Vanilla Custard Cake

It’s an extra special vanilla custard cake recipe because it’s the cake recipe my mom used to make when I was a kid!

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Prep Time: 30 mins

COOK TIME: 45 mins

Ingredients

Vanilla Cake – 1 cup sour cream – 1 teaspoon baking soda – 2 eggs – 5 tablespoons butter melted – 1 cup sugar – 1 teaspoon vanilla extract – 4 1/2 cup flour a little more if needed Custard Cake Filling – 1 cup sugar – 2 tablespoons flour – 4 eggs – 4 cups milk I am using raw whole milk – 3/4 cup butter cut into cubes – 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whisk the sour cream, baking soda, and 2 eggs together. Next, pour in the melted butter and give it a good whisk. Follow this with the sugar and vanilla and continue whisking until combined.

Step 1

Slowly add about 1 cup of flour at a time to the batter, whisking and combining in between each addition. At about the time you add the last bit of flour, you’ll notice it’s hard to continue. Start combining using your hands to make it easier. Do this until all of the flour is added and continue kneading and folding the dough until the flour has dissolved into the dough.

Step 2

You may notice that this cake batter is unlike your traditional cake batter. It is no longer runny, but instead a soft dough, almost like cookie dough that is not sticky once you touch it with a dry finger.

Step 3

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. While it’s resting preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Step 4

Grab a piece of parchment paper, about 2 inches larger than a dinner plate. Take the piece of paper and place the dinner plate on top of it, upside down to make sure it’s got a large enough surface area to cover the plate plus a bit more. Once you have the right size, cut 7 more pieces the same size. Set them aside for a moment.

Step 5

Transfer your dough to a lightly floured surface and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Use your hands to roll each piece into a ball and then place them all back into a bowl. Cover them once more.

Step 6

Take one piece of the parchment paper you cut out earlier and place it onto a clean surface. Drop one of the dough balls onto it and sprinkle with a bit of flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough across the entire surface of the parchment paper (or at least as big as a dinner plate) as flat as you can get it.

Step 7

Place the plate upside down overtop the dough and use the dull side of the butter knife to cut the dough around the plate into a perfect circle, leaving the excess edges right where they are. We will use them later!

Step 8

Place the parchment paper with dough onto a baking sheet and bake for about 4 minutes until slightly golden on top. Allow it to cool on a flat surface and repeat with each of the dough balls until all of the layers are baked and cooled.

Step 9

Remove the excess scraps from around the circles and set them aside.

Step 10

Whisk together flour and sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs and set the bowl aside.

Step 11

Bring milk to a gentle boil in a saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking continuously. Once it starts bubbling, slowly pour in the egg mixture while continuing to whisk. Once it comes to a gentle boil, simmer on low until it thickens. This should take a couple of minutes.

Step 12

Remove it from the heat and pour in vanilla extract and add butter cubes. Stir until the butter has melted.

Step 13

Place one of the cooled cake rounds onto a cake platter and ladle some of the custard on top. Spread it out evenly so that it coats the entire surface.

Step 14

Finally, grab those excess pieces of cake you set aside and crush them into coarse crumbs. Sprinkle them onto the sides and top of the cake for garnish. The filling will do a great job of helping them to stick! Let rest for at least 2 hours before serving, best overnight.

Step 15

Bake and cool the cake layers then wrap them up in a plastic wrap and place them in the fridge overnight. You can also make the custard and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble it the next day or make it just before you use it.

Step 16

If you’ve kept everything in the fridge, bring it to room temperature ahead of time. You can even warm up the custard on the stovetop if you’d like to before spreading it.

Step 17

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