It comes from Mexico and tastes amazing if you take it out of the fridge an hour or two before eating it
Ingredients:
Chocolate cake / Brownie
75 g unsweetened cocoa powder
250 g dark chocolate (55%)
6 eggs
240 g sugar
Vanilla: ½ pod or 2 sachets of vanilla extract or 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
180 g flour
180 g butter, at room temperature
1½ teaspoons baking powder
A pinch of salt
Caramel
200 g sugar
Milk flan
Vanilla: ½ pod or 2 tablespoons vanilla extract or 2 vanilla pods
9 whole eggs
355 g milk (that’s 1½ cups)
I used evaporated milk, which I found at the multi-ethnic supermarket
1 tin (397 g) condensed milk (that’s 1½ cups)
Let’s get started😃 by making the caramel and greasing the tin.
Melt the sugar in a heavy-based saucepan, adding 3 tablespoons of water. And off we go!
Then pour it into the base of a 28 cm diameter, 8 cm high tin – the sort with a large central pudding tube. Set it aside.
Milk flan:
In a bowl, mix together the milk, condensed milk, vanilla essence and eggs, then set aside.
Brownie:
Melt the chocolate with the butter and set aside.
Beat the eggs with the sugar, a pinch of salt and the vanilla for 10 minutes, whisking them well.
Whilst whisking the eggs, sift the dry ingredients,
I add the melted chocolate to the eggs and gradually fold in my sifted mixture of flour, baking powder and unsweetened cocoa powder.
I mix well, folding from the bottom upwards with a spatula.
Pour the chocolate brownie batter into the tin, on top of the caramel, which by now will have thickened, and level it off carefully, tapping the tin to ensure there are no air pockets. As it’s thick, it spreads easily with a spatula.
Now pour the milk flan over the brownie, using the back of a spoon to guide the liquid so it doesn’t go directly onto the chocolate. This prevents holes forming in the still-soft chocolate. Pour gently, though.
Bake in a bain-marie at 180°C for 1 hour.
At some point, the brownie base will rise, leaving the milk flan stuck to the caramel. It looks beautiful and tastes delicious.
Once taken out of the oven, the chocolate base will feel soft – that’s fine; it’s all chocolate and butter, and it will set as it cools.
Leave to cool for 8 hours in the fridge.
