Hi All,
This next recipe has got to be one of my favorites. It’s a delicious, moist chocolate cake topped with a flan-like pudding. And it’s magic how it all turns out! Seriously. I actually have memories of my aunt on my dad’s side making this recipe quite often when I would visit the Azores. My Grandmother Teodora also makes her version, and so below is her recipe. It does take some patience to bake, but it’s actually rather easy to make. The magic all happens while it’s baking. The custard flan drops to the top and the cake rises to the bottom, so that when you flip it over, it looks like the result below.
Yields: 10-12 slices
Ingredients:
Cake:
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup instant chocolate pudding mix ( 2 x 3.12 oz. boxes)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup whole milk
Flan Pudding:
3 eggs
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
Whole milk, measured in the 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon squeezed lemon juice
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a Bundt cake pan with cooking spray or butter.
2) For the cake, beat eggs, sugar and butter in a large bowl, until smooth and creamy.
3) In a medium-sized bowl, sift pudding mix, flour, and baking powder. Add to liquid ingredients along with the milk, and beat until smooth and no clumps remain.
4) For the flan, beat together eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and whole milk. Set aside.
5) In a a small pot, turn heat on high and mix together sugar, water and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly until sugar dissolves and turns into a liquid caramel. It should not crystallize. Pour caramel into the cake pan, coating all sides. Pour in cake batter and slowly top the batter with the flan pudding.
6) Cover cake with aluminum foil that’s been coated with cooking spray. Place in a deep roasting pan large enough to hold the cake pan in 2 inches of water. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes. Raise temperature to 375° and bake for an additional hour. Allow it to cool for at least 1 hour before removing aluminum foil or turning over.
7) Carefully remove the aluminum foil and turn the cake over. The flan pudding will be on top and the cake on the bottom – magic!
The Five Marias 