Magical Custard Cake with Baked Pears and Coconut Caramel Sauce

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?

Soft custard, baked pears, fluffy cake and sweet earthy caramel sauce garnished with a toasted walnut. May I cut you a slice?

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:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 330° F (165° C).
2. Prepare a 21 cm x 11 cm(4″ x 8″) loaf pan by lining it with parchment paper.
3. Melt the butter and cool to room temperature.
4. Warm the milk combined with vanilla until lukewarm (should not be hot).
5. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar until stiff but not dry, set aside.
6. 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.
7. Slowly fold in the flour alternating with the warm milk until it is fully combined.
8. 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.
9. 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:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F (171° C).
2. 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:

1. Heat cream in a microwave proof container until very hot but not boiling, set aside.
2. Mix sugar, water and lemon juice in a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup.
3. 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.
4. Stir well and then add the butter  and stir until completely incorporated. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Assembly Directions:

1. 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.
2. Reheat the baked pear cubes until steamy (microwave for a minute or so on high).
3. Spoon equal amounts of the pears onto each slice, then drizzle with the coconut caramel. Garnish with a toasted walnut half.

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Puffed Quinoa Bar revisted

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone! We have so much to be thankful for! We’ve spent the weekend at my brother’s cottage up in the Muskoka’s and it was lovely even if the weather was not. Over the years we’ve had so many different experiences, from shorts n’T boat rides, to chilly walks in the country to snow flurries! Yes indeed, snow flurries. In October! This year there wasn’t snow but it was rainy and chilly, perfect for staying inside by a roaring wood fire and perhaps baking a thing or two!

When I first made these bars I wasn’t able to source puffed quinoa, even-so the original bar was tasty and full of texture. Since that first time, I have been able to source puffed quinoa as well I’ve made some other adjustments to the recipe: I replaced brown sugar with coconut sugar and have omitted the chocolate chips adding vanilla extract instead. Also, I added egg whites as the binder so it’s not as crumbly as the first go round. If you’re so inclined, you can dip one half into good quality dark chocolate.

These are crunchy bars.

Puffed Quinoa Bars

Makes 1  33 cm x 23 cm (9″ x 13″) pan of bars about 1 cm or 1/2″ thick.

Ingredients:

• 60 g (2 cups) commercially puffed quinoa (like puffed rice)
• 140 g (1 cup) unsalted sunflower seeds, slightly roasted in a frying pan
• 180 g (2 cups) uncooked oatmeal, old-fashioned or instant
• 45 g (1/4 cup) partly ground flax seeds
• 60 g (1/2 cup) dried cranberries or other dried fruit
• 120 g (1/2 cup) coconut sugar
• 125 mL (1/2 cup) agave syrup or honey
• 30 mL (2 tbsp) molasses
• 60 mL (4 tbsp) egg whites
• 15 mL (1 tbsp) vanilla
• 63 mL (1/4 cup) water
• 2 mL (1/2 tsp) salt

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F (177° C ).
2. Prepare a 33 cm x 23 cm (9″ x 13″) pan by lining it with parchment paper, enough to have the sides come up as handles.
3. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine wet ingredients and whisk thoroughly to combine.
4. Pour into the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well (I used a very large bowl with a wooden spoon). You want to make sure that everything is coated with the wet ingredients.
5. Pour the combined ingredients into the prepared pan and press evenly into all corners (I used a glass as a rolling pin). Bake for about 20 minutes.
6. Carefully remove from the pan with the parchment handles onto a cutting board and cut into 20 bars. Place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and continue to bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. I wanted a crunchy bar and not a soft chewy one, if you would prefer a soft chewy bar, skip this bake step.
7. Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.

Notes:

Depending on how dry your house is, you may need to adjust the wet ingredients as the final product can be a bit crumbly.

A delicately flavoured energy bar.

1 bar serving (recipe makes 20 Bars)

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