Custard Fruit Sqares

Spongy cake, silky vanilla custard and fresh summer fruit... these squares are telling the happy story of my childhood.

Level: Easy

Serves: 6

Prep: 20 min + chilling overnight

Cook: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:

Dough:

6 eggs (separated)

6 tbsp sugar

½ tsp baking powder

6 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp lemon zest

Custard layer:

100g sugar

6 tbsp corn starch

½ tsp salt

4 egg yolks

1 tbsp vanilla extract

700ml milk

50g butter

Fresh fruit:

Strawberries

Apricot slices

Blueberries

Glaze:

1 tbsp apricot preserves

1/2 tbsp water

Preparation:

Line with baking paper a 24cm x 32cm x 6cm baking dish and preheat the oven on 175C.

With a hand mixer, whisk the egg whites until fluffy and add the sugar bit by bit. Keep whisking it until it becomes foamy. Then add the egg yolks one at a time to the egg whites and keep mixing with the hand mixer. Add the baking powder, lemon zest and the flour (one tbsp at a time) and mix until fully incorporated. Bake it for 20-25 minutes. Insert a toothpick, if it comes out clean, it is done. It will be really puffy but once it is cooled it will shrink! Turn off the oven, open the oven door a bit and let it sit there for about 5 minutes. Then take it out, turn it out onto a cooling rack, carefully remove the baking paper, flip it back and let it cool down completely on the cooling rack.

For the custard layer, in a saucepan add the sugar, corn starch, salt, egg yolks, vanilla extract and 100mlcold milk. Stir it until all the lumps are gone. Add the remaining milk, stir continuously with a whisk and heat it on medium heat until it becomes thick. Take it off the heat, let the custard cool until it is only lukewarm to the touch. Pour it over the cake and put the fresh fruit on top any way you like it.

For the glaze mix together the preserve and the water, heat it in the microwave for about 15 seconds, them brush it over the fruit.

Refrigerate overnight before slicing and serving. Enjoy!