Peach Custard 'Cake'

(it is actually a fruit and custard set on a crumbly shortbread crust.)

I found this recipe on my aunt’s cooking “diary” scribbled over on a browned paper stained with egg whites, flour and butter. So there’s indication the opened this page quite often! The recipe is probably older than I am since the manufacture date of the diary says “1980.”

This recipe is actually a fruit custard set on a shortbread crust. It is not in any way a fluffy cake whatsoever. Blame the 80s for the misleading title.

Funky as the name may be, I have always loved this treat since childhood. I learned to make this since I was eleven.

Mango and Peach Custard Tart

Shortbread Crust
Preheat oven 350°F.

Mix together 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ cup softened or melted butter. Just mix them together with a pastry blender, or with your bare hands just until it comes together. This is not a flaky crust, so you do not have to worry about cutting the butter into pieces into the flour. This is the reason why the butter is melted or softened.

Press crust on the bottom and about an inch up the sides of an eight-inch baking pan. Bake for around 10-15 minutes.

Cool on pan.

Filling
The recipe calls for a pound of canned peaches. You can use fresh if you like. But they might be too sour. I usually use fresh mango slices laid down alternating with sliced canned peaches. Use whatever soft fruit you like. But canned peaches and fresh ripe mangoes work best for me.

Arrange fruit slices on partially cooked crust. Sprinkle fruit with a mixture of ½ cup sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. (Again, adjust sugar to your taste. Skip the cinnamon if you wish.)

Mix together 1 cup cream, ½ cup peach syrup from can (or you can use milk, mango juice, peach juice, etc.), 1 egg and one yolk. Pour over fruit arranged on crust.

Bake on a 325°F oven for 30 minutes. Top surface with look dry and sometimes may “crack.” Center will still be soft if pan is jiggled, but will set as the custard continues to cook with some residual heat during cooling.

Cool completely on rack, then chill.

Serve chilled so that custard will be fully set.


(canned peaches and sliced ripe mangoes work best for me. arrange the slices neatly on the cooked crust.)

(smooth over the custard before baking. I know the recipe says an 8x8 inch pan, but I did not have that today, so I just used an equivalent-sized rectangular pan.)

(when done, surface may look dry and cracked. if there are spots that turn brown, that's okay. but if the custard boils over, turn the heat down. you need gentle heat to cook the custard.)