Magic Vanilla Custard Cake

You may have seen one of the thousands of variations of this cake on the interwebs. I did, so I had to try it. I looked at a bunch of recipes and chose what I liked about each one and then added more vanilla because I absolutely love vanilla. The name is true-this cake is, and tastes, magical. There is a firm yet dense layer on the bottom; a custard layer on top of that and then the lightest of cakes on top.

Ingredients (serves 9):

4 eggs, separated

2 teaspoons vanilla

1¼ cups powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

½ cup unsalted butter-melted and slightly cooled

2 cups milk (room temperature if possible)

1 cup flour

Powdered (confectioner’s) sugar for dusting

Strawberries for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Note: this requires a little bit of coordination with mixers. I used my stand mixer with a very clean bowl and the whisk attachment for the egg whites and used a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer for the rest.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Spray an 8 by 8 inch cake pan (square works best) with cooking spray and set aside. (My 8 by 8 was a little too full, so if you have a 9 by 9, that might work even better. Me? I put some in a ramekin for a ‘cook’s treat’)

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, set aside.

Beat the egg yolks, vanilla and powdered sugar until pale yellow.

Beat in the melted butter and then the flour until thoroughly mixed.

Slowly beat in the milk.

Fold in the egg whites-a bit at a time-until all the egg whites are folded in. Don’t overmix—it’s fine to have a few little bits of egg white in the mixture.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 40-60 minutes. The time may vary, but start checking at 40 minutes. If the cake is very jiggly, cook for another 10 minutes and check again. If the top is getting dark while the cake is still super jiggly, cover the top with foil and cook on. When done, the cake will be just barely jiggly in the center. This cake has custard in the middle, so it will be slightly jiggly when removed from the oven. Mine was perfect at 50 minutes baked on the middle rack.

Cool the cake for at least 30 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar. Cut into 9 pieces and serve with strawberries.