Custard Cream Cake

Golden custard and vanilla cake with custard filling, vanilla custard buttercream and decorated with custard cream biscuits

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Cake

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 35

Decorating time 25

Total Time 1 45

Servings

Calories 887kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the creme patisserie

165 ml Whole milk
1 Vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla paste
2 Egg yolks
45 g Caster sugar
15 g Cornflour

For the cake

350 g Butter or baking spread softened, unsalted
350 g Caster sugar
6 Eggs large
4 tbsp Milk any kind
3 tsp Vanilla extract
300 g Self raising flour
100 g Custard powder I used Bird's
1 tsp Baking powder

For the buttercream

250 g Butter softened, unsalted
400 g Icing sugar
100 g Custard powder I used Bird's
4-5 tbsp Milk
2 tsp Vanilla extract

For decoration

8 Custard cream biscuits
2 Custard cream biscuits crushed

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

To make the creme patisserie, heat the whole milk with the seeds from the vanilla pod until it starts steaming. While it is heating up, use an electric whisk to whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar together until pale and thick. Then add the cornflour and mix it in
Continue mixing the egg yolk mixture on a slow speed, and pour the hot milk in slowly. Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat it up whilst stirring continuously. When it starts to thicken, use a hand whisk to keep it smooth and stop any lumps
Once it is thick, put it in a bowl, and cover it with cling film so that the cling film directly touches the creme patisserie. Put in the fridge to cool completely. If there are any lumps in it, you can push it through a fine sieve once it has cooled down
Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4, and grease and line two 8" cake tins (that are at least 2" deep)
For the cake, mix together the baking spread (or butter) and caster sugar, ideally using an electric hand mixer or in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, until fluffy (around 3 minutes)
Add the eggs, milk and vanilla extract, and mix them in well
Then gently whisk, or fold in, the self raising flour, custard powder and baking powder
Divide the mixture between the tins, use scales for accuracy if you like. Bake them for 30-35 minutes or until a thin skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave them to fully cool either in the tins or remove from the tins and place on cooling racks
For the buttercream, mix the softened butter on it's own for a few minutes. Then add the icing sugar, custard powder, vanilla extract and milk, and mix until smooth. You can do this by hand, but an electric hand whisk or stand mixer with paddle attachment will provide the best results. If the buttercream is too stiff, you can add a little more milk
If the cakes have domed on top, level them off with a cake leveller or a sharp knife. Put one of the sponges on your plate or cake stand. Spread a thin layer of buttercream over it and then pipe buttercream around the edge. Fill the centre with the creme patisseries
Add the second layer of cake and pipe on the rest of the buttercream. Decorate with the whole Custard Cream biscuits and the Custard Cream biscuit crumbs
Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in a cool place for 3 days

Notes

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.

I used a baking spread for the cake and unsalted butter for the buttercream.

For the custard powder, I used Birds Original Custard Powder.

I used a homemade creme patisserie (pastry custard) for filling the cake. You can leave this out if you don't want to make it. I don't recommend using shop bought custard as when I tried this it leaked out of the cake and made the top layer of cake slide around. If you can purchase a very thick custard that could work, but the standard Ambrosia is too loose.

The Custard Cream biscuits will go soft after being in the buttercream for a little while, so add them as close to serving as you can.

Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50).

For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

Nutrition