Happy Birthday Chef Laura!

To help celebrate my own birthday this year, I brought in cupcakes to the office!



I've always admitted to being a bad pastry chef, but every decent chef needs to have at least one cake on their repertoire. I thought up this recipe when I was dreaming about Kueh Lapis, which is a rich layered butter cake that I grew up cooking and eating. Kueh Lapis is the biggest time suck in culinary history - it involves baking each layer of batter individually, on top of the previous layer. I'm all about easy cooking and efficiency now, so Kueh Lapis never makes it to my menu, but I remembered a unique ingredient that added a very nice mellow, sweet flavor to the cake - condensed milk. Hence, the recipe name "Condensed Milk Cake"

The CM cake is also made in a very similar way to Kueh Lapis. The fat (butter, yolks & milk) is first creamed then combined with the flour. Then a meringue is folded in which makes it super fluffy. The cake is quite neutral flavored, so it pairs well with any kind of additional flavoring. This time, I used a Dulce de Leche frosting. The result is a cake that's a cross between a pound cake and a chiffon cake, with good structure, but not so heavy that it sinks into your stomach like the pound cake. it's delicious!



Here's the recipe:

4 ea Egg Whites
8 oz Sugar

8 oz Butter
6 ea Egg Yolks
1 can Condensed Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
4 oz Whole Milk

10 oz Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder


Preheat the oven to 325F

Butter two 9" cake rounds
Whip the egg whites and sugar until stiff, set aside
Cream the butter, and add the yolks one at a time
Add the condensed milk and vanilla to the creamed mixture until just combined
Reduce speed to low and add the sifted ingredients and the whole milk alternatively in 3 batches
Fold in the meringue into the batter
Pour batter evenly into the two cake pans and bake for around 45 minutes
To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center, and if it comes out clean it's ready!

Frost the cake only when it's completely cool and store in the fridge.



For Dulce de Leche Frosting

1 lb Cream Cheese
1 can Dulche De Leche
3/4 cup Sugar


Whip cream cheese and sugar until fluffy
Add Dulche De Leche and combine