Leche Flan Cake

Here it is. The big challenge I've been trying to figure out all week. I first tasted this at a Christmas party 2 years ago and to be honest I didn't know such a thing existed. Of course I know that leche flan exists, but the concept of leche flan cake is something I had never come across (shows my ignorance when it comes to my own culture haha). I call this a big challenge because when I did finally google recipes on this, every single recipe stated that you place the raw cake batter on top of the raw leche flan mixture. Now, call me plain dumb but I really couldn't understand how that was possible (I was never good at science). So instead of diving right in there and taking the risk of screwing it all up, I decided to ask (or more like get reassurance) one of the bloggers whose recipe I came across and see if this was really possible.



The best and tastiest looking blog I found was by Olive (check her out, she's got great recipes! @ http://www.foodbuzz.com/foodies/profile/olive%27s+twist) and she reassured me that if I follow the recipe bit by bit, that it should turn out fine!



I used my usual recipe for leche flan and incorporated it with her recipe for the cake batter and her suggestion of including macapuno strings.



Ingredients



Leche Flan + Caramel

1 cup sugar

1 cup macapuno

8 egg yolks

1 can condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

grated rind of half a lemon (small lemon)



Preheat oven to 180C.



When it comes to the caramel, just place the sugar in a saucepan and wait until it turns into a nice golden brown colour and liquid consistency. Pour this in your prepared pans, (I used a small square pan and a larger oval pan), arrange macapuno strings on top and set aside. Make sure the surface of the pans are well coated with the caramel.



Combine the yolks, milks, essence and lemon rind together and whisk until all is mixed together. Pour on top of the caramel sauce in each of the pans. Set aside.





Ingredients





Cake (taken from Olive's recipe)

3 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup water
1 1/4 cup egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well at the center then add oil, egg yolks and water. Mix with a wire whisk until smooth. In a separate bowl, beat eggwhites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.

Add sugar gradually and continue beating until stiff. Fold into egg yolk mixture. Divide batter into two then pour over custard. Do not stir. Place each baking pan in a larger pan half-filled with water (Bain marie). 

Bake for 1 hour. Invert on a platter.

The only disaster I had when it came to making these was how much LONGER it took for me to bake them. I had to drop the temperature down to 150C at the one hour point just because the cake was cooked and had turned really brown by that time and yet the leche flan at the bottom wasn't cooked yet. It took well over 2 hours (maybe my oven was just really crap and the fan doesn't evenly distribute the heat as much). Nonetheless I am very happy with the outcome:) I got my parents to try it and they said it was nice so thats good enough for me! I just hope my brother likes it! I specifically made another one for his birthday tomorrow :)

Tip: Don't ever place a hot glass pan on a cold table top because yes it will break.