This amazing cake has many names: flancocho, chocoflan or torta imposible, which literally means “impossible cake”. This cake is the best of two of my favorites desserts, chocolate cake and flan.
Two components make this flancocho: the flan and the cake. We’ll start by making the flan.
Table of Contents
1. Making the Flan
This recipe’s flan resembles a lot of Spanish flan de queso: creamy, dense, and silky flan with cream cheese.
For me, the pro tip for a rich and delicious flan is the cream cheese.
Some people — including my mom— only uses eggs and sweetened condensed milk. The result is a lighter and more gelatin-like flan. Don’t get me wrong, I love this type of flan too. But for this recipe, a creamier flan will add a bigger contrast to the fluffy chocolate cake.
Ingredients for the Flan:
- 4 eggs
- 4 oz cream cheese (110 gr)
- 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (400 gr)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Ingredients for the Caramel:
- ¼ cup of water
- ½ cup of sugar
Caramel Instructions
The first thing to do is the caramel. It will be at the bottom of the pan, and I prefer the caramel to be chilled before adding the flan batter.
Even when it’s extremely easy to achieve the perfect caramel, it’s best to babysit it to avoid burned caramel.
A quick glance at my Instagram and BANG… Burned caramel. Trust me, I’ve been there so many times I could cry. So, be careful.
- In a saucepan, add the water and the sugar. Let it boil and caramelize without stirring it. This way, you’ll avoid crystallization and clumps. Let the heat do its work.
- Cook the caramel over medium heat and occasionally I move the saucepan to gently mix the caramel. As soon as it gets a nice brown color, remove it from the stove.
- Immediately, pour it in the bundt mold previously greased (I use butter). Move the mold to distribute the caramel on the surface evenly.
Pro Tip – To make it easier to clean the saucepan after making caramel, soak the pan in hot water to dissolve the hardened caramel. This will make cleanup a breeze!
Flan Instructions
To make the flan, you can use a hand mixer or a blender:
- Mix the cream cheese, eggs, condensed milk, and vanilla until you get a homogeneous batter.
- Pour into the cake mold and take it to the oven for 20 minutes at 200ºC (400ºF). It’s important to bake in a bain-marie. This way the flan won’t curdle.
How to Make a Bain Marie
Alright, let’s talk about the bain-marie! It sounds fancy, but it’s super easy. All it means is you’re going to cook your flan in a hot water bath, which keeps the heat nice and gentle. Here’s how to set it up:
- Grab a large baking pan, place your flan-filled bundt mold inside
- Carefully pour hot water into the larger pan until it reaches about halfway up the sides of your mold.
This little water bath trick helps the flan cook evenly and stay creamy without curdling. It also prevents the flan from cracking since it won’t get dry, giving it a smooth surface. Trust me, it’s worth the extra step!
In the meantime, it’s time to make the moist chocolate cake.
2. Making the Cake
The original recipe is made with chocolate cake but you can totally swap it for a vanilla-flavored cake if you like it.
You can use your favorite box cake mix for this part. Especially, if you want to cut some time from the process.
Personally, I enjoy making my own cake batter because I can control the result better and add as much chocolate as I like 🙂
Also, for this particular recipe, I use one of my easiest chocolate cake recipes. This is a dump-all-the-ingredients-and-mix kind of cake and… I love it!
The ingredients for this moist chocolate cake:
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cacao powder (70%)
- 4 eggs
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup of vegetable oil
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tsp baking powder
Cake Instructions
- First, I mix all the ingredients except the flour and the baking powder.
- Once I get a homogeneous batter, I add the flour and the baking powder slowly into the mix avoiding clumps.
- Carefully, pour this batter on top of the semi-cooked flan (after 20 minutes of baking). Do it slowly to avoid breaking the top of the flan and mixing the flan and the cake accidentally.
- Bake it for 35-40 minutes until the cake is fully done.
- Let the cake chill for at least 10 minutes. To flip it without breaking, run a knife around the edges to loosen it, then place a plate on top before flipping in one smooth motion. You can now serve the Chocoflan!
Storage and Making Ahead
Chocoflan is a fantastic make-ahead dessert because it actually tastes even better the next day! You can prepare it a day in advance and let it chill overnight in the fridge. This allows the flavors to meld together beautifully, and it makes slicing and serving much easier. Just remember to flip it onto your serving plate right before you’re ready to impress your guests.
- To the fridge: Cover your Chocoflan tightly with plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container. Keep it in the fridge, where it’ll stay fresh for up to 2-3 days. Just be sure it’s fully cooled before refrigerating to avoid any condensation that could make it soggy.
- To the freezer: Chocoflan can be frozen, too! Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and aluminum foil, then pop it in the freezer for up to 1 month. When you’re ready to serve, let it thaw in the fridge overnight.
How to Serve
Chocoflan is excellent as a star dish on its own, but you can enhance it even more with the following ideas:
- Classic Whipped Cream: A dollop of freshly whipped cream adds a light, airy touch that pairs perfectly with the rich, creamy flan and moist chocolate cake.
- Caramel Drizzle: Take it up a notch by drizzling a bit more caramel sauce over the top right before serving. That extra sweetness makes it feel like a restaurant-worthy dessert!
- Chocolate Drizzle: For the ultimate chocoholic experience, drizzle some warm melted chocolate over each slice just before serving. You can melt dark, milk, or white chocolate—whatever you love most! The warm drizzle over the cool Chocoflan creates a delicious contrast, and it makes each bite even more indulgent. To get that perfect drizzle, use a spoon or pour the melted chocolate into a small plastic bag, snip off a tiny corner, and go to town!
Other South American Desserts You’ll Love
- Chilean Pumpkin Sopaipillas With Honey
- Venezuelan Tres Leches Cake
- Lemon Carlota
- Traditional Brazilian Brigadeiros
- Puerto Rican Quesitos (Cream Cheese Pastries)
Puerto Rican Flancocho
Equipment
- 1 Blender optional
Ingredients
For the Flan
- 4 eggs
- 4 oz cream cheese 110 gr
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk 400 gr
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
For the Caramel
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
For the Chocolate Cake
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder 70%
- 4 eggs
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC (400ºF)
- In a saucepan over medium heat, add ¼ cup of water and ½ cup of sugar for the caramel. Let it caramelize without stirring. Cook until the caramel is brown and remove it from the stove. Immediately, pour the caramel into the bundt mold and move it to distribute the caramel evenly.
- In a blender, add all the ingredients for the flan and blend until you get a homogeneous batter. Pour the batter into the bundt mold and take it to the oven for 20 minutes in a bain-marie.
- In a big bowl, mix all the ingredients for the chocolate cake with exception of the flour and the baking powder. When the batter is homogeneous, add the flour and the baking powder slowly into the mix to avoid clumps.
- Slowly, pour the chocolate cake batter on top of the semi-cooked flan. Be careful in this step to ensure the chocolate cake doesn’t go into the flan. Bake for 40 minutes or until the cake is fully done.
- Let the flancocho fully chill and serve.
Nutrition
I’m Maria and I love cooking—and mostly EATING—food from all around the world. I’ve been sharing my abuela’s secret Latin-American recipes for the last 7 years with the world on this blog. I’ve been a full-time food blogger for many years and I’m always trying new delicious meals that don’t require a culinary degree or a Michelin-star chef. I also love traveling, cats, and knitting.
I didn’t have any coca or a boxed cake mix but I did have brownie mix still followed all the other instructions. Yum!