I decided to make this cake because I wanted to do something a bit different with the components of Milk Tart (similar to what I did with my Tiramisu Cake). I decided to make a vanilla cinnamon sponge and made the milk tart filling exactly as I would for a traditional milk tart. I decided to crumble some tennis biscuits (coconut flavoured tea biscuits/cookies) onto the filling to add a bit of texture. I used this as a filling and for the topping, folded some whipped cream into the remaining filling. So in essence, this is a cream custard cake as the milk tart filling is pretty much just creme patisserie (pastry cream). And if that thought frightens you, don’t let it. French desserts have a way to make you shake in your boots with their clever, fancy names but the pastry cream is relatively simple to make. All you need is patience and time (both of which I’m not good with). The important thing is to make sure that you don’t stop stirring when the custard is in the pot. If you don’t stir continuously, the egg will coagulate and form a thick layer at the bottom of what is essentially sweet scrambled eggs. Not exactly what we’re going for. I use a whisk as I feel more comfortable with whisking the custard instead of stirring but you could use a spatula or wooden spoon as well. When the custard is thick (almost the consistency of white sauce, thicker than normal custard), push it through a sieve and place in the fridge covered with cling wrap until chilled completely. Remember to put the cling wrap onto the surface of the custard as this will prevent it from forming a skin. The final step is to pipe/spoon 3/4 of the filling onto one of the baked sponges, crumble over some tennis biscuits and fold some whipped cream into the remaining filling. Close the cake with the second layer, top with the creamy custard and add a generous sprinkle of ground cinnamon. Absolute comforting perfection.
