So the pictures of my trials and tribulations are posted
here in case anyone is curious about what the end product was.
BTW, despite the problems I am glad I made this, but will probably not make it again. It was an ok cake. But the individual parts were way better than the whole IMHO.
I loved the Cajeta and will make that again.
The Chocolate cake is one of the easiest and most forgiving I've ever seen. I mean in how many cakes can you a cup of sugar, scoop some out, add a bit of flour without measuring, extra cocoa to make up for the undetermined amount of extra sugar, bake it for an arbitrary 20 minutes and still have a delicious cake? The mistake cake was better than the real one, which was probably overbaked. So I will make the cake again, on its own adding a bit more cocoa, using extra large eggs instead of large and doubling the recipe so I can make it into a layer cake, frost it and fill it.
And the flan was great, but then it always is and it is much easier to make in the pressure cooker. No water mess, and it is cooked in 20 minutes.