What do you do when you have a dozen eggs that are about to expire? You make an angel food cake with custard filling of course!

When I was presented with the fact that Instructables HQ was sitting on over a dozen eggs scheduled to expire any minute, I accepted it as a challenge to use them all in one glorious dish. The obvious choices were trite - I needed to create something new from something old (namely, the eggs).

I found a recipe that required 12 egg whites - angel food cake. Now what to do with a dozen egg yolks? Easy: custard. Has anyone ever married these two together? Could it work? I decided to find out!

Even though I had never before made either an angel food cake or custard, I could tell you (imho) that this is one of the most amazing desserts I've ever tasted. Objectively, I can tell you the cake was completely consumed within the first 15 minutes of its existence. Not a crumb remained. I highly encourage you to make your own and draw your own conclusions. If my first attempt turned out so well, I'm positive yours will too!

Step 1: Ingredients

Angel food cake:

12 egg whites, room temperature
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar

Baked custard filling:

12 egg yolks, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 quart whole milk

Chocolate Glaze:

180 grams of nice chocolate (mine came all the way from Belgium thanks to masynmachien!)
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon corn syrup or rice syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Step 2: Make the Cake

Preheat your oven to 325^oF (160C)

Sift together flour and confectioner's sugar (not pictured). Set aside.

Add cream of tartar, salt, and extracts to egg whites. Beat on high speed.

Add sugar gradually. Continue to beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. If you're using a hand mixer, plan on investing a good 20 minutes on this step while you ponder the benefits of investing in a stand mixer.

Gradually fold in flour mixture until combined.

Gently spoon batter into an ungreased angel food cake pan.

Bake at 325 for 50 minutes.

Immediately invert onto a plate or bottle to cool.

Let cool completely before removing from pan.

Step 3: Make the Custard

Scald the milk on the stove in a saucepan and let cool.

Beat the egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Slowly stir the scalded milk into the egg mixture. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Pour the mixture into a glass baking dish.

Place this pan in a larger pan and put both pans in the oven.

Fill the larger pan with an inch of hot water.

Bake for 45 minutes, (still at 325F / 160C) until soft set (still jiggly in the middle).

Let cool.

Step 4: Chocolate Glaze

In a double boiler, melt together chocolate glaze ingredients until smooth.

Step 5: Marry the Three

When the cake is cool, remove it from the pan.

Slice the cake in half with a serrated knife.

Spoon the custard into the middle of the cake.

Place the top of the cake on the custard.

I had a lot of custard left over from this technique, and it was suggested that next time, I dig a channel in the cake and fill it with custard. I think this is a stellar idea, and will definitely do this next time.