Mexican Chocolate Custard Cake with Spiked Marshmallow Whipped Cream

I'm not up-to-date on my Sesame Street these days, but back when I was just a wee tyke, they'd always let you know of  some special numbers and letters that were important to the show-- and I'm totally ripping them off today with this post that is brought to you by the #26.

Let me tell you a bit about the number 26:

• It is the only number sandwiched between a square (5²) and a cube (3³).
• Any Rubik's Cube can always be solved in 26 moves or less... but if I'm trying to solve it, it never ever will be.
• Augustus Caesar made Cleopatra the queen of Mauretania as a wedding present in 26 BC. (Which is, of course, good to know if you need inspiration for my hypothetical future wedding present.)

Oh, and as of today, I'm 26! Which makes it the perfect time to share my latest cake recipe with you.

Since I'll be celebrating my 26th with a joint birthday / Cinco de Mayo party, I figured I should stick with the theme and add a little fiesta flavor to my birthday cake this year. I started off thinking that I'd just add cinnamon to my chocolate birthday cake, but that evolved until I was left with Mexican Chocolate Custard Cake with Spiked Marshmallow Whipped Cream.

Oh. Yeah.

It was a birthday present in and of itself.

To give this cake the taste of Mexican chocolate, I added cinnamon and ground ancho chile to the dark chocolate base. But the truly special part is the way that separating the eggs before adding them to the cake (and whipping the egg whites) results in some crazy blended layers with different textures when baked. The top is fluffy and cake-like, below it becomes fudgy, and the bottom is a sweet chocolate custard.

And as if that wasn't enough, I made a marhsmallow whipped cream to go on top... spiked with tequila. Because that's how 26 year old Morgan does things!.

(Which is not very-- or at all-- different than what 25 year old Morgan would have done, I admit.)

Check out that pic above. I think you can see the separation between the fudgy layer and the custard layer better there.

Hey.

HEY!

That's enough staring. You're starting to drool.

You should probably just make the Mexican Chocolate Custard Cake with Spiked Marshmallow Whipped Cream for yourself and eat a piece... slowly.... so that you can savor every bite... and make extra whipped cream... so you can eat it from the bowl with a spoon.

Now I'm drooling. Let's move on.

So I have a birthday wish, and it's that you make this cake, take a photo, and tag #hostthetoast on Instagram or Twitter. Happy birthday to me and happy cake day to you.

Mexican Chocolate Custard Cake with Spiked Marshmallow Whipped Cream

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• Author: Morgan

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Description

Mexican Chocolate Custard Cake with Spiked Marshmallow Whipped Cream Author: Morgan Prep time: 1 hour Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour 45 mins Serves: 16 servings

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• For the Mexican Chocolate Custard Cake:
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 ⅔ cups whole milk, lukewarm
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup dutch process cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon, plus more for dusting
• ½ teaspoon ancho chile powder, plus more for dusting
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 ¾ cups powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• For the Spiked Marshmallow Whipped Cream:
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup marshmallow fluff
• 1 tablespoon tequila
• Halved strawberries, to garnish

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Instructions

1. To start, make the cake. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 8 x 8" baking dish and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, chile powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Set each aside.
3. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In one last bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until light. Beat in the cooled, melted butter and vanilla extract until well-combined.
4. Add the cocoa powder mixture to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Whisk in the milk.
5. Fold in the egg whites, then pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until baked and raised around the edges, but still jiggly.
6. Let the cake cool to room temperature, and then put it in the refrigerator to allow it to further set.
7. As the cake cools, prepare the whipped cream.
8. In a medium-sized bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Mix in the fluff and the tequila until well-combined.
9. Remove the cake from the pan and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Dust very lightly with additional cinnamon and ancho chile powder, if desired. Cut the cake into squares and top each square with a large dollop of whipped cream and a strawberry half before serving.