Magic Custard Cake
When I saw a magic custard cake recipe on Pinterest, I was floored. I mean, it left me in a state of delicious shock that something so simple could create an incredible piece of dessert.
What is Magic Custard Cake?
Magic custard cake it truly a magical piece of cake. This dessert is to not too sweet (which I love the most) and is loaded with a wonderful middle layer that’s soft and custard-like. This cake is soft, pillow-y and melt-in-your-mouth wonderful. The delicate top layer of cake and bottom crust is what holds the custard layer together. It looked so easy and like magic, it separated into three layers. It’s cake layer on top, an egg-flavored custard layer in the middle and another dense custard layer on the bottom.

For two weeks, my obsession grew for this cake and I stalked the internet for what ever info I could find, which wasn’t much. I wanted to call this a Magic Custard Cake Recipe. After a search on Google, I realized that there were many variations of this classic “Magic Custard Pie” already being shared from kitchen to kitchen. I inhaled my first two slices in one sitting. And this is coming from someone who is usually one and done with sweets. (Salty stuff is a whole ‘nother story.)
Watch Video: How to Make Magic Custard Cake:
Be still my heart, I love this magic custard cake so much. Please make it and tell me what you think and let’s discuss in the comments below.
love,
Magic Custard Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted Butter (1 stick)
- 2 cups (480 ml) Milk
- 4 Eggs , separated
- 4 drops White Vinegar
- 1 1/4 cups (150 g) Powdered Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) Water
- 1 cup (125 g) Flour
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) Vanilla Extract
- extra confectioner's sugar for dusting
Equipment
- 8”x8” baking dish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C. Lightly butter or grease a 8"x8" (20x20cm) baking dish.

- Melt the 1/2 cup (113g) butter and set aside to slightly cool slightly.

- Warm the 2 cups (480ml) milk to lukewarm and set aside.

- Whip the 4 egg whites and 4 drops vinegar to stiff peaks. Set aside.

- Beat the 4 egg yolks and 1 1/4 cups (150g) powdered sugar until light.

- Mix in the melted butter and the 1 Tablespoon (15ml) water for about 2 minutes or until evenly incorporated.

- Mix in the 1 cup (125g) flour until evenly incorporated.

- Slowly beat in the warmed milk and 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract until everything is well mixed.

- Fold in the egg whites, 1/3 at a time. Repeat until all of the egg whites are folded in.

- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

- Bake at 325°F/160°C for 45-60 minutes or until the cake is barely jiggly in the center. If the top browns too quick before the minimum of 45 minutes, then cover the cake with aluminum foil and cook for remainder of time needed.

- Allow cake to completely cool before cutting and then dust with powdered sugar. For faster cooling you can place the cake in the fridge. Even after fully cooled, it will still be slightly jiggly because it's a custard layer cake.

Nutrition Information per Serving
Here’s more of our popular recipes:
And if you’re craving more cake, this moist banana cake should be on your next to-do list!. This recipe was originally published in 2013.












these look like the perfect balance of textures and tastes. and i know this is basic, but i am so happy for a non-chocolate dessert, yea!
Gulp! I have weakness on custard so you really got me on this.
I can’t even move right now.
Hi Diane,
This looks intriguing! I’ll have to make it this weekend. I have salted butter at home. Would I be able to use it versus the unsalted butter, which the recipe calls for?
Thanks!
Salted butter should work just fine. Have fun baking!
Diane- that was quite the sales pitch–how can we resist? But I am very interested to know your thoughts on Alicia’s comment about lemon zest…and I thought perhaps lemon juice instead of the water… Could this custard cake be improved upon with lemon? Or best left alone? (Looking forward to choc version too!)
Hi Christine. The lemon would be a great flavor addition. We were curious about the purpose of the tablespoon of water how it affects the baking and layering of the cake. If you make it with the lemon juice, we’d love to know if that works too.
I would have imagined there were waaaaay more ingredients to this cake. This looks so easy. My birthday is coming up, maybe I will have to treat myself to this!
I need some magic right now. This is definitely going on my “To Make” list. Love the idea of a chocolate version. Can we work caramel in there too, for a flan-like cake? A girl can dream…
I don’t like sweets too often but if it says custard anywhere or lemons, you have my attention. I will have to try this very soon.
It is still a.m. here in Alaska and I was planning to make Pannukakku (Finnish dutch baby) for breakfast this morning. Now, I’m going to make this instead! Breakfast, Dessert whatever!
I want this! It’s like the densest, most beautiful custard ever! I love bread pudding and it reminds me of that, minus the bread. Todd is quite the guy to have made this for you. It’s gorgeous and the pics….make me want to dive in headfirst!
This looks positively intriguing!
I just found your recipe through pinterest. I noticed you are using metric measurements, do you have a conversion for us old school bakers?
Hi Lori. We have the cup measurement on the recipe but if you want to convert to oz. and you’re scale doesn’t have that capability, here’s a link to convert grams to oz.
There’s a recipe in the tartine bakery cookbook, a lemon pudding cake that magically separates like this–I think it requires full-fat buttermilk (which I know I could hack) but that so far is what’s held me back as I can’t easily find it. But it did always sound like magic! I agree, while I like (um, love) dessert I like the subtle sweetness more. I can’t wait to try! (PS never heard of vinegar in egg whites to stabilize. Interesting…)
We totally missed the Tartine pudding cake. Thanks for letting us know about it!
Magic indeed! I make my grandma’s lemon custard soufflé cake that separates but not leaving this dense custard that has me eager to try your recipe.
This looks fantastic, and sounds perfect for my mother’s day lunch this sunday! Did you use medium or large eggs, do you remember? I’m always a bit cautious about following metric conversions for things that were developed in cups as it always seems so trial-and-error so I might give this a run-through before the big day!
Hi Emma. We used large eggs. The original recipe that we found was actually in metric first and that is how we made it. The cups we converted to make it easier for some others. Hope you get to try the recipe out.
Fab thanks for letting me know – will try it out this afternoon! BTW, your link at the top of the recipe (not the post itself) “Adapted from Mabel’s “Tart Magica” doesn’t take you to Mabel’s post, it just goes to your homepage – hence I’d not noticed it was originally posted in metric! Thanks 🙂
Sorry about the link error. Thanks for letting us know!
Ooh! Love the everyday ingredient list!! Maybe I’ll make this with toasted coconut on top for my friend’s birthday later this month. Thanks for sharing.