Custard Cake Recipe

In a large bowl, add the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla. Whisk well until combined. 

My grandma and I never measured; we always added heaping tablespoons of corn starch and sugar and never used a measuring cup. Feel free to do this as well or use my exact measurements above. 

In the meantime, warm the milk on the stove. I add the milk on medium heat and keep a very good eye on it. We don't want the milk to boil, we want it to come to a simmer. 

Note: when you hear me say that we have to "temper" something, that means we have to bring something up to temperature by slowly adding it in and whisking the whole time. 

Take the hot milk off the heat and slowly add a little warm milk at a time into the egg mixture as you whisk. This process is called tempering. Continue adding milk and whisking until all the milk is used and the mixture reaches the desired temperature.

Once this step is complete and the milk is tempered, add the whole egg-milk mixture BACK into the pot. Place it on the stove over medium heat and whisk continuously until the mixture looks thick like custard. It usually takes 5 to 7 minutes for the milk mixture to turn into custard. As soon as the custard is thick, take it off the heat. 

We can now begin to layer while the custard is hot. Take the cookies and dip each one, one at a time, into a bowl of water. Don't hold the cookie in the water, just submerge it quickly and take it out. Place the cookie in your baking dish and start to arrange them, making a single layer covering the bottom. 

I arrange 15 cookies in each layer as that is what my baking dish allows for. You may need less/more depending on the dish you use. 

Once the first layer is done, add 2 to 3 ladles of custard on top, making sure the cookies are fully covered. Repeat this step two more times until you've used up all the ingredients. 

Note: You are going to dip each cookie one at a time and arrange them. To make the cake, start with a layer of cookies, followed by a layer of custard, then another layer of cookies, another layer of custard, another layer of cookies, and finally the remaining custard as the top layer. You should have a total of 3 layers of cookies and 3 layers of custard, with the first layer being cookies

Once the cake is assembled, cover it tightly with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge overnight. You can eat it warm but we like to wait so that the flavors can marry and the cookies can soften. 

Before serving, I enjoy crushing a few cookies and walnuts in my food processor and sprinkling them on top. You can also add toasted coconut or chocolate shavings. Enjoy!