Yesterday, December 6th was Hungarian Mikulásnap (Santa’s Day). This date was very important in our house because it was the date that Mikulás visited our home to pick up the letters we would write to him…the Christmas wish list! It was always our tradition to put the letters into freshly polished, shiny boots on the windowsill just before we went to bed. In the morning, we would find our boots filled with European chocolates (if we were good) or the dreaded virgács (thin branches that our parents could use to slap our bottoms with, if we were bad). To the best of my memory, we only received the virgács once; that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I am always nostalgic this time of year, particularly in my neighbourhood of European delis that stock the same delicious chocolates we used to receive as kids.
Although chocolate treats in the form of Santa (or Mikulás) would be a lovely dessert, recently I decided to make an unusual cake that has been making the rounds on the blog-o-sphere for some time. Surprisingly, there is nothing unusual about the ingredients and the recipe is pretty much like a jelly roll or genoise sponge, but what’s really unusual is that the cake separates into a custard portion and a cake portion during baking. I suspect this recipe came about as a mistake someone made a long time ago and it baked into this amazing and delicious surprise (like so many recipes out there). The history really doesn’t matter, it is a delicious cake that is a cross between a custard and a cake and I think you should try it.
Since I’m not much of Pinterest person, I only saw this cake on the blogs I follow and the very first one was Bizzy Lizzy, my Hungarian bogging friend down under and then Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella made a pumpkin version — I knew I had to make this unusual dessert. We loved the Hungarian Custard Squares (Krémes Szelet) so I suspected that this recipe would be a winner too. I used Liz’s recipe but I halved it because there were only four of us for brunch; I topped it with baked pears (I scored the pears at $1.96 for 10 because they were not perfect specimens!) and a drizzle of coconut sugar caramel sauce. The dessert received rave reviews and as a bonus, it stores well in the fridge for a couple of days (unassembled). It’s definitely going into my dessert repertoire…now to figure out a gluten free version!
What Christmas/holiday traditions do you have?
Magical Custard Cake with Baked Pears and Coconut Caramel Sauce
Original Recipe from Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things
Serves 4
Ingredients for the Magical Custard Cake:
- 60 g unsalted butter
- 240 mL low fat milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs, room temperature, separated
- 60 g icing sugar, sifted
- pinch, cream of tartar
- 57 g unbleached AP flour, sifted
- 4 walnut halves for garnish, toasted
Directions:
- Pre-heat the oven to 330° F (165° C).
- Prepare a 21 cm x 11 cm(4″ x 8″) loaf pan by lining it with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter and cool to room temperature.
- Warm the milk combined with vanilla until lukewarm (should not be hot).
- Beat the egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar until stiff but not dry, set aside.
- Beat the egg yolks with the icing sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 – 7 minutes). Set the mixer speed to the lowest and slowly drizzle in the melted butter until entirely combined.
- Slowly fold in the flour alternating with the warm milk until it is fully combined.
- Fold in the beaten egg whites a spoon at a time until fully incorporated but not deflated. This is quite a runny batter, so don’t worry.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely and then refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
Ingredients for the baked pears:
- 10 small pears, peeled, cored and cut into cubes
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
Directions for the baked pears:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350° F (171° C).
- Toss cubed pears with sugar, cinnamon and salt and pour into a casserole dish. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until soft. Set aside.
Ingredients for Coconut Sugar Caramel Sauce:
- 1/4 cup Grace coconut sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
- 1 tbsp water
- 1/8 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup hot cream
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Directions for Coconut Sugar Caramel Sauce:
- Heat cream in a microwave proof container until very hot but not boiling, set aside.
- Mix sugar, water and lemon juice in a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup.
- Microwave for 15-60 seconds (note that in 2016 I doubled the recipe and it took 3 minutes 25 seconds of microwaving to get the amber colour I was looking for), until sugar bubbles up but does NOT BURN, sugar crystals should be completely dissolved and you should begin to see it turn to a light amber colour. Remove and set on a dishcloth for 30 seconds and slowly pour in the hot cream, being careful as this will bubble up.
- Stir well and then add the butter and stir until completely incorporated. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Assembly Directions:
- Remove cold ‘cake’ from the fridge and set on a cutting board. Cut into 4 slices and set each slice on the centre of a plate.
- Reheat the baked pear cubes until steamy (microwave for a minute or so on high).
- Spoon equal amounts of the pears onto each slice, then drizzle with the coconut caramel. Garnish with a toasted walnut half.
[…] caramel by using coconut sugar (a simple substitution will work just fine or use double of this […]
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We always got a personal virgacs, haha, a small gold sprayed one with the chocolate and the candy. Well that’s one tradition I had to abandon in Canada. Having Santa come twice in one month would have been confusing for the kids. Even more confusing would have been from the baby Jesus and the angels. Kellemes Karácsonyi Ünnepeket Éva!
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We didn’t have Angyal but my cousin did and she has passed the tradition down to her kids, not sure if she had Mikulás though. I didn’t have kids so I’m not sure what I would have done. Kellemes Karácsonyi Ünnepeket kivánunk magoknak.
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Mistake or no, this cake looks amazing!
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Thank Betsy, it was tasty for sure.
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This looks like a perfect dessert for me! i happen to loeeevvvvv custard & that coconut caramel sauce is divine, I know that! 🙂 A divine combo of a fine dessert! Yummm!
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Thank you kindly Sophie, coconut sugar is truly wonderful.
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I’ve also seen often the “self-separating” cakes on internet, but never tried making one… Yours looks really gorgeous especially with the sauce and the pears… perfect rich cold-season sweet treat.
I also used to celebrate 6th of December: as a child I would receive sweets or sometimes tiny gifts because the Christmas gifts were coming soon and always were more important 😉
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I can remember how excited my brother and I were to write our letters, but Christmas Eve was always much more important, for sure.
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What a lovely tradition. I’m relieved for you that you only found sticks inside those boots once! I think in this house it would have been more frequent! I do love the sound of this custard cake. The custard, pears and coconut caramel sauce sound divine xx
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Thank you Charlie for your lovely words, I suspect the virgács would have been more popular in our house too but my parents wanted us to feel good about this tradition. The custard cake is indeed lovely, thank you kindly.
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I can certainly see the magic in this (and in your traditions – even in the dreaded virgács). GREG
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Thank you so much Greg.
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I made the magic cake too after seeing it on several blogs. I love what you’ve put on top! I found the cake to be a bit eggy but I wouldn’t notice it with that gorgeous topping.
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Hi Maureen, I didn’t notice the eggy quality for the cake but then maybe I’m not too sensitive to it. The caramel sauce and baked pears definitely elevate the cake to the next level, thank you kindly.
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I’ve not heard of Mikulásnap — love the idea! I want the chocolates, though, not the switch! Anyway, this is such a great dish — the flavor must be tremendous. Thanks!
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Hi John, Hungarians blend into communities so I can see why you wouldn’t have heard of this tradition. The cake was indeed lovely, thank you kindly.
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Lovely! Happy Santa’s Day.
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Hi Ruth, thank you kindly.
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So many Christmas traditions! (Including Chicago John’s meals on our table for Christmas Eve!) I love reading about others’ traditions as well. There’s something so cool about family recipes being passed down through generations and across oceans and borders. This looks delicious Eva. I hope you both have an amazing holiday season. 🙂 xx
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Thank you dear Kristy, these simple traditions are the best memories for me. I love that your Christmas Eve is filled with dear John’s family recipes, you are building traditions for your lovely family and I love that.
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Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful!!! We have no food traditions because I like making something different every year. And with children, they seems to also dictate what I did and how long I spent in the kitchen! But I might have to start a tradition with this cake!!!
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Thank you Chef Mimi for your kind words. I have a repertoire of Christmas baking that doesn’t seem to change much year after year (that’s why I have posted Christmas baking recipes for a while!). I hope you enjoy the cake.
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Hello lovely Eva… ah, Mikulas… I was just thinking about our Christmas traditions yesterday… you know I am writing a memoir based on my father’s life story? Thank you so much for the very kind shout outs, here… I do hope you enjoyed the recipe, darling xxx
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Hi Liz, no I did not know you were writing a memoir of your dear Dad, how lovely; it will certainly help you remember all the wonderful times you had together as well as leave the stories for generations to come. I’ve not thought of doing that but it’s a great idea.
Thank you for your kind words.
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I’m always fascinated by the various holiday traditions. My Dad was lucky to find an orange and some nuts in his stocking. Today’s kids would find think that a cruel punishment. (Frankly, so would I.) I bet yo were very excited getting those boots polished “just so”. Wouldn’t want to be good all year only to receive the virgács because of poorly shined boots. This cake with its custard sounds tasty enough but you had to go and add the caramel sauce. Mikulás is going to be very happy with you this year, Eva.
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My dear Mom used to tell stories of getting oranges and nuts for Christmas, particularly during the war; we’ve been fortunate that we’ve never experienced times like that, but it would make us appreciate the smaller things in life.
Thank you for your kind words, the caramel sauce definitely took this cake to the next level. No sticks for me this year!
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That’s such an interesting Christmas tradition.
And I love the idea of a cake-custard.
I was just at a dinner party on Sat and was responsible for the dessert – I wish I’d made this.
Sigh..
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Thank you sweetie, very nice of you to say. The cake is delicious, I hope you like it next time you are responsible for dessert!
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Eva, I always love reading your Christmas stories… they fill me with nostalgia and a full heart. The idea of the polished, shiny boots (especially filled with chocolate) is so great and I bet it must have been utterly thrilling as kids too. Only one bad year, right? heeheeh, I’m with you 😮 . I am absolutely making this custard cake! Love the idea of it separating into two distinct textures and cannot wait to savor each of them… we are due for something a little new in this house and I think we will all enjoy this one — besides, who doesn’t want a little magic this time of year… :D. Thanks so much for the delicious inspiration and festive memories.
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Dear Kelly, thank you for your kind and touching words. The cake is rather unique and I just loved the custard flavours, I hope you and your family enjoy it.
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I’m jealous of your Christmas tradition, Eva. I hope you were good this year and got chocolate. 🙂
The cake/custard looks very tasty. If I were to make it, I’d use some of the apple-raisin cinnamon filling from my freezer. Not that I’m planning on making it in the near future. Xmas baking ahead.
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Hi Maria, thank you for your kind words, a dear Hungarian friend gave me a Mikulás chocolate this year, no virgács!
I need to get on my Christmas baking too, can’t seem to get into it this year!
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I’m making chocolate truffles and mincemeat tarts this year. For a single person that’s as much as I can bear to have in the house. 🙂
PS: All Christmas menu plans are subject to change.
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I’ve made this custard cake a few times, but only because my son loves it. I find it to be very heavy in texture .Am I doing something wrong?
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Hi Dolores, thank you for dropping by my blog, welcome. The cake portion is quite light and spongy but the custard portion is a little heavy, I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong.
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Thanks for the shoutout Eva! So nice to read about your Hungarian traditions. And imagine the horror of being given sticks instead of chocolates! I’m glad it only happened once😉
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Hi Lorraine, it is my pleasure. The cake was quite lovely, I can see how it would work well with pumpkin too.
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I don’t think I’ve ever had a custard cake, but I love custard. This sounds divine.
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Thank you David, it really is a lovely cake that’s quite unique.
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This sounds and looks like a perfect holiday dessert, Eva.
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Thank you kindly, Angie.
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