Soopnatzi

Made mine in a 12" square adjustable pan, divided into thirds and just used 2 sections for these two sponges. Divided those into thirds and it came out great, following this recipe. Excellent marzipan recipe here also. I assumed the pink half of the cake would be tougher than the uncolored half becase of the food color that needed to be stirred in, but it was not detectable.

Amazing flavor, especially with the crystallized ginger. I use baharat instead of allspice just to give my baked goods a little different spin, and it goes perfectly here too. If you parbake your crust, even for just 5 mins at 450, it will stay crisp under this custard. No other reviews seem to mention how long this needs to bake, so I will. 15 mins at 425, and then up to 1 hr 15 mins at 350 (no fan). It takes quite a while for the custard to rise all over, then you know it’s cooked through. Agreed with others, don’t use a deep dish.

Absolutely perfect chocolate cake recipe! Follow the directions exactly and you will discover a new favorite. Lots of compliments on this cake. I put sliced, fresh raspberries between the layers and iced with a true French buttercream. Incredible! For those that have issues with the cake not coming out of the pans, just use pam baking spray. It won’t leave white flour marks on your sponge and it releases the cake after ten minutes (hint: if it’s not pulled away from the sides of the pan, it’s not cooled enough).

I made mine on the stovetop. Bring milk and sugar just to a boil, then temper that into your eggs/salt/3T cornstarch mixture. Return to stovetop, bring to boil and then cook for two mins. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Perfect!