for the caramel to come to room temp. I've peeked and it looks normal so far. A good sign....

Jules and Ruby said...

HI RINA...i'm crossing my fingers...did you happen to see the post i did on my first attempt ?...i named it "the failed flan cake" look for it a few posts before this one. you'll see i DID have a big disaster on my hands.

Anonymous said...

I just stumbled across the blog post and had to laugh. I tried the same recipe from Joelen's blog and it was a complete mess/failure! I've been wanting to try the recipe again but didn't want to waste ingredients and make a huge MESS! You may have given me the encouragement I needed.

Jules and Ruby said...

Anonymous...all i can say is i feel ya. that first one was a disaster. you must try this one because it works! i've made it about 4 times. thanks for the laugh...J

Anonymous said...

hi there! just found your blog and this post (great stuff you've got here, btw) because i'm thinking of making a flan cake for my boyfriend's birthday this weekend. he loves flan, but cake seems better for a party, so this is a perfect combo! one question though--i would expect it to be sweet (it is cake, after all), but with ALL the sweetening ingredients in there (cake mix, which i believe already has sugar, sweetened condensed milk, the caramel toping AND coke) it isn't overly, sickeningly sweet? is it along the sweetness level of pecan pie or pralines? i love desserts but sometimes am not a fan of the super sugary sweet. it sounds amazing but also potentially overly sugary. if you or any of your followers who have made it could give their opinion (and asap!) that would be a huge help! thanks so much!!!

Jules and Ruby said...

hi Anonymous...yes this is a sweet cake, BUT like i said...it's TOTALLY worth it. i don't know your taste, but i bet you'll be happy with this one. i make it when i know there's enough people, because i could eat it all and go into a sugar coma all by myself. if you do decide to make it, don't rush it. read through my comments. i usually give myself at least 2 days for the baking and waiting and refrigerator setting and then more waiting for it to release. if you have any question along the way let me know...i'll try to get back with you ASAP...thanks jules

Anonymous said...

I'm so angry! I just attempted this and followed the directions exactly and thought it was going to turn out. When I went to take the cake out of the fridge I noticed that the flan part was very runny still. I left it in their over night so I thought that was odd. As soon as I flipped over the cake onto a plate, all of the flan oozed everywhere. Any ideas what I did wrong?? Haha

Anonymous said...

hey! how much water are you supposed to use for the bain marie??? I too had an epic FAIL making this cake. to be honest I don't know what I did wrong:(((( do I need to use more cake? cuz the cake I used was 15.25 oz. did I need to refrigerate it longer?? bake it in the oven longer? the main thing that messed up was the flan. I Need Help Please! *actual tears*

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your post. I’ve been thinking about writing a very comparable post over the last couple of weeks, I’ll probably keep it short and sweet and link to this instead if thats cool. Thanks. cake shop birmingham

Anne Hernandez said...

My name is Anne and I have a blog site called Pintesting (.com). I test Pinterest pins and rate them on several criteria, then give an overall rating on a 5-point scale. You can see a little more detail of how it's done on my site methodology page.

I'm going to be testing the Tres Leches Flan Cake recipe and wanted to let you know. This includes posting the picture from the Pinterest pin.

I will be posting the results by next week and will let you know when they're available. I've also notified Joelen since it's her recipe.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. My contact info is available on my website. :-D

Anonymous said...

This is not a true Tre leche cake. Tre leche means three milk, and this only contains two. However, it sounds yummy.

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