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 

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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

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Matcha Azuki Bean Magic Custard Cake with Painted Designs

After seeing Susanne's chocolate pandan magic custard cake, I couldn't wait to try out the same trick on a pair that go well together -- matcha and azuki beans! Instead of dusting the final product with icing sugar like everyone else, I decided to decorate it by painting with milk powder based homemade paint like my painted swiss roll. Presenting possibly the world's first matcha azuki magic custard cake!

Dainty looking with a six-petaled Sakura painted on :)

I made this for my mum's birthday. It was a cosy celebration at a Japanese restaurant with the immediate family and we had the cake as part of the dessert course. Perfect flavor of cake to go with a Japanese meal and everyone loved the cake! Mum said the cake is not too sweet and dad who doesn't necessarily like all kinds of desserts liked it too. I made a small cake as mum can't really take much sugar.

I did not know what to expect since this is something no one else has tried before. I am pleasantly surprised that the matcha layer showed up most clearly in the middle! The bottom layer is a nice soft red bean kueh layer with azuki bean puree and whole beans, middle layer is a thin green tea souffle layer and top layer is a light matcha sponge. The custard layer seems to be missing from this experiment but I still ended up with three distinct layers! I made another one for a neighbor who was moving out too! Painted with a combination of matcha powder and milk powder.

I found the video tutorial by Baking Taitai very helpful so do check it out if you are a newbie like me.

Ingredients (makes one 4.5" round cake):
28g unsalted butter
120g milk
4g water
1 egg yolk
36g icing sugar
20g plain flour
12g Azuki bean puree (skins removed)
25g canned azuki beans
A few drops red liquid food coloring
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg white
7g caster sugar
1/10 tsp cream of tartar
4g Matcha powder

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line the bottom of a 4.5" round pan with baking paper and grease the sides. Mine had a removable base so I wrapped the pan with aluminum foil.
2. Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly. Warm the milk to lukewarm and mix in azuki bean puree and vanilla extract. Set aside.
3. Sift the flour and matcha powder separately.
4. Use an electric mixer to beat the egg white until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add caster sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently and gradually fold in sifted matcha powder with a whisk to avoid lumps of green tea powder in meringue.

5. In another bowl, beat egg yolk and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add melted butter and water and beat for 2 minutes or until evenly incorporated. Mix in flour until evenly incorporated.
6. Use a hand whisk and gently whisk in milk mixture until everything is well mixed. Add in canned azuki beans. Add a few drops of red liquid food coloring until desired shade of pink is reached.  Final cake color will be similar to the batter so there is no need to over compensate for color lightening when meringue is added.

7. Fold in matcha meringue one third at a time. Batter will be curdy so fold until no big curds are seen.

8. Pour batter into 4.5" pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until top is golden. Cool cake completely before unmoulding and cutting it to flower shape with large cookie cutter.

Freshly unmoulded cake!

Just cut with cookie cutter! I can do with better cutting skills :p

9. You may wish to decorate the cake like I did by painting with milk powder based paint, either with a stencil or by free-hand painting. When the paint is dry, it will still look a little glossy. Be careful not to let it touch any surface or it may stick to it and peel off from the cake. This type of paint will not become runny and smudge after chilling in the fridge, unlike icing sugar based cake decorations.

Here's a closer look at the sliced section from the trimmings...

Yums!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House.

With love,
Phay Shing

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Chocolate-Pandan Triple Magic Custard Cake

Yippee! My crazy experiment worked! Presenting to you the world's first "Triple Magic Custard Cake"! A magical cake with 3x the magic that separates on its own into 3 layers with 3 flavours, 3 colours and 3 textures! :) Yes, you heard me right! The top is a brown, pillowy chocolate chiffon, the middle a yellow, soft, chocolate-pandan custard, and the bottom our favourite green pandan kueh! :)

It all started the day my sister-in-law tried the delicious Pandan magic custard cake. For the un-inclined, the magic custard cake is a magical cake that separates into 3 layers of different textures: a chiffon layer, a middle custard layer, and a dense kueh-like bottom. It was originally a Romanian cake called prajitura desteapta, which allegedly means "intelligent cake". She loved the different textures and asked if I could make a magic cake with 3 colours! At that time, I just smiled and told her its really hard to control "magic". However, the idea of understanding and/or manipulating the magic (or really the science) behind the cake really appealed to my "scientist" bones :p So I began my journey.

To be honest, when I put the cake batter into the oven to bake, I felt pretty sure it was a failed bake, because the batter looked like it was all mixed up. I thought I would end up with a homogeneous cake with 3 textures. I was in a for wonderful surprise when I cut open the cake! The cake ended up with 3 distinct colours, brown, yellow and green. I was in for a greater surprise when I tasted the cake! The top was soft chocolate chiffon, the middle a melty custard with both chocolate and pandan taste, and the bottom, our familiar kueh rich in pandan flavour! Everyone who sampled the cake was impressed! Even my dad who does not usually give compliments, let loose a "wow! It's good!". Everyone loved the cake, especially the melty custard layer :).

The recipe below details my journey into the "Triple Magic Custard Cake" :). As I was experimenting, I scaled my previous recipe for Pandan magic custard cake by 1/4 to make a small cake. My small 6-inch tray was very shallow, so I used big baking paper cups. Following Baking Taitai's lovely post on Magic Custard Cupcake that the cupcake liners were too small and formed 2 layers, I made sure I used paper cups that were big and deep.

Ingredients (makes a 6-inch tray or four 2.5" paper cups)
28g unsalted butter
120g milk
4g water
1 egg yolks
28g plain flour
36g icing sugar
1.25 ml tsp pandan paste
Icing sugar or dessicated coconut

1 egg white
7g caster sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
10g cocoa

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Prepare paper cups or, for a 6-inch tray grease and line the bottom with baking paper.
3. Melt the butter and set aside. Warm the milk to lukewarm and set aside.

4. Cocoa 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 cocoa till well-incorporated (top, left). Set aside.
5. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks and icing sugar (on medium-high) until light yellow and fluffy (top, centre). Add in the melted butter and water and beat (on medium-low) for about 2 min until well incorporated (top, right). Sift in the flour and mix well on medium-low (second row, left).
6. Add in the milk and pandan extract slowly and gently beat on low (to prevent splashing as the batter is runny) until everything is well mixed (middle row, centre). Batter will be runny.
7. Fold in the cocoa meringue, 1/3 at a time, until no big curds are found (middle row, right).
8. Pour the 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.
9. Let the cake cool totally before unmoulding (bottom row, left). Cut the cake and dust with icing sugar or dessicated coconut (bottom row, centre and right).

I used a hearts cutter to cut out sweet hearts for my hubby :). You need to take note that its really tricky to cut out hearts with the soft custard and souffle layer, so the trick is to handle only the cutter and kueh layer and try not to touch the top 2 layers. My parents thought the dessicated coconut went very well with the pandan kueh and custard, and the chocolate just made the whole cake richer!

Hope you have been touched by the "Triple magic"! :)

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House.

With love,

Susanne

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Pandan Magic Custard Cake

Every once in a while, you come across magic, something so magical you just fall in love with it. The moment came for me when Baking Taitai posted her magic custard cake. A cake that separates into 3 layers of different textures on its own: a souffle chiffon layer, a middle soft custard layer, and a dense kueh-like bottom. How awesome is that! 

Being someone from a science background, I was intrigued at how the layers were formed. After some investigation, I found that the magical cake started from a Spanish blogger (tarta magica) and was actually a Romanian cake called prajitura desteapta, which allegedly means "intelligent cake". Some guesses were that the different layers arise from the different density of the meringue and milk. There are many variations of the magic custard cake in chocolate, lemon and even blackberry flavours!

Anyway, off I was to try this incredible magical cake! Baking taitai's video on magic custard cake is a must-watch before trying. I referred to Baking taitai and Scrumptious and Sumptous and modified the recipe for a pandan twist because I imagined pandan-flavoured custard would be delicious! And it was! :p

Ingredients (makes an 8-inch tray)
114g unsalted butter
480g milk
1 tbsp water
4 egg yolks
110g plain flour
145g icing sugar
5g coconut powder (I used but it can be optional)
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp pandan paste

Icing sugar or dessicated coconut

4 egg whites
28g caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven till 160°C.
2. Grease and line a 8-inch square tray with baking paper.
3. Melt the butter and set aside. Warm the milk to lukewarm and set aside.
4. Meringue: Whisk the egg whites till foamy, then add in caster sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

5. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks and icing sugar (on medium-high) until light yellow and fluffy (top, left). Add in the melted butter and water and beat (on medium-low) for about 2 min until well incorporated. Sift in the flour and coconut powder (top, centre) and mix well on medium-low (top, right).
6. Add in the milk, vanilla and pandan extract slowly (middle, left) and gently beat on low until everything is well mixed (middle, centre). The batter will be runny.
7. Fold in the egg whites, 1/3 at a time (middle, right) until all of the egg whites are folded in. Fold until no big curds are found (bottom, left).
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 160ºC for 55-60 min until the top is golden (bottom, centre). The centre of the cake will be slightly jiggly.
9. Unmould and cut the cake when it is totally cool (bottom, right). You can expedite the cooling process by placing cake in the fridge.
10. Dust with icing sugar or dessicated coconut. 

I made this cake for my mil for Mother's Day :) Everyone loved the cake! It's truly a magical piece of cake! The cake is not too sweet which I love most, and is loaded with a melt-in-the-mouth middle custard layer. The top layer is soft and pillowy, while the bottom layer is dense and kueh-like! It was such a fun cake and I felt the pandan gave it an extra kick!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mummies! Hope you will love this cake as much as I do!

With love,

Susanne

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