Grandmother's cake

Grandma's cake is a great classic, a cake made up of two layers of shortcrust pastry filled with a delicious cream. After cooking, the pastry will be very soft and crumbly, perfect for cutting, and the vanilla custard creamy.  

A cake that melts in your mouth. 

Method

Prepare the pastry.

You can make this recipe in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or in a bowl by hand with the spatula.

In a large bowl, weigh all the powders, therefore flour, yeast, sugar, salt and also the orange zest.

Separately weigh the oil and milk.

Mix the powders with a whisk, if there are lumps it is best to sift. 

Then pour milk and oil into the main bowl and mix initially with a spatula.

Then transfer to the work surface and knead by hand until a homogeneous dough is formed.

Wrap in cling film and flatten the pastry so that it is easier to roll out. Wrap it well and place in the refrigerator at least 3 hours before using it.

Prepare the cream. 

Weigh the milk and oil into a saucepan.

Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthwise and use the tip of a small knife to extract the seeds by sliding the blade over the pod. Add the seeds to the saucepan.

In a bowl, weigh all the other ingredients, i.e. sugar, starch, starch and lecithin. 

Mix with a whisk then pour into the saucepan and blend with an immersion blender to eliminate all the lumps. 

Transfer the saucepan to the induction plate at low power, or to the stove at low heat. 

Then cook the cream, stirring constantly with a whisk until it thickens, about 83˚.

Then transfer to a bowl, cover with cling film so that it does not form a skin and leave to rest in the fridge for 3 hours. 

After the pastry has rested, take it out of the fridge and divide it in half. Sprinkle a little flour on the work surface and roll out the first part of the pastry to a thickness of about 2-3 mm, it must be larger than the size of the mould.  

When rolling out the pastry, occasionally add a little flour on top and bottom so that it doesn't stick. 

Then lift the pastry with two hands, or wrap it around the rolling pin, and transfer it onto the tart mold. Line the entire mold well, pressing the pastry well in the corners and on the edge, removing the excess pastry with a small knife.

Store in the fridge. 

Based on your type of mould, you know it, decide whether it is necessary to butter and flour the mold to release the cooked pastry well or whether (as in my case) it is not needed.

Now roll out the second part of the shortcrust pastry dough in the same way.  Place the mold on top of the rolled out pastry and cut out a disc slightly larger than the mould. Insert a sheet of baking paper under this pastry disc and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.  Place the lined mold back in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 170˚ fan. Prepare the tart mold of 28 cm in diameter.

After 10 minutes, take the cream back from the fridge and mix a little with a spatula. Also take the pastry-lined mold and fill it with all the cream.  

Level it with a spatula. 

Then take the pastry into the freezer and place it on top of the cream, pressing lightly to ensure that there are no large air bubbles. Press well on the edges in order to eliminate the excess pastry and so that it fits well to the pastry on the edge. You must join the pastry well at the edges with the upper one otherwise the cream will come out while cooking.  

Brush with a little vegetable milk or a drizzle of cream diluted with a little water, prick lightly with a knife here and there to let the steam escape during cooking. Finish the surface with pine nuts (or other dried fruit).

Cook at 170˚ fan for about 45 minutes. When it has a golden color, remove the mold.

Leave to cool at room temperature for at least 1 hour, then remove the tart, place it on a tray and sprinkle a little icing sugar.