To make the caramel, start by melting sugar in a small pan over medium heat. Leave the water measured out and set aside, nearby, ready to go.

Don’t stop stirring, as you want the sugar to melt evenly.

Once all the sugar has melted, the syrup will have a light brown color.

When the syrup is smooth, with no sugar granules or lumps, take the pan out of the heat.

Be careful with this next step. Pour the 1/2 cup of water over the melted sugar. It will probably splash, so you need to be careful and maintain your distance.

When you pour the water over the melted sugar, some of the caramel will crystallize.

Bring mixture back to the heat, and keep stirring with your spatula until all the sugar has re-melted.

Once the syrup is smooth and with a deep amber color, remove from the heat. It’s supposed to be a very thin and light syrup.

Remove caramel to a heat-safe container. Let it cool slightly.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit.

Grease a bundt pan thoroughly with vegetable shortening, or butter. Sprinkle granulated sugar all over it, covering the entire surface. I used a 12 cups bundt pan.

Pour caramel on the bottom of the bundt pan. Set aside. I like to keep it in the fridge at this point, to help the caramel cool down.

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder together. Set aside.

Next, add the sifted dry ingredients.

Mix with a spatula or whisk to incorporate the dry ingredients with the batter.

Just stir until there are no more dry ingredients in the batter.

In a blender, place eggs, condensed milk, pumpkin puree, vanilla, flour, and pumpkin spice.

Blend mix on high for 1-2 minutes, depending on the potency of your blender.

You are looking for a smooth thin and runny batter.

Pour chocolate cake bater over caramel layer in the bundt pan. Don’t worry if the caramel gets mixed in the batter, it will separate and go to the bottom as everything bakes together. Use a spatula or spoon to smooth out the top of the chocolate cake batter.

Pour pumpkin flan batter over chocolate cake, slowly and carefully.

Place the bundt pan in a large roasting pan with about 2 inches of water in to make a water bath.

Place it in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes. You will notice that the batters have inverted and the chocolate cake batter will be on top. When the chocolate cake batter seems set (but not fully baked yet), cover the pan with foil.

The reason why I am instructing to cover the pan only after the chocolate cake batter has set, is because sometimes the batter will rise too much and stick to the foil.

Keep baking the covered flan. Make sure to check your flan around the 60 minute mark.

Insert a toothpick in the cake to make sure it comes out clean, which means it’s done baking.

If not, keep baking, until up to 90 minutes.

The cake on top should be coming off the sides of the pan slightly.

Let flan cool down, place it in the fridge for 6 hours or overnight.

When you are ready to remove the flan from the pan, just fill up a large pan with some warm water, place the bundt pan in the water bath, so this way it will help loosen up the caramel that’s on the bottom of the bundt pan, for easy removal. Let the bundt pan sit in this water bath for a few minutes. Wiggle the pan around, if the flan jiggles, means it’s lose on the bottom.

Flip it onto a cake plate.

Store it in your fridge, covered, for up to 5 days.