I originally developed this cake as a restaurant dessert. After I left Mistral to open Flour, Jamie Mammano, my chef at Mistral, asked if I would continue to create desserts for him that his pastry prep staff could execute until he found a replacement for me. This cake was perfect: it’s one of those desserts that tastes a lot more complicated than it is to make. For the restaurant, individual ramekins of an easy-to-make sponge cake were filled with basic pastry cream flavor