Crème brûlée cake recipe
This cake is made using the reverse creaming method, rather than creaming the butter and sugar together at the start, which gives it a very tender and moist crumb. The cake itself is also very white in colour because it uses oil in addition to butter, and just egg whites. Don’t worry about your egg yolks going to waste: they will be used in the crème pâtissière filling!
This recipe makes 5 x 18cm/7inch cakes. Note you will also need buttercream to crumb-coat the cake.
Tip: there will be extra ‘crème pat’ filling, but it’s worth it to use up the remaining egg yolks, and you can also enjoy this on its own!
Ingredients
- 480 ml whole milk
- 90 g caster or granulated sugar
- 25 g cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 7 medium egg yolks
- 50 g salted butter (or use unsalted plus a pinch of salt), at room temperature, cubed
- 16.9 fl oz whole milk
- 3.2 oz caster or granulated sugar
- 0.9 oz cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 7 medium egg yolks
- 1.8 oz salted butter (or use unsalted plus a pinch of salt), at room temperature, cubed
- 2 cups whole milk
- 3.2 oz caster or granulated sugar
- 0.9 oz cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 7 medium egg yolks
- 1.8 oz salted butter (or use unsalted plus a pinch of salt), at room temperature, cubed
- 8 medium egg whites
- 200 g caster or granulated sugar
- 8 medium egg whites
- 7.1 oz caster or granulated sugar
- 8 medium egg whites
- 7.1 oz caster or granulated sugar
- 310 g salted butter (or use unsalted plus 1 tsp salt), at room temperature and soft, plus extra for greasing
- 690 g plain (all-purpose) flour
- 490 g caster or granulated sugar
- 2 and a third tbsp baking powder
- 490 ml whole milk
- 200 ml vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 2.5 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 x amount of grated nutmeg, to grate between layers
- 1 x amount of edible gold paint (optional)
- 1 x amount of edible gold leaf (optional)
- 3 tbsp caster or granulated sugar, for the top
- 10.9 oz salted butter (or use unsalted plus 1 tsp salt), at room temperature and soft, plus extra for greasing
- 24.3 oz plain (all-purpose) flour
- 17.3 oz caster or granulated sugar
- 2 and a third tbsp baking powder
- 17.2 fl oz whole milk
- 7 fl oz vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 2.5 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 x amount of grated nutmeg, to grate between layers
- 1 x amount of edible gold paint (optional)
- 1 x amount of edible gold leaf (optional)
- 3 tbsp caster or granulated sugar, for the top
- 10.9 oz salted butter (or use unsalted plus 1 tsp salt), at room temperature and soft, plus extra for greasing
- 24.3 oz plain (all-purpose) flour
- 17.3 oz caster or granulated sugar
- 2 and a third tbsp baking powder
- 2.1 cups whole milk
- 0.8 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 2.5 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 x amount of grated nutmeg, to grate between layers
- 1 x amount of edible gold paint (optional)
- 1 x amount of edible gold leaf (optional)
- 3 tbsp caster or granulated sugar, for the top
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Cake
- Difficulty: Hard
- Preparation Time: 45 mins
- Cooking Time: 60 mins
- Serves: 30
Step-by-step
For the crème pâtissière filling
- Pour the milk into a small pan and heat over a medium heat until it comes to a simmer.
- While the milk is heating, place the sugar, cornflour, vanilla and egg yolks in a large heatproof bowl and whisk until thick and smooth.
- When the milk starts bubbling, pour it slowly into the egg mixture, whisking quickly and constantly the whole time (to temper the egg mix and ensure the eggs do not scramble!). Once all the milk is combined, pour the whole mixture back into the pan and continue heating over a medium heat.
- Allow the custard to bubble while whisking constantly as it thickens. If the custard starts looking lumpy at any point, just temporarily remove it from the heat and keep whisking as fast as you can.
- Once the custard is thick and holds a trail when the whisk is lifted from the bowl, remove from the heat and add the butter. Stir until melted and combined.
- Pour the custard into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, ensuring the plastic wrap touches the surface of the custard to prevent a skin forming. Chill in the fridge for a few hours while you make the cake. It will thicken as it cools.
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease 5 x 18cm/7inch round cake tins with butter and line the bases with a circle of baking paper.
- Add the egg whites to a stand mixer (or use a handheld electric whisk) fitted with a balloon whisk attachment and whisk on high speed until soft peaks form. Add the 200g (1 cup) sugar in 3 batches, whisking for 45 seconds after each addition. Transfer to another bowl and set aside for now.
- Place the flour in a clean stand mixer bowl, add the softened butter and, using the paddle mixer attachment, mix on slow speed for 30–60 seconds until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the 490g (2½ cups minus 2 tsp) sugar and baking powder and mix for a few seconds until just combined.
- Put the milk, oil, vanilla and vinegar into a microwaveable bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute 30 seconds–2 minutes until lukewarm.
- Add a third of the lukewarm liquid to the flour mixture and mix on slow speed until just combined.
- Increase the speed to high and mix for 2 minutes. Add the rest of the liquid, a third at a time, whisking on slow speed after each addition until combined.
- Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter in three portions, while trying to knock out as little air as possible.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking tins and bake for 40–45 minutes until a knife inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 5–10 minutes (the cake will shrink away from the sides a little bit, but this is normal) before running a knife around the rims and turning out onto a wire rack. Peel off the baking paper and leave to cool completely.
- Make sure the cakes are cool before assembling. Stack and crumb-coat the cakes using your chosen buttercream. Add a generous amount of crème pâtissière to the centre of each layer, and grate over some nutmeg. Decorate simply with a raw edge (just don’t smooth in or trim off the buttercream that collects around the sides on top).
- Chill the cake, then paint the raw top edge gold using edible gold paint. Add edible gold leaf to the buttercream to finish.
- Finish with a crème brûléed top: sprinkle the 3 tbsp sugar over the well-chilled buttercream (pop in the freezer for 30 minutes to make sure it’s chilled on top of the cake), then using a handheld blowtorch, caramelise the sugar. Be careful not to blowtorch right up to the buttercream edges, as too much will cause it to melt!
This recipe is from Celebrate With Kim-Joy (Quadrille, £20). Photography ©Ellis Parrinder.
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