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,
diane
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
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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.
Just made the magic cake & it looks awesome. Should it be refrigerated?
i finally tried it
i think i overcooked it a little because it didnt have the distinct jiggly effect when pulled out of the oven
when i ate it, it felt very heavy/dense (almost like eating copious amounts of soft moist bread) and kind of bland
I think it needs a few more elements of flavour to come through. It would definitely be delicious with lemon in it :3
is it meant to smell eggy? i hate the smell of eggy cakes 🙁
waiting for things to cool down… hopefully all goes well 🙂
I just put my cake batter, that looks much like scrambled eggs, in the oven. I’m a little nervous about this. Your cake is beautiful! My husband loves custard and not-so-sweet desserts so I’m excited to make this for him. My fingers are crossed. 😉
If I may make a suggestion… I would suggest whipping the egg whites last, since they’re the last thing to go in. I whipped mine first, and they whipped up into proud, beautiful peaks that held perfectly. I set it aside, and this being my first time making the recipe, it took me a couple more minutes than a practiced recipe. By the time I was ready to fold them in (and no, I did not go to the bathroom/check facebook/walk the dog in the interim), they were flat! I had to dump them. I tried 4 more egg whites, added the 4 drops of vinegar, and…. nothing. They never whipped up again. After many minutes of no transformation, I realized there wasn’t going to be one. I couldn’t waste another 4 eggs, so I dumped the frothy mix into my batter. Womp womp. Not sure what I could’ve possibly done wrong.
At least I saved the yolks, but I was pretty bummed out. The cake is in the oven now, hopefully it’s going to turn out alright. I’ll have to let you know.
Can I substitute the flour in the recipe with C4C?
We have no idea what C4C is.
Todd and Diane, C4C is short for Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour developed by Chef Thomas Keller & Pastry Chef, Lena Kwak, of The French Laundry. This premium gluten free flour is available at William-Sonoma stores and their online catalog nationwide as well as Dean & Deluca and select Whole Foods Market stores in Southern California, the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. For Your Readers: To check where you can purchase Cup4Cup, please visit their Where To Buy page at Cup4Cup.com. In my case, Todd and Diane, I just tested C4C this past week in this particular application for “Magic Cake” and the recipe is a new post on my blog. It performed fabulously and flawlessly! Thought you both would like to know. xo
Wow this looks amazing! Although I was wondering if you had any tips for baking this at (very) high altitude, would you change the cooking time or recipe at all?
Since we are almost always cooking at sea level, we aren’t too versed in high altitude baking. Sorry.
This is now the fourth time we have made this dessert. My husband LOVES it! Both versions are so good. Don’t even think twice about making this. Just make it!
This recipe would have been good except it lacked SALT. You really need salt to round out the flavor. It ended up being rather dull.
I found your recipe on pinterest and tried it today. The top came out nice and fluffy, the middle super creamy, but the bottom was just fudge like chewy, extremely dense. What could I have done wrong?
That sounds like about how the cake comes out. A dense bottom, custard like middle, and a cake like top. Small variances in mixing technique, baking dishes, bowls the whites are whipped in, etc… will have an effect on the individual qualities some, but it doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong.
Just made this – TOTALLY LOVED IT! Like a sweet vanilla custard in cake form. Gonna try the chocolate one next weekend! 🙂
I made this tonight and followed the recipe exactly but my middle was still liquid. I was thinking of cutting 1/2 cup of milk out of it and using softened butter rather than melted. The part that DID set up (only outer edges) was delicious but the entire middle was liquid. Any suggestions?
You might just need to bake it longer.
If I bake it any longer the top will burn. I did it 20 extra minutes and the top got so brown but I had to pour liquid off to make it edible.
Hmmm. That’s strange. I’m not sure what would have prevented it from setting. Hopefully someone else will have an idea and chime in.
My best guess is that it is either the shape and depth of the cake pan that you are using, or else what rung your oven rack is set on. Have you tested your oven temps lately? Older ovens can be incorrect, and sometimes cook either hotter or colder than what you have selected. No big deal with a roast of beef, but with this sort of recipe it could be important.
Not saying to go out and buy a new oven, or even new cake tins, just give them a wee shake before pulling them out of the oven. If it’s too jiggly, give it five more minutes. Test again , and five more minutes as needed. I may not be right, but I have lived through this sort of issue more often than I care to recall.
I had the same problem! I did double the batch and baked it for a lot longer than stated but it was just liquidy in the middle.,,,the edges were fine. It tasted great–we used the center as a sauce. Everyone loved it. I’ve made it before and it came out fine. I’m not sure what happened!
I made this today, I used salted butter and a milk that we have in new Zealand called super trim which is a really low fat milk. I also tired vinegar too. I had only baked for forty minutes, it had a super thick soft sponge top a creamy custard middle and a thick custard bottom (which my partner didn’t like) he said it was like when custard gets a skin. Does this sound like I cooked it too long or does it sound right? I loved it and thought that it would be nice served with a lemon cream but after reading comments lemon inside would be awesome.
Thanks so much for the recipe, I made mine a bit fluffier though. I made it and linked it back to you on my blog! Please have a look when you can!
Joelle
xx
Hi there. I found your blog via Gerry at http://www.foodnessgracious.com. This recipe really reminds me of ‘luscious lemon pudding’, also known as self saucing pudding which I made so many times growing up in the eighties and revisited again last year. As result, I made a lemon version of your magic custard cake and it was fantastic. The chocolate version is now on my ‘to make’ list.
Interesting cake. I wanted to love it – magic! custard! vanilla! In the end, I found the top cake layer distracting from the smooth middle layer, of which there wasn’t enough. I’d rather just have custard – creme brulee, creme caramel. The idea was so appealing. The result was less so for me.