JACKSON HEIGHTS — Cinco de Mayo is only a few days away and for those looking to cook up a celebration of Mexican heritage, DNAinfo New York can help.
We've collected recipes from some of the best Mexican restaurants across the five boroughs, presenting a dish each day that you can prepare for Cinco de Mayo weekend — from tasty tacos to sweet sangria.
Impressing your guests at the end of your Cinco de Mayo fiesta with this chocoflan will take two parts eggs — and three parts patience.
Rodrigo De Jesus, a baker at Panaderia Coatzingo on Roosevelt Avenue near 76th Street, crafts a decadent chocoflan that is often called "flan imposible" because it can be so difficult to bake.
"The cake comes up and the flan goes down," he said of the two-step process.
De Jesus, 35, has perfected the recipe since he first learned it as a 10-year-old boy in Mexico. You can top it with fresh fruit, or let the chocolate cake and flan stand out on its own.
To compliment chocoflan, Miguel Rodriguez, whose family owns the bakery and the nearby Coatzingo restaurant, recommends a classic Mexican hot chocolate, or chocolate para mesa, made with steaming milk and Abuelita chocolate tablets that are on sale in the bakery.
While you're waiting the 10 or so hours for the cake to cool, Rodriguez, 25, also suggests sampling a couple bottles of his favorite Mexican beer, Victoria.
If you're brave enough to try the imposible, here's Coatzingo's recipe for chocoflan:
Chocolate Cake
15 eggs
1 pound of sugar
1 pound of flour
1/2 pound of cocoa powder
1 ounce of baking powder
1/4 liter vegetable oil
Pinch of baking soda
1. Blend the eggs, sugar and flour in a stand mixer until it turns into a foam.
2. Take the cocoa powder, baking powder and a pinch of baking soda and mix together with the egg foam.
3. Add 1/4 liter of vegetable cooking oil, and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, mix sugar and water— enough to cover an inch of the 8" flan pan — and put it in the oven to caramelize.
5. Once it's caramelized, let it cool and then fill up half the pan with the cake mix.
It's now time to make the flan.
FLAN
Pinch of cornstarch
Half liter of water
One 6-ounce can of powdered milk
About 12 eggs
1 and 3/4 pounds of sugar
1 liter of whole milk
Pinch of vanilla extract
1. Mix all the ingredients together with a large spoon and pour over the chocolate cake mix.
2. Put the pan in the oven using a "bano maria" technique — submerged halfway in a larger pan of hot water.
3. Bake the dish at 300 degrees for 90 minutes.
4. Let it cool for eight to 10 hours, and then flip it out of the pan.
Enjoy!
Additional reporting by Agustina Bartha.
