Wowsers. I am one third of the way through my year of trying to heal my gut. And although things haven’t been quite the same since Easter (ahem) I am confident that I am on to a good thing. And I am this close to jumping back on the wagon again, I promise. Particularly as, when my youngest drew me today, he drew me complete with a ‘food baby’. I believe the universe is trying to tell me something.
So in order to go out with a bang, and to scratch a ‘try something new’ itch, I tried a new recipe today – for a cake – which is off the list I know, but it was a request – and who am I to turn down a request for cake?!
It’s called the ‘Magic cake’ and it is pretty cool. Whilst baking it separates and ‘magically’ forms a custard layer on the bottom and a sponge layer on the top. I was skeptical but it was surprisingly easy and straightforward. I got the recipe from a ‘Made that way‘ post on facebook and she got it from ‘Kitchen Nostalgia‘.
Anyhoo, here is the recipe;
- 4 eggs, separated, at room temperature
- 1 Tbsp water
- ½ cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 125 gms butter, melted
- ¾ cup flour
- 2 cups milk, lukewarm
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Mix egg whites until stiff. (boy my arm got tired at this bit – we have an ‘analogue’ beater – no electric whisk for me!).
- In another bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar, water and vanilla until light. Add melted butter and continue beating for another minute. Then add the flour and mix it in.
- Add the milk (it has to be lukewarm, otherwise the butter will harden) and beat until well incorporated.
- Gently fold in beaten egg whites using a spatula.
- Pour batter into a greased 8 inch x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) baking dish (do not use spring form because batter is too liquid and the pan could leak) and bake in preheated 325 F oven for about 60 minutes or until the top is golden.
- Cool in the pan for at least 3 hours. Serve sprinkled with powdered sugar.
It worked! Annoyingly I started making it before I saw that it had to sit for three hours before I could cut it. This made it impossible to take to my grrls house for her and the family (leading to one very disappointed teenage boy, her son) and I only just got to cut it open half an hour ago. And it worked!
It was ok, I think next time I will sprinkle it with lemon juice and granulated sugar while it is cooking – the vanilla was subtle but needed something to lift it – I sprinkled lemon juice over my piece and it definitely improved it.
Now I am sitting with my fingernails one third covered in medical tape each, and have painted gold nail polish on them. Going to be totes classy yo.
Have a good weekend – I’ll write again tomorrow!
nzmockingbirdgrrl 