Rainbow Magic Custard Cake

Happy new year everyone! Just sharing my madcap experiment to see if I could create a Rainbow Magic Custard Cake!! It's something I had dreamed about but not sure whether possible (definitely not seen it anywhere yet!).

It was actually a simple bake for my birthday because for my birthday, I get a break from chiffons (though they are my first love)! =p

The magic custard cake is a magical cake that self-separates into 3 layers of different textures (chiffon, custard and kueh) on its own during baking.  Cheryl Lai, our dear baking taitai is our magic cake expert! It is A MUST to go to her wonderful blog to find out all you need to know about them!

I fell in love with it a few months back and experimented with the concept of a 'Triple Magic Custard Cake' a magic cake that self-separates into 3 colors and 3 flavors in addition to 3 textures. Here, I have used this concept to create a magic cake that can self-separate into Rainbow Colors!

This 6-color Rainbow Magic Custard Cake is actually made up of two 3-color Rainbow Magic Cakes. The two rainbow magic cakes are stacked on top of one another (top: red-orange-yellow, bottom: green-blue-purple). The vibrant purple is colored with blueberry powder (from iherb), the green with pandan paste, pink with strawberry paste, and yellow with lemon paste. The orange layer was created during the baking 'magic', and so was the bluish custard layer.

I was of course apprehensive about the final taste with such a myraid of flavors. But I was very surprised the rainbow magic cake got a super BIG THUMBS UP from the family and everyone who tried it! Somehow everything went well together. I think credit goes to the buttery and rich custard taste of the magic cake!

So here goes my fun experiment!

Rainbow Magic Custard Cake

Ingredients (makes a two 6-inch round trays) 

*I used disposable paper round baking trays from Daiso, but you can also use a baking tray with removable base and line with baking paper

56g unsalted butter
240g milk
8g water
2 egg yolks
56g plain flour
72g icing sugar

1/2 tsp blueberry powder
1/4 tsp lemon paste

1 egg white

7g caster sugar

1/4 cream of tartar

Strawberry paste (approx 1 tsp)

1 egg white

7g caster sugar

1/4 cream of tartar

Pandan paste (add to desired color, approx 1 tsp)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.

2. Prepare two paper baking trays or for two removable base trays, grease and line the bottom with baking paper.

3. Melt the butter and set aside. Warm the milk to lukewarm and set aside.

4. Strawberry meringue: beat the egg white and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add in the castor sugar slowly in 2 additions and beat until peaks are stiff and glossy. Fold in the strawberry paste till well-incorporated (top row, left pic). Set aside.

5. Pandan meringue: beat the egg white and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add in the castor sugar slowly in 2 additions and beat until peaks are stiff and glossy. Fold in the pandan paste till well-incorporated (top row, right pic). Set aside.

6. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks and icing sugar (on medium-high) until light yellow and fluffy. Add in the melted butter and water and beat (on medium-low) for about 2 min until well incorporated. Sift in the flour and mix well on medium-low (second row, left pic).

7. Add in the milk slowly and gently beat on low (to prevent splashing as the batter is runny) until everything is well mixed. Batter will be runny (second row, right pic). Divide the batter into two (by weight, remember to weigh the weight of the empty bowl!).

8. To one batter, mix in lemon paste and continue to beat on low till well-mixed. Then fold in the strawberry meringue, 1/3 at a time, until no big curds are found (third row, left pic). --> for pink-orange-yellow magic cake.

9. To the other batter, mix in blueberry powder and continue to beat on low till well-mixed. Then fold in the pandan meringue, 1/3 at a time, until no big curds are found (third row, right pic). --> for green-blue-purple magic cake.

10. Pour the respective batter into the prepared pan and bake at 160ºC for 35-40 min until skewer comes clean. The centre of the cakes will be slightly jiggly.

11. Let the cakes cool totally before unmoulding.

Pink-orange-yellow magic cake: last row, left pic

Green-blue-purple magic cake: last row, right pic

12. Cut the cake (I used hearts cutter for mine) to reveal the layers. Then stack both together! They stick very well due to the soft chiffon layer on top!

Here's a close up of a cake slice after cutting it! Top to bottom: Pink chiffon, orange custard, yellow kueh, green chiffon, bluish purplish custard, deep purple kueh. My orange custard layer was very thin while my bluish purplish custard layer was super thick LOL! Oh well, can't control the magic so well but at least I got the colors separated!

The rainbow cake is by no means perfect but just sharing the fun experiment I had! My kids loved it and had fun blowing it out! =) Thank God for simple blessings like this. 

I have had so many blessings the past year and am so grateful for everything. Thanks for being part of it. May everyone have a 2015 filled with rainbows and blessings!

With lots of love,

Susanne