How to make Yema cake?
Yema Cake’s origins start with the Spanish, who settled in the Philippines over 350 years ago. With many of the same ingredients, technique, and flavors as the favorite Yema candy, the Yema Cake is another widely loved favorite. Yema Cake is so popular in Manila. In fact that locals will flock to the best baker of Yema Cake.
A golden, silky, and wet looking cake with a soft sponge inside and a sprinkling of a strong hard cheese is the traditional look of a real Yema Cake. Follow the steps below, or you can swap the cake part of this recipe for the Chantilly Cake or Dominican pineapple cake and cover it in the Yema “icing.”
Some recipes out on the interwebs for Yema Cake will have more of a sweetened condensed milk presence. But traditionally, the more egg yolks in the recipe, the better. This is why, when the Spanish started to build their large churches in the Philippines they needed substances to help keep the buildings together. There was an abundance of eggs from chickens so the egg whites and ground shell were used, leaving the egg yolks or Yema to be used for consumption by the local people.
Yema Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups All-purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 15 large egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 cup water (very hot)
- 1/2 cup melted butter, cooled
- 1/3 cup evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup grated hard cheese(guyere, parmesan, sharp aged cheddar all good options)
Instructions
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
- Heat your oven to 325F (165C).
- Grease a jelly roll pan or ½ sheet tray with butter or oil.
- Whisk together 4 egg yolks, the whole egg, and 1 cup of sugar together in a large bowl until light yellow golden in color and thickened about 10 minutes.
- Sift the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and fold in the lemon juice and zest, until just combined.
- Pour the cake batter into the greased tray and bake for 45 minutes to an hour in the oven.
- The cake should be very light golden in color, and springy to the touch.
- Loosen the cooling cakes sides with a sharp knife and let it cool for a total of 15 minutes.
- Now cook you icing by placing a double broiler or a metal or glass bowl over a pot of simmering water.
- Whisk the evaporated milk, ½ cup sugar, melted butter, and 11 egg yolks in the bowl portion over the hot water until thickened about 5 minutes.
- Pour ½ of the yema icing over the cake and cut the cake down the middle to make 2 shortcakes.
- Stack one side of the cake directly onto the other and cover with the rest of the yema icing.
- Transfer to a serving platter and top with grated cheese.
- Let the Yema Cake cool a bit before serving and enjoy!
