A fudgey base. Soft custard center. Topped with fluffy sponge. Made with one simple batter. Magic Three Layer Custard Cake: It’s like, well ….MAGIC!
If you love vanilla sponge cakes and custard, you are going to be as obsessed with this cake as I am. It looks like it’s been carefully layered with three different components. But it’s not! You just pour one simple batter into a cake tin, pop in the oven, and this is how it comes out!!
There is no special ingredient nor any tricky technique. The batter is made pretty much like a traditional vanilla sponge cake, it is just much thinner. It’s the consistency of crepe batter. Almost like a thick pouring cream.
The magic happens in the oven. It is baked at a lower temperature than usual – 325F/160C. And when it comes out, the top layer is a sponge, the middle is custard and the bottom is almost like a fudge.
I was dubious the first time I made it, and even when I turned the cake out because you can’t see the layers on the edges. But then when I cut into it, I gasped with astonishment! I mean, look at how perfect the layers are!!
This recipe is the Magic Cake from Jo Cooks. I’ve been reading Jo Cooks for a long time, but it wasn’t until recently that I got to know Jo herself. Though actually, her real name is Ioana – a Romanian name, a beautiful one at that, and one of the first things I nagged her about was why she doesn’t go by her real name!
Jo and I have very similar tastes. We both love food that is absolutely scrumptious, we never compromise on flavour to follow trends or hacks (or diet versions!), we aren’t into the “cool food” scene and there are less salads on our blogs than there probably should be (though she has a lot more than me!!).
What I didn’t realise is that she is probably the reason the world discovered “Magic Cake“. She was very quick to make the point that it was not an original recipe. Perhaps she wasn’t the pioneer of it, but a search on Pinterest clearly shows that she is the reason that the world discovered it.
So I’m adding myself to the long line of people who have tried and been astonished by the miracle of this cake. 🙂
One simple batter.
A three layered custard cake.
It really is….like magic! 🙂
– Nagi
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Magic Three Layer Custard Cake (From One Batter)
Ingredients
- 4 eggs , yolks and whites separated (at room temperature)
- 3/4 cup (150g) sugar (ordinary or caster sugar)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 stick (4oz / 125g / 1/2 cup) unsalted butter , melted
- 3/4 cup (4oz / 115g) plain all purpose flour
- 2 cups (500 ml / 1 pint) milk (lukewarm) (full fat or low fat but not zero fat)
To Serve (optional)
- Icing sugar (powdered sugar), for dusting
- Fresh strawberries
- Whipped cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F/160C (standard oven / fan forced or convection)
- Butter a 8" x 8" / 20cm x 20cm square cake tin (Note 4).
- Beat egg whites with a mixer until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and beat until it turns pale yellow - about 1 minute.
- Add the vanilla extract and butter and beat until well incorporated - about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Add the flour and beat until just combined.
- Pour the milk in slowly while beating, and beat until well combined (or if using a hand held mixer, add 1/4 milk at a time, beating in between).
- Use a spatula to fold in the egg whites in the batter, one third at a time, until just incorporated. You don't want to knock the air out of the egg whites. Don't worry if there are a few egg white lumps in the batter. The batter should be very thin, almost like a thick pouring cream.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.
Baking Directions
- Bake until the top is golden brown and the cake does not "jiggle" when you gently shake the tin - around 40 to 50 minutes. Check the cake at 30 minutes - if the top is already golden brown but the cake is not yet set (i.e. it jiggles), cover loosely with foil and return to the oven, 10 minutes at a time, until set.
- Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.(Note 3) Cool completely before serving.
To Serve
- Cut into squares - I cut it into 12 in the photo, but 9 is more realistic serving size portions.
- Dust with icing sugar just before serving.
- Serve with a side of whipped cream and strawberries, if using.
Recipe Notes:
a) The cake is ready when the top is golden brown and the cake doesn't "jiggle" when you gently shake the pan. If it jiggles, there is still raw batter inside.
b) I found that 4 of the 5 times I made it, the top became golden brown before the cake was set.
c) So to get the bake time right, check it first at 30 minutes. If the top is golden brown, cover loosely with foil and return to the oven until the cake is set. Check every 10 minutes - any longer, and you'll risk the cake overcooking. 3. Tor get the cake out of the tin, just turn it out like a normal cake. The custard is set, it is not like super soft jelly. What I do is place a cutting board on top of the tin, flip it upside down (it slips right out) then place a cooling rack on top then flip it again (so you end up with the right side up on the cooling rack). 4. I myself have not tried this in a glass pan but readers have - if you scroll through the comments, you will find feedback from a reader on 3 February 2017 confirming this! 5. Nutrition assuming 1 cake is cut into 9 pieces. Note that I cut the cake into 16 pieces for the photo but that is far too small!
SaveSaveNutrition Information:
Just made the custard cake tastes great but haven’t got the layers like yours,could I have over whisked the whites,followed the recipe exactly,will try again
Thanks Paula
Glad you liked the taste of it and I do hope you try it again! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. The first time I did it, it wasn’t 3 layered, only to realise I didn’t followed the instructions to the T’s but it tasted good. Next day tried it again and….at last. it was better. Now, due to the demand, I’ve been doing this weekly. You’re awesome……
Glad you love it as much as I do Nancy!!! Thank you very much for coming back to let me know! N x
Thank you for this great recipe! I tried it three times this week, and finally I got all three layers.
I used a little larger tin (9” x 9”) which made my cake much thinner than in the picture. I baked for 55 mins and the result was perfect. If I used a smaller tin, I could have baked a little longer.
When I first gave a try, after baking 40 mins the batter was still jiggling that I thought the center was uncooked. But later I realize the jiggling was the risen top, not the center! After taking out the cake from oven, when the top layer is set, it will stop jiggling and you’ll see the beautifully done middle layer. Well, even though I overcooked the first two cakes, they were still delicious, so I’m sure, overcook is not a problem.
BA HA HA! You sound like ME EJ!!! I made this so many times when I first discovered it 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it!!!
This looks absolutely stunning.
I tried it today and I followed your instructions to a T, even covered the top with aluminium foil and the top was a gorgeous golden brown, took it out to cool for 10 minutes in the tin once it didnt jiggle when I gave it a little shake and all of that, but mine turned out to be ALL custard, basically.. the very top is a thin later of cake but the rest of all custard-y. 🙁 I was so excited for the fudge layer!
Hi Amber! I’m sorry to hear that – but do you mean you covered the top with foil the whole time???
I didn’t, but it started to brown quite a lot rather quickly.. Even though my oven was set at 155 degrees, not even 160 degree Celsius! So I had to cover it with foil at that point and it came out perfectly browned on top.
Hi, could i use unsweetened regular almond milk in place of the milk?
Hi Terri! I’m sorry I can’t say for sure, I haven’t tried it. 🙂
Mine is in the oven now. The batter looked perfect until I started to add the milk. After about 1/2 cup in the batter looked like it was curdled. I continued though and added the rest then folded in the egg whites. Is that what the batter should be like consistency wise? This is my second attempt, I had another one in the oven and it wasn’t looking good so this is my final shot for the day.
Hi Emily – hmm, that’s odd. Curdled batter? I haven’t come across that before, especially not when adding milk?? How did it turn out?
Mine did the same. I think this is the butter solidifying when the cool-ish milk hits the batter. That is to say, my milk wasn’t luke-warm enough i don’t think.
Yummy!
Thanks Debby! ❤️ N x
This cake is amazing! I think I did cook it too long though, as I didn’t have the custard layer, just a cake top and fudgy bottom. I think I was too paranoid of the ‘jiggle ‘, and over did it. Regardless, we still loved it, and I plan to keep making it, and hopefully get the cooking time right. I do have a question though (seems like a silly question)….what size eggs did you use? I don’t think the recipe specifies. I only had extra large eggs. I thought that four extra large eggs may have made it too eggy, so I only used three eggs…the flavour was great.
So glad you enjoyed it Cindy! The eggs I use are 60g/2oz. I would consider them medium, not extra large 🙂 3 extra large eggs would not be the same as 4 normal eggs. I think 4 would have worked better because eggs are key to the custard layer!
Nagi,
I tried this awesome sounding cake. Checked it after 30 mins. and it wasn’t done. Checked every 10 min. until 50 min. and took it out of oven. It wasn’t jiggling in middle like it was wet, sort of slightly jiggled all over. Looked beautiful, but after it was out of oven awhile, it sunk, leaving outside still high. When I cut it, the bottom was quite thick, whereas the middle was good but thin, not much of it. Top also good. So, if it tasted alright, why did it sink and why not much of the custard middle? Used 8 x 8 glass pan. Thanks for any input. Karen
Hi Karen! sounds like your oven is weaker than mine and checking it every 10 minutes was reducing the oven temp as it sounds like it was undercooked. Sorry to say!
I think maybe you should change your “about me” section. It says that a reader will never see a baked sweet treat recipe, but you clearly have lots of those (no complaints here), just thought you should know
Oh gosh, did I write that??? I will update it, thank you!!
Hi Nagi,
Should I lower the temperature if using a fan forced oven?
Thanks,
Erin
Hi Erin! I use a fan forced oven 🙂
Hello~ ^^ Just made this.. love the texture _>;; so was wondering if you could help me with what went wrong ^^ tanxxx for the recipe
Hi Farzi! What went wrong??
Hi Nagi,
This looks delicious I can’t wait to try it, but I have probably a very silly question. In UK we have self raising flour or plain flour, which one I should use? Also I saw in some of the comments there was a reference to cream of tartare or vinegar, but I can’t see either of them in the ingredients – am I missing something??
Many thanks for sharing this 🙂
Hi Yesmin! Plain flour 🙂 Nope, now cream of tartare of vinegar in this!
Hi! this recipe looks yummy!!
is it possible to substitute the egg (both the yolk and whites) with anything?
I’m sorry, I can’t help you there! Eggs are quite key to this recipe 🙂
I made this yesterday and it was delicious. I used 1 T vanilla bc… well… it’s vanilla lol and I baked it for 45 mins. Unfortunately that was too long bc I lost the custard middle.
I have the chocolate version in the oven right now and I’m baking it for 30 mins instead.
Oh… and instead of vinegar I used cream if tartar just bc I’m more comfortable using that ingredient for the purpose of creating and stabilizing whipped egg whites
THIS IS DELICIOUS!!! ty for posting it. I’m gonna make a lemon one this coming weekend lol
YAY!!! I’m SO SO GLAD you loved this Talia!!! 🙂
I don’t have an 8×8″ pan, but I have a 9×9″ one. Do you think that it would work in that pan?
Hi Xara! Yup, pretty sure this will be just fine in a 9″ pan 🙂
Can I double the recipe and use a 9×13 pan
so I used a 7 inch square tin… maybe not such a good idea. It has been in the oven one hour and thirty minutes and still it jiggles. So I debate. Keep cooking or accept some jiggles and take a chance. I covered it with foil at 45 minutes. It is 4:30 am and my guests will be here at 11 am and I just wanted dessert for dinner tomorrow night. I even splurged on fresh raspberries in December.
The cake does look sumptuous. I love custard anyway I can get it.
Okay ten more minutes is all, it gets. :/
We did something wrong. It cooked for way longer than advised and did not stop jiggling we gave up took it out after 80min and it was not cooked all the way. We did use a glass baking dish instead of pan. It flopped when tufned out of dish and tasted between custard and scrambled eggs. What did we do wrong
I had the exact same problem! I used a glass dish as well, and after 30 minutes, I had a cracked sponge top. I covered it with foil and kept baking. 40 minutes later, it still jiggles and while the top tastes like vanilla sponge cake, the middle tastes like sugary, eggy, textured custard… Could it be the glass dish?
Oh gosh Melanie, I’m terribly sorry for your troubles 🙁 Yes, it is important to use a pan that is the right dimension otherwise the baking time will be out. 🙂
Ohhhh Nagi san, I overlooked this post! Magic cake is so popular in Japan and I was going to bake one too. I have just got a new oven installed. I can not wait to bake one for myself 😀
Magic cake is popular in Japan? I didn’t know that!!
Hey! This recipe looks awesome however i have one question, i kno you said its best to use full fat or low fat milk, is skim fine tho or should i sub something in? looking forward to trying :p
Hi Jade! Skim should be fine 🙂