Gretchen's Vegan Bakery

Foolproof Vanilla Custard Cake

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Simple is the best so this Foolproof Vanilla Custard Cake is simple and best!

Also known as the California Fruit Cake

california fruit cake

Vanilla Custard Cake is an old school bakery cake that caused lines outside of the bakery on a Sunday morning!

Simply made with two layers of fluffy yellow cake and a quick stove top custard!

California Fruit Cake

Loaded up with the entire recipe of the vanilla custard

The California Fruit Cake as it was made in all the bakeries in New jersey including mine
Iced up with a light almond buttercream, sliced toasted almonds and all the fresh fruits of the season

California Fruit Cake

 

Notes for Success:

Apricot jelly with a tablespoon of water to glaze the fruits protects the fruit from air exposure and prolongs the shelf life

For the custard, cornstarch is a very difficult ingredient to measure consistently with a volume spoons measure
So while I list both measures below I cannot stress enough how the grams measure with a scale is going to give you the best results.
Many times people have complained that their custard is like rubber and they don’t know why!

Cake flour and all purpose flour together is my preference in many of my cake recipes

Some people are not familiar with what is cake flour  so be sure to click the link to read all about it!
Meanwhile other people have had negative results using cake flour
If that is you, please use All Purpose Flour (plain flour) in the total amount of 370g

Gluten free flour in a 1:1 blend can be substituted for the all purpose flour in the same amount as listed 

While I am not an avid gluten free baker I have learned that by allowing the batter to sit for about 30 minutes before baking will help the final texture
As well as baking for an additional 10 to 20 minutes longer than the recipe specifies *this time is dependent upon the size of the pans you are using

 

California Fruit Cake

Vanilla Custard Cake

California Fruit Cake is loaded with custard & iced up with a light almond buttercream, sliced toasted almonds& all the fresh fruits of the season

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Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings 12

Ingredients
  

For the Yellow Cake Batter:

  • 1½ cups Plant Milk 355ml
  • 1½ Tbs White Vinegar
  • ½ cup Vegan Butter 113g
  • ½ cup Vegetable oil 117ml
  • 1¾ cup Granulated Sugar 350g
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • 3 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 15ml
  • 2 cups All Purpose Flour 250g
  • 1 cup Cake Flour 120g
  • 2 teaspoon Baking Soda

For the Custard:

  • 2¼ cups Plant Milk 533ml
  • ¾ cup Granulated Sugar 150g
  • 6 Tbs Cornstarch 48g
  • ¼ teaspoon Turmeric *optional for color
  • 1½ Tbs Vegan Butter 21g
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 5ml

for the icing & garnish

  • 1 Recipe your favorite buttercream
  • 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
  • ¾ cup Sliced toasted almonds for garnish
  • Assorted fresh or canned fruits of your choice
  • ¼ cup Apricot Jam ¼ cup *optional see notes above

Instructions
 

  • Grease & Parchment line 2-8" cake pans Preheat the oven to 350℉
  • First prepare the cake by combining the vegetable oil with the melted vegan butter add the vanilla extract & set aside
  • Combine the plant milk with the vinegar& let stand for 5 minutes to thicken. *soy milk is the only plant milk that will thicken but you can use any milk you like best
  • Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, including the sugar.
  • Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl & whisk smooth (this will be the plant milk mixture & the butter/oil mixture)
  • Pour the batter into the greased & parchment lined pans& bake immediately in the preheated 350°F oven for 15 minutes, then turn the open temperature down to 325°F to bake the rest of the way, approximately 15 minutes more or when you gently press the centers they are springy to the touch. Or do the toothpick test for moist crumbs.
  • Cool in the pans until you can safely touch without burning yourself then turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.
  • Meanwhile prepare the buttercream recipe according to the instructions on that recipe post be sure to add the almond extract at the last stage of mixing
  • Next prepare the custard: combine all the ingredients except for the vanilla extract & the vegan butter in a medium sauce pot & cook over medium to high heat whisking constantly as you bring to a boil
  • Once it starts to bubble let it boil on low heat for about 10 seconds.
  • Remove from the heat & add the vegan butter & vanilla extract ~ stir until melted & smooth.
  • Once the cakes are completely cooled (I Like to refrigerate mine for several hours to make sure they are very COLD)
  • Build the cake with a ring of buttercream to hold in the custard filling.
  • Crumb coat & then ice final icing with the almond buttercream
  • Decorate the edge with sliced toasted almonds & arrange the fruits on top. Melted apricot jam with 1Tbs of water will help to keep the fruits shiny & fresh

Notes

Be sure to read all the notes for success above the recipe 
Storage California Fruit Cake must be kept refrigerated at all times and will stay fresh for about 6 days wrapped loosely to prevent drying. I do not freeze cakes filled with custard as they turn soggy & the custard will crystallize
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Allison

    Didn’t turn out. Inside of cake is basically liquid. Going to find a normal cake recipe that doesn’t use this cake flour

  2. hannah

    Hi Gretchen, is there a specific soy milk that works best for this recipe or does it not matter? Thanks

  3. Lana Wells

    Gretchen, I would like to know, and I don’t mean offend, but can I just use non vegan ingredients to make your recipes non vegan.Thanks

    • Gretchen

      Hi Lana, my recipes have not simply been converted from non vegan recipes, meaning I did not just take a non vegan cake recipe, take out the eggs and add in something else. Therefore I cannot just direct you to now take out the vegan ingredients and then add in eggs (or whatever). Since I formulate my recipes specifically from scratch I could not tell you what ratio or amounts to use if you wanted to use animal ingredients. I cannot guarantee that it would work. I would recommend to just use non vegan recipes in that case rather than try to mess around with something that is already perfect the way it is written
      I would love it though, if you would give a try the vegan recipes, you would see quickly that we do not need animal ingredients to make great bakes! Not to mention there are no strange ingredients in these recipes that you would have to go out and buy something specifically 🙂

  4. Bhavika

    Thanks for the Recipe. Could you please also make a video about this cake. I am a visual person. Please.
    Btw I am a new subscriber.

    Thanks
    Bhavika