Postage Stamp Chocolate Magic Custard Cake

My friend wanted a cake for hubby's birthday and I asked her about his preference... he likes chocolates and generally doesn't like cakes. Hmm... sounds like regular chiffon is out. Since I know the birthday boy as well, I know he likes coffee, doesn't like overly sweet stuff and Doraemon. And so, I came up with this small chocolate magic custard cake bursting with chocolate flavor that is enhanced by espresso, and packaged as a Doraemon postage stamp!

Unfortunately the postage stamp idea came only after I baked the cake. I should have used a square tin instead of a round tin. Oh well. The birthday boy still loved the look and taste of the cake :).

Look at that rich chocolatey custard layer and light souffle layer! I seldom get to taste the cakes that I bake for others nowadays but since this one had trimmings, I got to try :). The high cocoa content and espresso makes the cake really rich in flavor but the custard base and melt-in-your-mouth souffle gives it an interesting texture.

My recipe is adapted from whiteonricecouple, which I realise is where almost all other bloggers adapt from.

Ingredients (makes a 4.5" round cake):
1 egg yolk
33g icing sugar
28g unsalted butter
153g fresh milk
26g plain flour
11g cocoa powder
10g espresso (about 2 tsp)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg white
1/10 tsp cream of tartar
7g caster sugar

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line the bottom of the 4.5" pan with baking sheet and grease the sides.  You may choose to line the sides of the pan. As I used a pan with removable base, I covered the base with a layer of aluminium foil to prevent batter from flowing out.

2. Melt the butter and set aside. Combine milk, vanilla extract and espresso and warm it up. Sift together cocoa powder and flour

3. Beat the egg white in a clean metal bowl until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

4. Beat egg yolk and icing sugar until pale and fluffy. Add melted butter and beat for 2 minutes until well combined. Add sifted flour and cocoa powder and mix well. Gradually add in milk mixture and use a hand whisk to mix it in. Batter will be very thick at first but becomes runny after all the milk is added.

5. Add the meringue into the egg yolk batter one third at a time and gently fold it in until no big curds are seen. You may find folding in using a hand whisk helpful.

6. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown on top but the center is still slightly jiggly.

7. Cool completely before removing from tin.

8. Trim the sides if you are serving the normal way. I used a jumbo straw to create the postage stamp shape.

9. Dust the cake with snow powder and refrigerate until you are ready to serve. I used a Doraemon cookie cutter to create the imprint on the cake, and then use a small sharp knife and toothpick to cut into the cake to create a clearer Doraemon picture.

Verdict was the cake tasted really good with the perfect level of sweetness. My friend loved the texture of the custard. The cake was eaten 4 days after I baked it though so the souffle layer was starting to break down. Something useful to keep in mind for future magic custard bakes.

With love,
Phay Shing