Souffra (Greek Custard Cake)
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Serves: 8 to 10 serves
 

When cut the custard is in a thin layer on the base as well as throughout the filo ... here it is served at room temperature after having been baked earlier

Ingredients
  • 375g packet filo pastry (I use Antonio which is not frozen)
  • 200g butter, melted
  • 600g cream
  • 220g golden caster sugar, or caster sugar
  • 6 x 60g eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp sea salt flakes, or ½ tsp fine sea salt
TOPPING
  • Cinnamon sugar for dusting
  • 120g toasted pistachios, or
  • 120g toasted pepitas and sunflower seeds for nut free option
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees fan forced, and place rack into middle of oven
  2. Brush a little of the melted butter onto sides of a solid (not spring form) 27 to 28cm round baking tin (base measurement) and line base with a circle of baking paper
  3. Remove filo from package, and keeping the stack of pastry sheets together, place them to the right of your cake tin with the narrow end closest to you
  4. Starting from the narrow end put your hands either side of each pastry sheet, lift the edges and then fold in a concertina fashion (like a fan) as you work your way up the pastry sheet until you get to the end (hard to explain … look at the pics in the post)
  5. Once you have done your first sheet, coil it loosely into a scroll around your index finger, and place it into the middle of the cake tin
  6. Continue “fanning” the rest of the sheets, placing them around the scroll in the middle until all the sheets are used up, and the entire base of the tin is covered in filo
  7. Brush the rest of the melted butter over the filo ensuring you coat them evenly right up to the edge of the tin
  8. Place tin in oven and bake 15 minutes until golden but not burnt, remove and put aside whilst you get the custard ready (I check it at 10 minutes to see where it's at, but always bake for 15 minutes)
  9. Remove tin from oven and reduce oven temp to 180 degrees fan forced
  10. Place cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt into TM bowl and mix 20 seconds / speed 4 (or you can mix in a bowl by hand, but pass mix through a strainer to ensure it is smooth with no lumps of egg)
  11. Pour custard evenly over the filo, then very lightly press down on the pastry with the back of a spoon to ensure it is all coated in the custard (it will bob around a little as it sits on top of the custard but that is fine … you just want to ensure the filo has been dampened by the custard so that it bakes up nicely)
  12. Bake for 25 minutes until golden (the pastry may puff up a little but don’t worry … when it is removed from the oven and starts to cool the pastry will drop and even out)
  13. Remove from oven and dust generously with cinnamon sugar whilst it is still warm, allow to rest for at least 30 minutes
  14. Souffra can now be served warm straight from the baking tin (I wouldn’t risk trying to turn it out as the custard will still be warm and may dislodge from the base of the Souffra)
  15. Or once it is cold (in about two to three hours depending on weather) you can turn it out onto a serving plate and serve it straight away, or put into the fridge to get completely cold (which is how I like it)
  16. NB: To get the Souffra onto a serving plate, run a knife around the inside edges of the cake tin, place a tray over the top of the tin, then holding the two together turn them over so that the Souffra drops onto the tray, remove the cake tin (the baking paper should still be stuck to the base, if not remove it), place your serving plate over the base of the Souffra and flip over both the serving plate and the tray together at the same time so that the Souffra is now right side up
  17. Dust with a bit more of the cinnamon sugar and sprinkle with the toasted nuts or seeds
  18. Leftovers will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to three days, just remove 15 minutes before serving to take the chill of it
Recipe by The Passionate Pantry at https://www.thepassionatepantry.com.au/souffra-greek-custard-cake/