Photo taken by thehipvegetarian

Well the holidays are just around the corner and like many I’m starting to go through my recipes to see what I can contribute to the family dinner.

For those of you who would like an idea that isn’t pie, you should try this Chocolate Flan Cheesecake. This cake is made by several restaurants here in San Antonio, and this recipe comes from Beto’s ComidaLatina.

This cake is layered with chocolate cake on the bottom with flan as its second layer. Then the cake is topped with caramel cascading over the top and down the sides. The fun thing about assembling this cake is that you actually place the cake batter in the pan before then flan mixture.  During the baking process the flan passes through the batter and stays between it and the caramel.

A couple of tips:  When you get to step three, be sure to mix your cream cheese and sugar first.  The copy of the recipe that I have starts with the milk first and then ends with the cream cheese.  Adding the sugar and cream cheese last will create a lumpy flan. I’ve inverted the ingredients for you so you won’t make the same mistake.  Also, you’ll need to bake this cake 12-24 hours ahead of serving.  The cake needs to cool so the flan can become stable.  Baking the cake only a few hours before serving will cause the cake to collapse.

Oh, and here is a rating factor on how good this cake is — my husband says its his favorite.

Chocolate Flan Cheesecake

ONE
1 Jar Caramel

TWO
3 Eggs
3/4 cup Oil
1 1/4 cup Water
1 box Devils Food Cake Mix

THREE
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Sugar
5 Eggs
1 tea Vanilla
1 can Evaporated Milk (12 oz)
1 can Condensensd Milk
1 cup Milk

Pour caramel into a bundt pan
Mix all number TWO ingredients together in a container
Mix all number THREE ingredients together in a separate bowl.
Float the number TWO mixture over the caramel in the bundt pan.
Then float the number Three mixture over the number Two mixture.
Submerge bundt pan in a larger pan of water up to about 3/4 of the bundt pan (VERY IMPORTANT!)
Bake at 350F for approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Remove — let cool thoroughly — invert cake into a cake dish
Let cool about 12-24 hours.