Impossible Cake for a Mexican Fiesta! (Recipe, including cajeta caramel recipe)

There have been several birthdays this month, most recently my neighbor's 28th birthday party (which you can find the write-up for, here: https://steemit.com/mexico/@lily-da-vine/fiesta-on-the-hill-getting-down-in-the-barrio).  This was my first true Mexican fiesta with Mexicans and honestly we had a blast.  Her husband suggested I make a cake and after changing my mind a few times, I determined to make an impossible cake, with the intention of sharing it with Steemit afterwards. This is the second time I made this and I went for a much larger flan layer, which made the cooking time take longer.  It was a delicious change, nonetheless. 

The first time I heard about this cake, it was explained to me by an english speaking mexican with an affinity for baked goods.  I know he blamed the desire on his wife but I know he enjoyed them himself.  I made him brownies and eventually a Devil's food cake, which he enjoyed a lot.  He shared the idea of pastele impossible(Impossible Cake) with me and I've been fascinated ever since, if with nothing else than the cajeta that goes on top. 

It all starts with cajeta, partially because of how long it takes to make. Cajeta is a spicy sweet caramel sauce used in all sorts of things.  They sell cajeta in little pine boxes with spoons, like candy in certain parts of mexico.  Due to lack of goat milk in this part of Mexico, I'm forced to make my cajeta using lactose free cows milk.  From my understanding I'm not actually making true cajeta, but dulce de leche. Nevertheless it's carmely, delicious and worth the effort. I use 2 liters of milk, 2.5 cups of sugar, 1 t vanilla and a mexican cinnamon stick.  

You combine it all in the pan and bring it to a boil slowly, stirring pretty regularly.  

After awhile, it'll foam up like this, keep stirring constantly at this point.  When it reaches the top of the pan, add about a teaspoon of baking soda to the pot.  

As you stir after adding the baking soda, the foam will fall and condense back down into the pan.  Continue to simmer for awhile, stirring occasionally and making sure it doesn't boil over.  

It'll get really foamy at several points throughout the rest of the cooking process, making the cajeta like this.  Somewhere in all of this foaming, it starts to turn golden brown. At about an hour in, remove the cinnamon stick and keep condensing. 

Eventually, it will condense down into a thick dark brown syrup.  Turn off the heat and let it come to room temperature.  It makes about a cup and a half of cajeta with this recipe, which can be used on just about anything sweet. The caramel should keep for about a month if kept in a sealed container in the fridge. 

Next comes the cake, featuring it's cajeta in the ingredients photo. This includes all of the ingredients for the flan layer and the cake layer of this cake. We start with preparing the pan.

Add about a half cup of cajeta to the bottom of your baking dish.  Most use an angel food style or bundt style pan as it reduces cooking time drastically.  Due to the fact that half of this is a custard, it needs to be cooked in a water bath to keep proper texture. The fact that it requires a water bath automatically makes the cake take longer to cook. For this reason, many use the open center style baking dish.  Heat a decent sized pan of water on the stove for this purpose. I used a pan I have on hand, because it's what I had on hand.  It made it take more than twice as long to cook, so be warned.  If it's not done at an hour in just keep cooking, add water if it's really low to preserve custard texture.   Last time I made this cake it was in a springform pan, not recommended as the thin flan batter will run out through the cracks.  I buttered the edges of this pan as well. 

Start the cake batter by combining a half cup of melted butter with one cup of sugar.  Once combined, thoroughly mix in the cocoa powder. Add an egg and about a teaspoon of vanilla and mix.  Mix in 8 ounces of milk.  Add about 1 and three quarters cup of all purpose flour, 1 tsp of baking soda and 1 tsp of baking powder, combine until smooth.  Pour into pan with cajeta layer.

A view of the difference between the milks, both are condensed down, one has sugar. 

Flan is fairly easy, you just mix 2 cans of evaporated milk and 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk into a bowl.  Add 6 eggs and 2 tsp of vanilla and mix until everything is combined.  Using a spoon to soften the flow of the thin batter, add the flan mix to the pan on top of the cake batter.  

Put the pan in another pan and add hot water to the other pan until it reaches up about an inch on the side of your main pan.  Put this in the oven at about 180 degrees celcius for about an hour to two at most(depending on type of pan used). Once the cake has set comepletely and toothpick comes out clean, the whole thing is done.  

Once it's finished let it cool to room temperature, and chill until ready to serve.  Once ready to serve, flip it out onto a plate or serving platter upside down. You'll have something that looks like the thing pictured above. 

The cake ended up falling apart due to heat from sitting outside.  I didn't have enough time to chill it before hand as I realistically waited too long to make it.  This is a recipe that's best if you make it the day before and chill it overnight, in my experience.  Despite the difficulties, the cake was a hit. Everyone enjoyed it and was picking at it throughout the night, despite their drinking. Mexicans know how to both work harder and party harder than any culture I've experienced.  I've got a lot of respect for the culture, although some of the music still wears on me.