Chocolate Magic Custard Cake will blow your mind with its look and taste. One cake batter results in 3-layered cake. Don’t worry about the runny batter, it will bake up perfectly!
This recipe is on the top among all our cake recipes for a reason. Easy to make and wonderfully chocolat-y!
Is there anything more delicious than a chocolate custard cake? Not only is it a favourite among the kids but anyone who loves something sweet and chocolaty will instantly fall in love with this custard cake. Don’t worry if you or your guests go for seconds or thirds, because this recipe will be the talk of the town.
This is a bad-ass chocolate cake! Once you have the first slice, you must know that you are ready for the second or even third! Are you obsessed with chocolate but don’t want one of those dense desserts since you don’t want to gain the pounds you’ve just got rid of? This fool-proof chocolate magic cake is what you need!
What Is Magic Cake?
We wish we could say that a magic cake is just one of Houdini’s amazing culinary tricks, but in reality it is a scrumptious three layered baked custard cake: Fudgy layer at the bottom, chocolate custard in the middle and a sper airy cake layer on the top.
The magic happens when all three layers bake in the same dish without having to layer it yourself. You can make it in different flavors.
It is pretty simple as it contains the basic ingredients for any cake: eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, milk, butter, flour and cocoa powder.
It may not seem like rocket science but baking is a science, and this custard cake will blow your mind with the result you end up with.
What is the magic?
Like we said above, baking is a science; the reason why you get all three layers of the baked custard cake in one pan is the batter is more “liquidy” than most cakes and we bake it at a lower temperature for a longer period of time. This way the custard cake has more time to settle into a custard and sponge layer.
The top layer of the magic custard cake is usually white eggs that are added last to the batter for a fluffy sponge.
Ingredients
If you want to make a custard cake – to be specific, a chocolate custard cake you will need to keep one important thing in mind: the temperature of your ingredients. Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature, especially the eggs. You don’t want the eggs to be too cold or too hot. The bake time for your cake will also differ if your ingredients are not at room temperature when you start making the batter.
Moreover, whether you use confectioner’s sugar or regular sugar, make sure you measure the amount accordingly and add that to the batter. You’ll find that adding milk makes the batter quite thin and liquidy. This is what you should be aiming for, but remember to gently whisk the batter instead of using a stand mixer.
If you think your batter is too lumpy, don’t be discouraged. Usually, if you’ve added all the right amount of ingredients and followed the recipe closely, a little continued mixing can easily bring out that signature liquidy texture that custard cakes are famous for.
Now onto the custard cake recipe.
How To Make Chocolate Magic Cake
As mentioned earlier, start out by making sure your ingredients are at room temperature. Follow the usual routine of preheating your oven before you go ahead and start making the batter. Be sure to heat up your oven to 320F (160C).
Now that your oven is ready, you can proceed with the batter. Start out by separating the egg whites into a bowl. Ideally, the four eggs you use should be at room temperature. Once separated, go ahead and whisk the egg whites. Generally, a good rule of thumb is to keep whisking the egg whites until you start seeing white peeks forming.
Bring out the bowl with the egg yolks that you previously separated. Add the vanilla extract and sugar into the bowl. Begin mixing these three ingredients gently until you see a creamy texture start to form. Next, add melted butter and keep mixing. Once the butter is mixed, add flour and unsweetened cocoa powder into the mixture. Gradually begin adding milk to this while simultaneously whisking the batter.
Now, fold in the egg whites (one third at a time) and continue mixing gently. Be careful with it though, you don’t want to mix the batter too much. Just stir it enough so that all the ingredients are combined and the mixture is runny in texture. Transfer this runny batter into your baking pan and bake for 60 minutes in the oven.
Don’t be alarmed if the centre of the cake is jiggly. In fact, a jiggly centre is precisely what you should be aiming for. This jiggly centre is pretty common for custard desserts so give yourself a pat on the back for coming this far. After the cake is baked, let it rest for about half an hour. Let the cake cool down and reach room temperature. Only then transfer it to your fridge to chill. Now you can slice it up and enjoy it.
A magic cake recipe can go wrong if you don’t let it cool to room temperature, and then let it chill for at least an hour. Otherwise, it will be so runny that you won't be able to slice it.
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📖 Recipe
Chocolate Magic Custard Cake
Video
INGREDIENTS
- 4 medium eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups sugar
- 110 g butter melted and cooled
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder unsweetened
- 2 cups milk lukewarm
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 320F (160C).
- Grease a 8x8 inch baking pan and line it with parchment paper.
- Separate egg whites and yolks.
- Beat egg whites in a bowl until stiff and put aside.
- Whisk egg yolks, vanilla extract and sugar until creamy.
- Add melted butter and mix for half a minute.
- Add the flour and unsweetened cocoa powder. Mix with a whisk until incorporated well.
- Pour the milk gradually and continue whisking.
- Add in the egg whites, one third at a time and gently stir with a whisk. Don't overmix, just stir until combined.
- Pour this runny batter into the baking pan and bake for 60 minutes.
- The centre of the cake will still be jiggly when removed from oven.
- Let it cool for about half an hour and then remove from the pan. When it reaches room temperature, chill it at least for an hour.
- Slice it in the size you like and dust with powdered sugar right before serving. You can garnish it with fresh fruit too.
- Keep it in refrigerator until you finish it all.
NOTES
NUTRITION
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gail says
I followed the recipe and my cake did not look like the photos. The top layer wasn't as dark and the custard layer was very light, sort of a cream color. The flavor was very good.
Zerrin says
The color depends on the type of the cocoa powder you use. It must be a dark one to have that color.
Tracy Mueller says
Hi. I made this cake the other night. There were only layers. The bottom layer was grey and goopy. The top layer was delish. Where do I go wrong?
uhhhlan says
Is it ok if I steam it instead of baking?
Zerrin says
Never tried it but I don't think it's a good idea.
Georgia says
Hi! I'm so glad to find this recipe:) What is the size of the cup measurement? Is it 250ml?
Zerrin says
Hi Georgia! Yes, it's 250ml cup.
Rishika says
Hey..really thank u sooo much for the receipe..really loved it..I just had one doubt..I saw in the picture above, one slice is like runny as u cut it..so how do we do that..is it that after it is made v have to microwave if be wanna eat..plz let me know asap..as it looked very delicious
Zerrin says
Hi Rishika, happy to hear that you love the recipe. I'm not sure if I understand your question right. The cake is as seen in the pictures after baked in oven. It is still jiggling when removed from oven. Keeping it in the refrigerator after it completely cools down helps it to settle.
Michelle Ingram says
calorie count is wrong. It is 250-350 per 6 servings
michelle says
you calorie count is less than 1/2 the actual amount.. too bad. more like 200-300 per 6 serving piece
Coreen says
I'm wondering if the nutritional info is missing some ingredients. The butter alone adds nearly 20 grams of fat and at least 130 calories per serving.
I haven't tried it yet, but the lumps of egg whites means they were beaten too long before being folded in.
Allie says
Now you need to come up.with a Lemon version !!!
Lasanthi says
I would like to double this recipe and make it in 13*9 inch dish. Could you please let me know if this is possible and what my increase in ingredients would be.
Zerrin says
Hi Lasanthi, I have never tried changing the amount of ingredients. If I have to double the recipe, I would use 2 separate pans and make two batches of the same recipe.
Mary Jaeger says
Yum! I made this and it was delish! It is not too sweet either. I gave my husband a bite of mine and he cut his own piece a few minutes later. If the hubby likes it is truly a success! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Melissa says
Ok the egg white maybe shouldn't be beat sooo stiff & it takes more than a few strokes to mix it. Mine came out a lumpy, not soupy concoction. Baked it anyway & tastes pretty good but very runny in the center & kinda cake like around the outside with some custard here & there. Might try again with some tweaks.
Melissa says
Great, mine is in the oven & looking just like the other commentors, lumpy & weird. I know what "stiff" egg whites should look like & stirring a "few" times, as directed resulted in a lumpy crazy runny batter. Have a feeling gonna be an epic fail & waste of time & food
Robin says
Looks great! Any idea if a non dairy milk could work, like coconut milk or almond milk? I need to avoid dairy. Thanks!
Zerrin says
Never tried the recipe with a non-dairy milk. So I don't want to mislead you.
Reema says
It's in the oven and I'm excited to see the results but from what I'm smelling now I can tell something yummy 🙂 thank you so much for this recipe