Chocoflan (Flan Cake)
I’ve made this chocoflan recipe more times than I can count. Over the years, I’ve tested dozens of versions, refining the baking method, cake, and caramel until the layers bake with the texture I’m after. The biggest issue with this dessert is the cake part coming out dry. And I finally figured out how to prevent that from happening.
This version I present to you today delivers the best balance: a moist, tender chocolate cake, a smooth and creamy flan, and a caramel that comes out clean instead of sticking to the pan.
Growing up in Brazil, we called this pudim cake, and it was one of my favorite desserts, which is why I was so particular about getting it to be perfect.
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You may hear this dessert called by other names—magic cake being one of the most common. The “magic” happens in the oven. You pour the chocolate batter into the pan first, then spoon the flan on top. As it bakes, the layers naturally switch places: the chocolate settles into the base, the flan rises to the top, and when you flip the cake, the caramel flows over everything like a glaze. I even have a pumpkin version here on the blog for a seasonal twist.
Why you’ll love this recipe
What I like about this chocoflan is the way the textures work together. The cake stays moist, the flan is creamy, and the caramel doesn’t overpower either one.
The first version of this recipe relied on a water bath, but after a lot of testing and tweaking, I now bake it freestanding. This change simplifies the process and, more importantly, shortens the bake time so the cake doesn’t dry out.
It looks impressive, but it’s very doable if you follow the steps below.
Caramel
Start by greasing a bundt pan generously with shortening or butter. Set it aside. Then, prepare the caramel.
To prepare the caramel, melt granulated sugar in a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly so it dissolves evenly without scorching. Once the sugar turns fluid and lightly amber, slowly add water off the heat—it will bubble vigorously before settling. Bring the mixture back to the stove and stir until the crystallized bits melt into a smooth, pourable syrup. Let the caramel cool slightly before pouring it into a well-greased, sugared bundt pan. I like to place the pan in the freezer or refrigerator while preparing the remaining components so the caramel can firm up and stay in place.
Chocolate Cake Layer
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). To make the chocolate cake layer, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set it aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy before adding the granulated sugar and whipping until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix in the vanilla extract. Pour in the milk and mix gently until combined; then fold in the dry ingredients with a spatula until the batter is smooth and no streaks remain. Avoid overmixing here—keeping the batter tender is key for that ultra-moist texture chocoflan is known for. If you want a little cheat for this step, you can use chocolate cake mix.
Flan Layer
For the flan layer, strain the eggs through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl to ensure a silky final texture. Whisk in the condensed milk and flour until completely smooth before adding the heavy cream and vanilla. The mixture should be thin and pourable, with no lumps. A gentle whisk avoids incorporating unnecessary air bubbles, which helps the flan bake with an ultra-smooth surface.
Assembly
To assemble the chocoflan, pour the cooled caramel evenly into the bottom of the prepared bundt pan. Spoon the chocolate cake batter into the center of the pan using a large spoon or cookie scoop, being careful not to smear the sides. This helps keep the flan layer clean and defined after unmolding. Slowly pour the flan mixture over the chocolate layer—the two will naturally swap places during baking, giving the dessert its signature look.
Baking
I used to bake this chocoflan in a water bath, but have since retested the recipe and it comes out way better without it! So, bake the chocoflan uncovered and without a water bath for 35 to 40 minutes in the 350°F preheated oven, or until the cake layer tests clean with a toothpick. The center should look slightly set but soft. Let the chocoflan cool to room temperature before covering the pan and refrigerating it for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. This resting period allows the flan to firm up.
To Unmold
When ready to serve, warm the outside of the bundt pan by setting it briefly in a pan of hot water. This step melts the caramel just enough to help the chocoflan release cleanly. Jiggle the pan gently, place a serving plate over the top, and invert confidently to reveal the beautifully layered dessert.
I ended up sharing this chocoflan with my neighbors and a few friends, but only after enjoying a very generous slice myself and stopping myself from eating the whole thing.
For Thanksgiving, I actually made two cakes, and they were both gone in a couple of days. You can also use different shape bundt pans. Just make sure to grease each crevice very well, so the cake doesn’t stick.
Tips & Tricks
- Grease the bundt pan generously with butter or shortening, then coat lightly with sugar to ensure a clean release.
- Strain the eggs for the flan through a fine-mesh sieve to guarantee a smooth, silky texture.
- Spoon the chocolate batter carefully into the pan to avoid smearing it up the sides—this helps keep the flan layer clean and well-defined.
- Bake freestanding and avoid overbaking. A slightly soft center is expected and will firm up as the cake chills.
- Allow the chocoflan to chill for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight, before unmolding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to bake this in a water bath?
No. I originally tested this recipe using a water bath, but after multiple side-by-side tests, I now bake it freestanding. The flan still sets beautifully, the cake stays moist, and the overall texture is more balanced with a shorter bake time.
Why do the layers switch places while baking?
It comes down to density. The flan mixture is heavier than the cake batter, so as the cake bakes and expands, the flan naturally sinks while the cake rises—creating those distinct layers without any extra effort.
Can I make this ahead of time?
Yes—this dessert actually benefits from resting. I recommend refrigerating it for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight, before unmolding. It slices cleaner and the flavors fully settle.
Can I use a different pan instead of a bundt pan?
Yes, but the bake time will likely be longer. A bundt pan bakes more evenly thanks to the center tube. Using a full pan means the center takes longer to cook, so you’ll need to watch the bake time closely and make sure the pan is well greased.
Why is my flan not perfectly smooth?
The most common cause is unstrained eggs or over-whisking. Always strain the eggs and whisk gently to avoid incorporating air bubbles, which can affect the final texture. Don’t use a blender for the flan portion.
Can I use cake mix for the chocolate layer?
Yes. While I prefer the homemade version for flavor and texture, a chocolate cake mix works as a shortcut if you’re short on time.
Why did my cake come out dry? The most common reasons are overbaking or overmixing the cake batter. Baking it too long will dry out the cake. Mix just until the flour is incorporated to keep the cake soft.
Similar Recipes
If you loved this chocoflan, you’ll also enjoy a few of my other flan-inspired favorites. My Pumpkin Chocoflan adds a cozy seasonal twist, while my Flan Cupcakes are perfect for parties and gifting. And if you’re craving something simple and classic, my Easy Flan is smooth, silky, and always a crowd-pleaser.
If you give this chocoflan a try, I’d love to hear how it turned out. Leave a comment below or tag me on social media so I can see your version.
Chocoflan
Ingredients
Caramel
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200 grams
- 1/2 cup water room temperature (113 grams)
Chocolate Cake
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 191 grams
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 60 grams
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature (170 grams)
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200 grams
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk 113 grams
Flan
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup heavy cream 113 grams
- 1 condensed milk can 396 grams
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour 15 grams
Instructions
- Grease a 10 or 12 cup bundt pan generously with vegetable shortening or butter, then coat it with granulated sugar. Tap out the excess. Set it aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), or use 325°F (160°C) if your oven is convection.
Caramel
- Place the granulated sugar in a small, heavy-bottom saucepan and set it over medium heat. Stir constantly with a heat-resistant spatula as the sugar begins to melt. Continue stirring until all the sugar has dissolved and the mixture becomes fluid and lightly amber in color, with no remaining granules.
- Remove the pan from the heat (or shut it off). Carefully and slowly pour the water into the melted sugar—it will bubble and steam vigorously, so keep your hands and face back. Once the bubbling settles, return the pan to the stove over medium heat and stir continuously until the hardened sugar dissolves back into the water and you have a thin, smooth caramel.
- Cook just until the crystallized sugar remelts. Remove from the heat and let it cool while you make the chocolate cake batter and the flan.
Chocolate Cake
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- With a mixer, beat the butter for one minute. Add the granulated sugar and continue beating until the mixture becomes light and fluffy, about 3 more minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract.
- Pour in the milk and mix just until combined. Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold them in with a spatula until the batter is smooth and no streaks of flour remain. Avoid over mixing so the cake stays tender.
- Set aside while you prepare the flan batter.
Flan
- Crack the eggs and pour them in a large bowl through a fine-mesh sieve to strain out any chalazae (the rope-like membrane part) or thicker bits. This ensures the flan stays perfectly smooth and prevents tiny cooked egg specks from appearing in the final texture.
- Add the condensed milk and flour to the strained eggs. Whisk to combine before adding the heavy cream and vanilla. This can ensure the flour won't be lumpy.
- Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and flour to the bowl. Whisk gently but thoroughly until the mixture is smooth and thin.
To assemble
- Pour the cooled caramel into the bottom of the prepared bundt pan.
- When pouring the chocolate cake batter into the bundt pan, use a cookie scoop or large spoon to transfer it gently and keep it centered. Try not to smear the batter up the sides of the pan—any chocolate smudges on the walls can keep the flan from coming out in an even, clean layer and may cause uneven lines when you unmold the chocoflan.
- Slowly pour the flan batter over the chocolate layer. As the cake bakes, the flan will sink and the chocolate cake will rise. This natural shift is what creates the classic “magic” separation of chocoflan.
- Bake the chocoflan uncovered, directly on the oven rack, for 35–40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion comes out clean. The center should look slightly set but still soft.
- Let the cake cool to room temperature in the pan. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight, so the flan can fully firm up and the caramel can dissolve into a pourable sauce.
To unmold
- To unmold, fill a larger pan with hot water and set the bundt pan in it for 2–3 minutes to loosen the caramel. Place a serving plate on top of the bundt pan, then invert to release the chocoflan.
Storage
- Store it in the fridge, covered, for up to 4 days.
Notes
Baking the assembled chocoflan freestanding for 35–40 minutes keeps the flan silky while preventing the chocolate cake from over baking. I tried both methods while remaking this recipe and the freestanding method was much better. If you prefer, you can use a water bath. You’ll just have to bake for almost double the time. Unmolding Tip: Do not skip warming the pan briefly in hot water before flipping. This ensures the caramel is fluid enough to release the cake cleanly. Oven temperature: If using a regular conventional electric oven, use 350°F (180°C) to bake this cake. However, if your oven is gas, or convection, or runs really hot, use 325°F (160°C).
Hey camilla!
I’m looking to make this cake for my grandfather’s birthday with a couple alterations to accommodate his health issues. I was wondering if there was a way I could have less of a cake layer and more flan? Like an inch or so worth of cake and the rest is flan? Is that possible? And do I need to have caramel or can I omit it?
Thanks!
you can definitely halve the cake recipe and make it that way and see how it works. And also you can omit the caramel but it wont be quite the same. do make sure to grease the pan super well if you dont add the caramel
looks Delish. I haven’t made it…yet. but I plan to, with the dulce de leche cake.
In the US we have both condensed milk and SWEETENED condensed milk. I did find someone ask for clarification – it’s a very important distinction and a pet peeve on online recipes missing steps or key ingredients. I tend to not trust most bloggers recipes due to the lack of proofing and editing to ensure all ingredients and steps are included… just saying. I’ve had some successes, but more failures – a little jaded, can you tell? BTW, sweetened condensed milk – isn’t that a desert all on its own? LOL
That being said I have made flan several times and the carmelized sugar is always problematic – I haven’t seen a recipe to add water to it after it carmelizes – that seems to be a valid tip. Someone asked about that…I didn’t see a response.
Hello Camila- I made this for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. Your instructions were perfect and it came out perfectly. It was enjoyed by all despite there being tough competition on the dessert table! Thanks, Fiona
That’s awesome to hear! Happy anniversary to your parents.
Best and most impressive cake ever.! It didn’t want to come out of the pan for me in the beginning. I left it sitting on my cake plate upside down for about 10 min and the weight of it finally brought it out. It looked great and tasted even better. I like to serve most of my cake with a small pitcher of baileys or other liquor to pour onto the slice on the side for those who want it. It was incredible!
Wow amazing!!! Thank you so much!!! I appreciate it!!!!
Hi Camila,
Happy holidays! Thank you for posting this amazing recipe. I am planning to make it for new year’s eve. However I have a rookie question , I ‘ve read the recipe a couple of times but still unable to figure it out. I wanted to understand if we are putting the cake batter in the pan first wouldnt the caramel get mixed with it and then how do we get that brilliant caramel glaze on the flan, should we save some caramel and glaze the flan later? If i am picturing this correctly once we take out the cake, do we have to flip it back to get the flan layer on top and then glaze it ?
If you want you can place the pan in the fridge until the caramel hardens up before putting the rest of the batter in, however the caramel will go to the bottom anyway as the flan bakes in the oven
Hi Camila,
I was wondering does this work if i use chocolate brigaderao instead of flan? Im looking for chocolatey chocolate 😊
I believe it would work yes!
Hi Camila
I have a pan that is 10 inch in diameter and is only 2inch in height. It also has a 4.5 in hole in the middle. Not sure what kind of a pan it is though but its not bundt. Can I still fit your recipe in this size? Eager to make this for a Mexican themed dinner party…
I don’t know if it will fit with those measurements sorry!
Hi Camilla..we have chatted on a FB vegan macaron group before where you helped me to troubleshoot…thanks for that!
I tried this recipe and while it’s come out well, I had a few issues and would love your insights on it
1. My layers were not so clean looking, that is some of the cake batter mixed with the flan layer when baked and hence could be seen as leapord spots.
2. The caramel layer did not unmould fully . I think overall I may have overbaked the flan as the custard layer too was not jiggly but very firm.
3. I found overall the eggy tasty to be a bit overpowering. Can I try the queso de flan recipe instead of a normal caramel custard?. I find the cream cheese and evaporated milk better at masking the eggy taste. Will the addition of this make the flan layer too heavy? As in it won’t have any issues in sinking and beneath the cake layer upon baking?
Would appreciate your feedback and opinions… thanks so much ! I love your macaron recipes and tried a few of them
A lot of the caramel will be left in the pan yes, you can heat up the pan after unmolding and then pour the caramel over the flan.
About the layers not being clean looking could be the type of pan you used, how well you greased it, how neatly you poured the liquid in. And I dont know about the queso de flan I havent tried with this recipe!!
Thank you so much!
I just remembered the foil with only 20 minutes left to bake. All that work and I forgot that one step. 😞
It’s still fine, wish I saw this earlier, it would still be fine, perhaps it would be a bit overbaked on the cake part but still will be ok.
It wasn’t perfect in looks, but it was fabulous in taste! I’m definitely going to try again. I used a silicone Bundt pan and it seemed underdone, and fell apart a bit. Do you think a metal pan would make it better?!
This recipe was much easier than I had anticipated….although I haven’t turned it out from the pan yet.
I was wondering what the absolute minimum time is to leave it in the refrigerator before turning it out. Is it the 6 hours you list or can it be any less? Asking because we’re too impatient to wait to try it!
I understand your excitement lol I am excited for you! It’s best to wait though! sorry 😅 and dont forget to place the pan in a bowl of warm water to loosen up the caramel from the bottom of the pan.
Hi,e I’m excited to try this recipe. Can I use almond milk instead of regular milk?
you mean for the cake part? I think it would be ok, but you need actual sweetened condensed milk from cow for the flan part.
Wow- I really didn’t think that this was going to work, but it did! Magic indeed. I’m not sure if it was me or what, but making the caramel took AGES. Probably 45 minutes or so, and it was really annoying to stand there stirring the entire time. Was I supposed to have the heat hotter to melt the sugar? The rest of the recipe was actually really simple, and everything worked perfectly. I wasn’t sure how long to leave my bundt pan in the hot water bath when I wanted to remove it, so I ended up for maybe 40 minutes and it was probably too long. The caramel was a bit melted, but that didn’t matter. This was a major hit, and everyone has absolutely loved it!
it’s really not supposed to take that long to make the caramel, just a few minutes, not sure what happened there. I am happy the overall result was good! Thanks
These look easy and delicious. Just a good time to make these ideas for Christmas /friends social events. Thankyou
I just made this, yesterday actually, but I finally tasted it today. It’s delicious! 😍 I was a little scared while baking because the bottom had a very light flan-color that I realized quickly after testing for doneness, was only a thin layer of custard that stayed on the chocolate cake part. Then when I unmolded it, I was worried because the whole thing was sort of all brown, not color-blocked like yours. Upon cutting it, I then saw that it was perfect inside, 2 separate layers. I will definitely be making it again, and again. Thank you for the recipe!❤
Awe that’s amazing to hear! Thank you so much Johanna!
It’s been 40 min and it still hasn’t inverted. Should I give more time
Or just cover it cause it won’t invert
just continue to bake. It takes longer to bake than 40 min. dont open the door. Just leave it in there. it takes 60 to 90 min to bake the cake.