Diary of a Secret Housewife: Bubbe Jennie's Taiglach

My husband's 91-year-old grandmother, our Bubbe Jennie, is an extraordinary baker.  On the farm (in a small Jewish farming community of Edenbridge, Saskatchewan) where she raised her two boys, she would bake almost everyday out of necessity.  Once they moved to more urban environs -- first Sasketoon, then Montreal -- she would still bake for her husband, who looked forward to her desserts after every dinner, and her kids and grandkids, who raved about her chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon buns.  Amongst all of her excellent recipes, though, the one that sends the whole family into fits of nostalgia- and hunger-fueled ecstasy is her taiglach.

Taiglach (or teiglach) is a Jewish dessert that consists of small dough balls (mandlen or teigel) held together by a honey syrup.  Rolled with shredded coconut, the mandlen form a gooey, chewy concoction that is something between a candy and a cookie bar.  Taiglach is in some ways similar to the Cantonese dessert sachima, Indian gulab jamun, or American rice krispie treats.  It's a popular dessert for Purim and Rosh Hashanah, but (as we managed to convince Bubbe) it's just as good for a random Thursday when your grandson and granddaughter-in-law come to visit.

Perhaps because it's so time-consuming, taiglach recipes are hard to find these days.  It was thus particularly meaningful and important that Bubbe Jennie taught us her recipe last week.

To make taiglach, you begin by taking your bubbe shopping.  If she's like our bubbe, she already knows the location and price of every item in the store.  If you are making this recipe sans bubbe, then you'll have to procure the following items for yourself:

For the dough balls:

• 4 eggs
• 4 tablespoons Mazola oil (plus 1/4 cup or so for the baking sheets)
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• a pinch of salt
• enough flour to make a soft dough (about 3 cups)

For the honey syrup:

• 1 1/3 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• a pinch of cinnamon (if desired)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon oil

For the final product:

• shredded coconut

Begin by making the soft dough.  Beat four eggs.  Mix in four tablespoons oil, 4 teaspoons sugar, and a pinch of salt.

Mix -- either by hand or in a mixer -- the egg mixture with the flour until you get a soft dough.  To ensure that the mixture doesn't get too tough, start first with one and a half cup of flour.  Then add the remaining flour, a half cup at a time, until you achieve the right consistency.

Once the dough is manageable, you can turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it gently, integrating more flour as needed to get the dough into a soft, but not sticky, consistency.

You'll know the dough is ready when it can hold its shape.  To test the dough, you can cut a small strip of it, roll it into a tubular shape, and see if it retains its shape.  If not, add a little bit more flour.

Now you're ready to make the dough into mandlen.  Cut the dough into small strips.  Roll each strip into a small tube, then cut the strip into little pieces, about 1/2 in. by 1/2 in. in size.  Try to make the mandlen regular in size if possible.  (Check out Bubbe Jennie's knife skills, by the way.  She's got the shakiest hands, but she still managed to cut all the mandlen.)

Put about 1/4 cup of oil into a rimmed baking sheet.  The oil should reach about 1/8 in. up the side of the baking sheet.  Put the mandlen on the sheet.

Bake the mandlen for 5-8 mins. in a 350 degree oven.  The oil will get foamy, and the mandlen will brown.  You should check on the mandlen often, making sure to flip (or stir) half-way through baking.  You can remove the mandlen when both sides are lightly browned.

Set the mandlen aside to cool.

Then make the honey syrup.  Put 1 1/3 cups of honey, 2 tablespoons sugar, and cinnamon into a large pot and bring to a boil.  The mixture should become syrupy.  You'll know it's ready when a drop of the mixture in cold water forms a soft ball.  At this point, remove the mixture from heat, and add in a teaspoon of vanilla and a tablespoon of oil.

In the meantime, lay a piece of parchment or waxed paper on a flat surface.  Sprinkle a layer of the shredded coconut onto the parchment.  Place the mandlen into the syrup, mixing well until all of the mandlen are coated with the honey mixture.  Next, pour the syrup-covered mandlen onto the coconut, spreading it out to about an inch in thickness.

Sprinkle a bit more shredded coconut onto the emerging taiglach.  Then allow the mixture to cool.Once the taiglach is cooled, slice it into small diamond shapes using a wet knife.  (We ended up having to make two batches because we didn't boil the syrup long enough on the first batch, and the mandlen wouldn't hold together.  I assure you though that if you are more patient than we were, the mandlen will in fact hold together and make very pretty diamonds.)

You can store the taiglach in a sealed container for a few days, though it's doubtful you'll have much left over.  This stuff is like crack, if crack were caramelly and insanely delicious.

Many thanks to Bubbe for sharing with us this recipe.  We kept this 91-year-old woman on her feet for hours in the kitchen while we documented every step of this long process.  Not only did she entertain us the whole time with stories from the farm, she was also good-natured and patient with our fumbles; in fact, when we fudged up the first batch, she just laughed and said, "it wouldn't be as fun if it turned out perfect!"

Read more...

Diary of a Secret Housewife: Banana Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Sing it with me: "This cake is bananas.  B-A-N-A-N-A-S.  This cake is bananas.  B-A-N-A-N-A-S."  

It's also chocolate.  And cream cheese.  And caramel.  But mainly it's bananas.  And it's delicious. 

I had a bunch of ripe bananas hanging out in the fridge the other day, and I decided that they needed to be made into a cake.  I found a well-rated banana cake recipe on Epicurious, and decided to amp it up with the addition of chocolate chips and a chocolate cream cheese frosting that is still a bit tangy, not too sweet.  And I added some caramel on top too, just because I could.  The result is a decadent, flavorful cake that puts banana bread to shame.

Ingredients for the cake:


2 1/4 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon plus pinch of salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large or 3 small/medium)
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup chocolate chips
+ 2 more large bananas, sliced (for filling)

Directions for the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides; dust pans with flour.. Combine cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Mix mashed bananas, buttermilk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup butter and the sugar in large bowl until blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Add dry ingredients alternately with banana mixture in 3 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and beating just until blended after each addition.  Mix in the chocolate chips.  Divide batter equally among prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tops are just beginning to color and tester inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, about 20 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 10 minutes. Using small knife, cut around cakes to loosen; turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting.

Ingredients for frosting:

12 oz. cream cheese (about 1.5 sticks), at room temperature
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder

Directions for chocolate cream cheese frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in 1 tablespoon vanilla and a pinch of salt.  Add in the chocolate powder.  Gradually beat in the confectioner's sugar.  (The frosting should still be tangy and cream-cheesy, but with a slightly sweet edge.  If you like the frosting sweeter, you can add up to 3 cups of confectioner's sugar.)  Put in fridge for 15-20 mins. until frosting is firm enough to spread.

Now fill the cake: Spread a thin layer of frosting on the top of one layer of the cake.  Place the sliced bananas  in an even layer over the frosting.  Then spread a thin layer of frosting on the bottom of the other layer of cake.  Put this layer over the first layer, so that the two cake layers are sandwiching the frosting/banana filling.

Next, frost the rest of the cake.  Add, if desired, a thin layer of homemade or store-bought caramel (I used Trader Joe's salted caramel spread).  Cover and chill.  Let stand at room temperature for one hour before serving.

Consume cake for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert.  Be very, very happy.

Read more...

Cake fail

Coconut milk, passion fruit, whipped cream . . . how could that combination be anything other than amazing?

Sigh.  That's what I thought when I set out to make this cake.

But I either overbeat the egg whites or forgot something crucial because the cake turned out super dense, like play dough.  I made some cupcakes as well, and those turned out decent, but the cake (which was for a friend's baby shower) was near inedible.*

Boo.

* Ok, by "near inedible" I mean I still ate it. But I only sort of enjoyed it.

Read more...

Diary of a Secret Housewife: Compost Cookies Redux

Of all the baked goods I make, the one recipe that I get asked to make again and again is Momofuku's compost cookies.  It never gets old, because I switch up the ingredients every time I make the recipe.  I also love making people guess the mystery ingredients in each batch (people always guess caramel or toffee, and are always surprised by the savory ingredients).

For a dinner party last weekend, I made extra large compost cookies with dark chocolate and white chocolate chunks, peanut butter cups, and potato chips.  Straight out of the oven, with peanut butter and chocolate melting everywhere, they were heavenly.  And worth a second post.

The mix of salt with sweet, crispy with chewy . . . it's like everything delicious rolled into one bite.  Christina Tosi is a genius, and I can't wait until the Milk Bar cookbook comes out.

Ingredients:

1 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Corn Syrup (like the Amateur Gourmet, I skipped the corn syrup because I didn't have any)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs
1 3/4 cups AP Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 cups Your favorite baking ingredients! (I used chocolate chunks, white chocolate chunks, mini peanut butter cups)
1 1/2 cups Your favorite snack foods (I used classic Lays Potato Chips this time, but my favorite is Cheddar Goldfish)

Directions:

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size.

When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix 45-60 sec just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated. Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On same low speed, add in the hodgepodge of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30-45 sec until they evenly mix into the dough. Add in your favorite snack foods last, paddling again on low speed until they are just incorporated.

Using a 6oz ice cream scoop, portion cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheetpan.

Wrap scooped cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 1 week.

DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape.

Heat the conventional oven to 400F. (350F in a convection oven)

When the oven reads 400F, arrange your chilled cookie dough balls on a parchment or silpat-lined sheetpan a minimum of 4" apart in any direction.

Bake 9-11 min. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle and spread.

At 9 min the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don't match up and your cookies stills seem pale and doughy on the surface.

Read more...

Diary of a Secret Housewife: Passion Fruit Shortbread Bars

Outside it is a dreary, rainy day in Boston.  Here in my kitchen, though, it's downright tropical.  Sure, it's a balmy 75 degrees because my oven's been on.  But really the island atmosphere comes from these passion fruit shortbread bars, which burst with the taste of summer and sunshine.

I got my hands on some frozen passion fruit puree (Goya brand) the last time I was at the local hispanic grocery, and I've been looking for the perfect recipe to showcase the bright, fragrant flavor of passion fruit ever since. Then I had a lemon bar the other day and got inspired: perhaps I could make a similar dessert with passion fruit?

The results were even better than I expected!  The bars are tart, sweet, aromatic, sticky, and so, so delicious.  And they boldly kick the ass of any pedestrian lemon bar.

Passion Fruit Shortbread Bars

Step 1: Make shortbread crust (adapted from Martha Stewart's Raspberry Crumb Bars)


Preheat the oven to 350.  Butter a 9 x 13 baking pan.  Line with parchment paper, and lightly butter the parchment as well.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together 5.5 ounces ground almonds, 1.5 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 tablespoon salt.  Cut in 8 oz. butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  using your fingers, squeeze the mixture together to create pea-size crumbs with a few larger clumps.

Transfer crumb mixture to prepared baking pan.  Cover with a sheet of parchment paper.  Using the back of a large spoon, press dough evenly into pan, lifting the parchment occasionally to ensure it doesn't stick.  With a wine bottle or small rolling pin, roll along the length of the pan to smooth dough.  Dough should be firmly packed, with no holes or cracks.  Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until lightly golden all over, 15 to 20 minutes.  Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool.

Step 2: Make passionfruit filling (adapted from use real butter)


Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.  Whisk or beat 6 large eggs until frothy.  Whisk in 2 cups sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time.  Then beat in the 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsps flour and 1.5 tsp. baking powder until well-mixed.  Pour 2/3 cup passion fruit purée and whisk or beat until thoroughly combined.

Pour the filling over the crust in the baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until the top of the bars are golden brown and the center is firm.  Cool completely and refrigerate for 3+ hours before slicing.  Serve with a dusting of confectioner's sugar.

Read more...

Diary of a Secret Housewife: Minneola Olive Oil Cake

I woke up the other day with an inexplicable craving for marmalade.  Alas, we had all types of jams and preserves hibernating in our fridge, but no marmalade.  But we happened to have a dozen minneolas, and . . . well, when life hands you minneolas, make olive oil cake.

I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe for Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake, which was introduced to me by my aunt Cheryl.  The result is a tangy, light, but flavorful cake that is fine on its own but particularly scrumptious toasted and drizzled with citrus-inflected honey.  It's like summer in a loaf pan.

Here's what you need:


Butter for greasing pan
3 minneolas (regular oranges or blood oranges will work too)
1 cup (200 grams or 7 ounces) sugar
Scant 1/2 cup (118 ml) buttermilk or plain yogurt
3 large eggs
2/3 cup (156 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 3/4 cups (219 grams or 7 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Honey minneola compote, for serving (optional, below)
Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Grate zest from 2 minneolas and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until zest is evenly distributed in sugar.

Supreme a minneola: Cut off bottom and top so fruit is exposed and can stand upright on a cutting board. Cut away peel and pith, following curve of fruit with your knife. Cut segments out of their connective membranes and let them fall into a bowl. Repeat with another minneola. Break up segments with your fingers to about 1/4-inch pieces.

Halve remaining minneola and squeeze juice into a measuring cup; you’ll will have about 1/4 cup. Add buttermilk or yogurt to juice until you have 2/3 cup liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs and olive oil.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir dry ingredients into wet ones.  [Note: I didn't do a thorough enough job of mixing the ingredients and parts of my cake came out tasting very flour-y. Blech. Don't make my mistake; really incorporate the dry ingredients completely into the wet ingredients.]  Fold in pieces of minneola segments. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up. Serve with whipped cream and compote (below), if desired.

Honey Minneola Compote: Supreme 3 more minneolas according to directions above. Drizzle in 1 to 2 teaspoons honey. Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir gently.

When ready to serve, cut cake into small slices and toast gently in oven until the edges are caramelized.  Drizzle on the honey citrus compote.  Find a hammock (or imagine a hammock).  Enjoy an early taste of summer.

Read more...

Diary of a Secret Housewife: Salted Caramel Chocolate Matzoh Crunch

Passover is coming up soon, which means matzoh galore.  And when one has had enough of matzoh with margarine, matzoh with peanut butter and jelly, and matzoh brei, the only thing to do is to cover matzoh with caramel and chocolate.  Sprinkle the concoction with a little fleur de sel, and you'll get a confection so heavenly you'll never kvetch about going breadless again.

My recipe is adapted from Marcy Goldman's "Trademark, Most Requested, Absolutely Magnificent Caramel Matzoh Crunch."  Let me assure you that the name is right on target. The result is a chewy, crunchy, sweet, and savory delight.

Here's what you need:

• 4-6 unsalted matzohs
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or unsalted Passover margarine
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate
• Fleur de sel, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cover the bottom of the sheet with baking parchment — on top of the foil.

Line the bottom of the cookie sheet evenly with the matzohs, cutting extra pieces, as required, to fit any spaces.

In a 3-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the butter or margarine and the brown sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil (about 2 to 4 minutes). Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and pour over the matzoh, covering completely. [Be careful not to boil the mixture for too long, or else the caramel will get burnt and bitter.]

Place the baking sheet in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 350°. Bake for 15 minutes, checking every few minutes to make sure the mixture is not burning (if it seems to be browning too quickly, remove the pan from the oven, lower the heat to 325°, and replace the pan).

Remove from the oven and sprinkle immediately with the chopped chocolate or chips. Let stand for 5 minutes, then spread the melted chocolate over the matzoh. Sprinkle the fleur del sel on top of the chocolate. While still warm, break into squares or odd shapes. Chill, still in the pan, in the freezer until set.

[BTW, it's fun to try variations on this recipe: use white chocolate chips or peanut butter cups; add chopped nuts or marshmallows; or mix salt into the caramel for a salted caramel base.]

Read more...

Diary of a Secret Housewife: Hamantaschen

This weekend was the Jewish holiday of Purim, which is awesome for kids (carnival! masks! costumes!) and usually not so much fun for adults.  But I made my own fun by baking my own hamantaschen.   

Hamataschen are triangular cookies, usually filled with poppy seed or fruit jam, that are traditionally served on Purim.  There are various explanations for why they are served on Purim, but usually the story is that they resemble the ears or the hat of Haman, the villain of the Book of Esther, which is the story that gets read aloud at Purim.  Store-bought hamantaschen are usually not so delicious, as most Jewish bakeries are parve, meaning they don't use dairy products, including butter.  I was thus especially psyched to find Smitten Kitchen's recipe, which has butter AND cream cheese!   Whee!

Here's the recipe, with my revisions, adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Zest of one orange
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/3 cups plus 4 teaspoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Various jams (I used boysenberry and raspberry) or prepared fillings (such as poppy seed or prune pastry filing)

Directions: 

Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar and mix for one minute longer, then egg, vanilla extract, orange zest and salt, mixing until combined. Finally, add the flour. The mixture should come together and be a tad sticky. 

Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

To form the hamantaschen, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface until it is about 1/4-inch thick (I like my cookies more delicate, so I went for a little less than 1/4 inch). Using a round cookie cutter (or just the top of a small bowl) and cut the dough into circles. Spoon a teaspoon of you filling of choice in the center.

Fold the dough in from three sides and firmly crimp the corners and give them a little twist to ensure they stay closed.  Some of my first batch of cookies flattened out completely in the oven, so trust me when I tell you to really crimp the corners tight (you can even brush a little bit of egg on the corners to seal them).  It also helps to refrigerate the folded cookies for a little while before baking, so that they hold their shape a bit more.

Next time I make this though, I'm not going to try to keep the three "walls" standing straight up.  I'm just going fold the three sides in a bit more, almost like a paper football, so that they almost completely cover the jam.  That way, they will hold the triangular shape.

But let me assure you that even if they come out all deformed or flat like mine did, they still taste pretty darn good.  The dough is light, buttery, and flavorful, not dry and hard like parve hamantaschen usually are.

Have you ever made hamantaschen?  Do you have any advice for how to get them to hold their shape?

Read more...

Whoopie!

You know I love whoopie pies.  And funny enough, my new temporary job is in Maine, which is about to name the whoopie pie its official state dessert -- even if the state has to get into a food war with Pennsylvania, which also wants to claim the goodness for itself.

They can fight over the bragging rights.  I, however, would rather be eating these awesome red velvet whoopie pies, which were made by my friend Amy from Bakerella's recipe.

And I'll let you in on a secret: these whoopies are allegedly super easy to make because you can use red velvet cake mix.  Shh!

Here's the recipe, courtesy of Amy and Bakerella:

Ingredients:

• 1 Box red velvet cake mix
• 1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 8 oz. Package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 1lb. Box of confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First make the cookies by mixing the first four ingredients until combined.  Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto baking sheet about two inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool.

Then make the cream cheese frosting by creaming the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla in a mixer.  Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.

Makes about 24 cookies or 12 cookie sandwiches

Read more...

Diary of a Secret Housewife: Flan Imposible

One of our friends had a tapas party for her birthday this weekend, and I couldn't think of a tapas recipe that would travel well, so I decided to make a flan.

But not just any flan.  (Insert "Mission Impossible" music here.)  Flan Imposible.

Flan Imposible, or Chocoflan, is really two desserts in one: velvety vanilla custard over a layer of gooey chocolate cake.  It gets its name from the magical process by which the custard and cake layers switch positions during baking.  With not too much work, you get two desserts and entertainment!

The recipe I used is Fany Gerson's, reprinted in Saveur, though this is a classic Mexican dessert, so many versions of the recipe abound, including ones that use cake mix (if you want Chocoflan in a hurry).  The centerpiece for this flan is cajeta, which is a goat's milk version of dulce de leche.  Unfortunately, even though we live mere blocks from the so-called Latin Quarter of Boston, I could not find cajeta anywhere.  So I used dulce de leche instead.  Really, though, you could just use a store-bought caramel sauce.  It'll still be good.  In fact, next time I might just make a quick caramel sauce at home; I think a less sweet, more bitter, almost burnt caramel would go really well with the sweetness of the flan and cake.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Lightly grease the bottom and sides of an 8-inch cake pan, or you can use a bundt pan, which I think is prettier.

Pour 1/2 to 1 cup of the cajeta (or whatever kind of caramel sauce you're using)  over the bottom and sides of the cake pan using a brush or the back of a spoon (you can heat the sauce very slightly in the microwave so that it is easier to spread).  If you love caramel, you should go all out and use a full cup of it.  But the dessert is plenty sweet already, so I used just enough to coat the pan.

Then make the cake layer.   Combine 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup flour, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, and a pinch of salt in a large bowl and whisk until well blended.  In a separate bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup buttermilk, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 egg (at room temperature), and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Add to the flour mixture, whisking until thoroughly combined.  Pour the cake batter into the pan and set aside.

Then make the flan layer.   Combine 12 ounces evaporated milk, 14 ounces condensed milk, 4 eggs, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a blender and blend until there are no visible lumps. Pour gently over the cake batter.

Cover loosely with foil, place in a large baking dish, and fill the baking dish with hot water so that it comes halfway up the sides.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.  (I forgot to cover with foil, so there was a thin layer of flan that remained at the top.  Grr.)

Remove the cake pan from the baking dish and allow to cool for at least 4 hours or refrigerate overnight. To unmold, lightly pass a warm knife around the edge, place a plate or dish on top, and carefully but rapidly flip over.  Garnish with toasted nuts or fruit.  Serve cold or at room temperature.

This is a super easy recipe, but trust me, people will be impressed by your flantastic baking skills.  And this dessert not only travels well, but is super tasty the next day.  Be sure to save yourself a slice though; it goes fast, and is very addictive.

Read more...