Gateau Africani

(source: For The Love Of Baking)

Sponge cake:
100 g sifted cake flour
30 g cornstarch
30 g cocoa powder
8 egg yolks
5 egg whites
175 gr powdered sugar
75 g unsalted butter, melted

Rhum syrup:
100 g castor sugar
80 ml water
4 Tbs rhum

Custard:
8 egg yolks
90 g cornstarch
700 ml milk
150 g castor sugar
4 tsp rhum
2 cans (@ 312 g) mandarin oranges, drained

Cocoa powder for garnish

Special tools:
1 round cake pan 22 cm for baking
1 round springform pan 20 cm for assembling

Instruction:

1. Butter 22-cm round cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Heat the oven at 180 degree Celcius.
2. Sift flour, cornstarch and cocoa powder twice. Set aside.
3. Beat eggs on high speed until it rises. Beat in sugar gradually while beating until thick and pale, and if you drop the batter with spoon, it leaves a trail that won’t dissapear for awhile. Turn off the mixer.
4. Sift flour mixture into the batter, fold well.
5. Fold in a little batter to the melted butter to thicken it. Fold the butter-mixture back into the egg batter gradually. Fold well.
6. Pour batter into cake pan, bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven, cool on rack. After 5 minutes, turn cake into rack and let cool.
7. When the cake is cool, tort/slice the cake horizontally into three layers. Put one layer into smaller cake pan (20 cm). Push a little so the layer fits perfectly in the pan. Wet the layer surface with rhum syrup. Set aside.
8. Rhum Syrup: Mix sugar and water, boil the mixture until the sugar dissolves (doesn’t have to reach boiling point). Let cool. Stir in rhum.
9. Custard: Beat eggs with fork, mix with cornstarch and a little bit of milk. Set aside. Boil milk and sugar, stir until it reaches boiling point. Remove from heat. Mix in a little bit of hot milk to the egg mixture, stir quickly to avoid lumps (we call this technique “fishing”). Pour back the egg mixture (now it’s warm) into the hot milk, stir. Put it back on heat, keep stirring until it thickens. Remove from heat, let it warm slightly (no vaporization anymore), stir in rhum and oranges.
10. Assembling:
    When the custard is still warm, pour 1/2 of it onto the cake layer in the pan, spread it quickly before it gets cooled. Put the second layer on custard, push a little so the cake stick well on custard. Wet the second layer surface with rhum syrup. Pour all custard onto the second layer, spread evenly. Put the third layer on custard, push a little bit to perfect its shape. Let it all cool in the pan.
11. Remove cake from pan, transfer to a plate. Garnish with cocoa powder.
12. Eat it already!!

Note:

• Generally, Gateau Africain is simply a chocolate sponge cake layered with custard. So feel free to use your favorite chocolate sponge cake recipe and custard , you get yourself a gateau (it’s better be sponge cake, though. Not butter type cake). But to its perfection, you’ve got to add oranges in the custard!

*photo and recipe by "For The Love Of Baking"