Chocolate Custard Cream Cake

Moist cake layers & fluffy custard cream – Chocolate Custard Cream Cake is an elegant cocoa-based take on the classic vanilla custard cake of yesteryear.

A WhatsApp conversation with some of my school friends got us all dreaming of a certain custard cake that used to be a popular thing to bake when we were growing up in Daharki back in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

The confection in question was a simple sponge-style cake filled and covered with vanilla custard made from Rafhan Custard Powder – in truth, the sort of homely, old-fashioned baking one rarely comes across that often now.

Luckily, one of my friends still has the recipe and inspired by that, I made this cocoa version with a slightly different take on the custard filling & frosting.

The cake is my basic go-to chocolate cake recipe and you will find more ideas based around this recipe on the blog.

The custard here is made from scratch and “lightened” (in the textural sense only obviously) with a little whipped cream that gives it an airier, fluffier quality.

Try it.

 

CHOCOLATE CUSTARD CREAM CAKE

 

RECIPE TYPE: DESSERT    AUTHOR: ALICE IN EATLAND

PREP TIME: 60 Minutes    COOK TIME: 60    TOTAL TIME: 2 HOURS

SERVES: 6 – 8

 

Moist cake layers & fluffy custard cream – Chocolate Custard Cream Cake is an elegant cocoa based take on the classic vanilla custard cake of yesteryear.

 

MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup milk
• 4 tbsp white vinegar
• 2 cups caster sugar or superfine sugar
• 1 cup + 3/4 cup plain flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
• 2 tsp instant coffee
• 1 cup boiling water

 

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.
2. Grease two 6.5” x 2.5” round cake pans and line with parchment paper.
   Grease and flour the paper.
   Or do what I usually do: line cake pans with aluminium foil and grease and flour the foil. Set aside.
3. Stir the milk and vinegar together in a small cup or bowl to make buttermilk. Set aside.
4. Combine all the dry ingredients, except coffee, in a bowl.
5. Whisk the eggs. Stir the buttermilk and add to the eggs along with the oil and vanilla.
6. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and beat until well mixed.
7. Stir the instant coffee into the boiling water and carefully stir into the cocoa mixture. Batter will be quite thin.
8. Divide the batter into two and pour into the prepared cake pans.
9. Bake 30 – 40 minutes or until the cakes have risen and a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean.
   This can take up to an hour depending on your oven.
10. Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.
    Invert so that the top of the cakes is up and cool completely.
11. Your cakes may have domed tops so trim off carefully with a long serrated knife and discard (by “discard” I mean eat with chai like I do).
12. Slice each cake horizontally into two so you have 4 layers.

 

CUSTARD CREAM FILLING & TOPPING

 

INGREDIENTS

• 4 egg yolks
• 4 – 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, well chilled
• A few tablespoons of icing sugar, sifted

 

METHOD

1. Whip the cream till thick & fluffy. Cover & keep in the fridge.
2. Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar & milk in a pan until combined.
3. Place the pan on a medium-ish heat and keep whisking or stirring the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon thickly.
4. Keep stirring and remove from the heat just as the custard begins to reach a gentle simmer. Do not let the custard boil as it may split or curdle.
5. Once off the heat, stir in the butter and vanilla.
6. Cover the entire surface of the hot custard with plastic wrap and cool completely.
7. Push the cooled custard through a sieve so that you have a smooth custard & no tiny eggy lumps. Chill covered.
8. When cold, fold in 2 tablespoons of the whipped cream.
9. Sandwich the cake layers generously with this custard cream.
10. Chill the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
11. You may need to insert a long wooden skewer or satay stick into the centre to stabilise the cake layers.
12. Fold any leftover custard cream into the remaining whipped cream and taste to see if it’s sweet enough. If not, beat in enough of the icing sugar till desired sweetness is reached.
13. Frost the cake with the custard cream.
14. Keep filled & frosted cake refrigerated.