Yema cake – Copyright Coquere
Yema cake is a decorative and nice cake. It is a kind of thick vanilla custard cream-based cake
Yema Cake
Yema cake is a decorative and nice cake. It is a kind of thick vanilla custard cream-based cake, and the cake base itself is a somewhat more compact version of a sugar sponge. It tastes delicious, and since the cream has a firmer consistency, it is well suited for decoration. The cake originates from the Philippines, and from the Spanish colonial era. In Spain, in older times, eggshells and egg whites were used in masonry, so a lot of egg yolks were left over. During that colonial period, the Philippines began using egg yolks to make the Yema cream, and this is said to be the starting point for the cake. Yema also means egg yolks in Spanish.
Egg yolks give both the nice yellow colour and the rich taste to the cream. You can soak the cake as much as you prefer, but with the somewhat more compact cream and base, you should soak it relatively much. How dry or soaked you want the cake is a matter of taste, and you have to test how much you prefer.
Ingredients
Cake base
4 egg whites
½ teaspoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice
0.7 dl sugar
5 egg yolks
0.7 dl sugar
0.5 dl neutral oil
0.7 dl water
1 teaspoon real vanilla sugar
2.2 dl spelled flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tsp salt
Syrup for soaking the cake:
1 dl water
1 dl sugar
3 cl room (can be omitted)
Decoration:
Almond flakes (optional)
Yema cream see recipe: Yema Cream
Directions
- Separate egg yolks and egg whites. You will get an egg white too much. This you can store for several days in the fridge, and use it for e.g., an omelette. Make sure that in the bowl with egg whites it is well cleaned. It can often be smart to dry the bowl with lemon juice beforehand, so that all fat remains. This gives you a better result on the meringues.
- In the bowl with the egg yolks; add the sugar. Whisk well until you get an increased volume and the sugar has dissolved.
- Then add in the other wet ingredients; oil and water. Whisk everything well together.
- Keep all the dry ingredients in a bowl separately; flour, vanilla sugar and baking powder.
- Sift these into the egg yolks, mix well until you get a smooth and lump-free mixture.
- Put the vinegar in the egg whites and use a machine to whip until you get a nice meringue. Just before it starts to get stiff enough, gradually pour in the sugar while letting the machine run at full capacity. You have a nice meringue when you get stiff peaks, which keeps its shapes.
- Now fold in 1/3 of the meringue at a time in the egg yolk batter. Feel free to use a spatula, and do not stir too hard. Then you whisk the air out of the meringue.
- Pour the batter in a round shaped mould of 20 cm in diameter, and approx. 7 cm high. If it is not non-stick, you must have greased or covered the mould with baking paper beforehand.
Bake:
180 ° C for 25-30 minutes on the middle rack. The time depends on your oven. Test by sticking a baking stick in the cake, when the stick comes out dry, the cake is done. Now it is important that you do not take the cake out of the mould. Turn it upside down on a baking rack with the mould on. Allow it to cool completely before removing it from the mould. This gives you a juicier cake, than if you take it straight out of the mould, and let it cool down on a rack without the mould.
Assembly of the Yema Cake
- Trim the top of the cake so it becomes even. Then divide the cake in half.
- Boil water and sugar. Pull aside and let it cool slightly. Add room if you wish.
- Soak the two cake bases with the syrup. Lay one side down on a suitable cake tray.
- Use approx. ¼ of the Yema cream, spread it evenly. Place on the other cake base. Put some of the Yema cream in a piping bag, to decorate with. The rest you use on top of the cake and on the side. You do not need quite as much cream on the side, if you decorate with almond flakes.
- Add almond flakes up the side.
- Finish by decorating the cake with the piping bag according to your liking.
Tip:
Cut baking paper into 3-4 pieces, and place under the bottom cake base on the cake tray before you start decorating. When you have finished decorating the cake, just pull out the different pieces and the cake tray will look nice.
Served: Let the cake stand a few hours cold, so that it gets more soaked from the syrup.
Allergy: Gluten. There is little flour in the cake, so it is easily made gluten-free by replacing the flour with a gluten-free variant. The cake itself is lactose free. Yema cream is not, if you do not replace with lactose-free milk, which also works well.
There are a lot of eggs in this cake. Read more about the health benefits of eggs, and is it heart-healthy?
Benefits of eggs
Read more about history of the Yema cake / cream
History of the Yema cake