How My Mom and I Finally Made The Perfect Custard Filling

Hi everyone!

Welcome back to this week's post! Today I want to share how my mom and I finally made the perfect custard filling. Let me give you a backstory on this...

Each year, whenever we ask my brother what cake he would like for his birthday, the answer is always the same, "custard cake". This is because of seven years ago. 

My mom made the best custard cake in the world. The cake turned out fantastic, with the right texture, height and fluffiness. And the filling was perfect. 

But, ever since then, the filling didn't reach its full potential and we struggled with it. But after much struggle over the years, my mom and I finally got it right for his 19th birthday this year!

So, today I'll be sharing what we did to finally succeed and how the custard and frosting didn't split this time. 

This method takes time (overnight) so if you're planning to make it, make sure to schedule an extra day. 

Side note: the recipe (and part of the method) I'm using is from the AMAZING Afrikaans recipe book: Mikrogolf-wenners (200 Beste Resepte) by Annette Human.

Let's start!

custard cake filling

 

 

ingredients

2 cups milk (we used full cream milk)

75 ml custard powder

pinch of salt

125g butter (we used Rama brick butter - softened)

2 cups castor sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

method

Microwave 400ml of the milk for about 3 1/2 minutes in a microwavable measuring jug (with a volume of 1 liter). 

Mix the custard powder with the remaining milk until fully mixed (a mug will work) and add the pinch of salt. 

Add the custard mixture to the boiled milk and microwave it for another 5 minutes, mixing it well every minute. 

Once the custard is finished, get a piece of cling wrap and add it directly on top of the custard (doing this avoids that gel layer custard makes while cooling off). 

Allow custard to stand overnight on your kitchen counter.

The next morning, cream the softened butter and castor sugar, with a hand mixer, and add vanilla extract. Set aside.

Remove the layer of cling wrap from the custard and mix the custard well with the hand mixer. 

Now, with a spatula, take a medium amount of custard and fold it into the frosting. By folding, I mean, folding the frosting from the side of the bowl into the middle. Keep doing this until all of the custard has been added to the frosting. 

Decorate your cake as preferred and enjoy!

 

my notes and tips

My mom decided to watch the first video on YouTube that popped up after searching custard filling and in the video, the baker mixed the custard with a hand mixer. 

We have never done that before because we have always been too afraid to even touch the custard after it's been made. But, we thought, why not? Let's try it. And that decision seemed to make everything work out. 

We have never been comfortable with the idea of cooling custard over ice water, as many recipes say, so we've always left it on the kitchen counter overnight to let it cool completely and I recommend doing this! 

And that's it for this post! I hope this recipe was a success for you as it was for my mom and I! After much trial and error, I can truly say that this method we compiled has been the most successful!

Thank you for reading this post! Hopefully it helped you understand custard filling a little better and helped you make your most successful batch yet!! Have a wonderful week, or birthday if you are reading this for that occasion! Stay safe!

 

🧁 Tell me in the comments: what recipe / method has given you the most grey hair?

Bye xx