Yummy Malaysiana: vanilla custards with roasted blueberries

Today is my sisters birthday. Every year, I ask her what kind of cake I can make her and do you know what she says? I dont want a cake. I just want a big bowl of vanilla bean custard. I hope you understand how hard this is for me (and please read that back in your brattiest little sister voice; it is, after all, all about me, right?) Making elaborate birthday cakes for family and friends is my thing. It has launched an entire section of this site, and portion of my cookbook (which includes my sons 2nd, my husbands 37th and 38th, and maybe even your next birthday cakes, too). I delight in trying to find a layered summary of everyones favorite things that fits in a cake carrier, and I think its awfully mean of my sister to deny me this outlet every August 30th. (Huff. Puff.) A bowl of custard? Theres not much to say about it.

Or, there might not be if your narrator wasnt such a blabbermouth. To wit: Custard, or pastry cream, is a pretty big deal in my family. My mother and sister especially consider it among the dessert greats, whereas others mostly look at it as just an element of grander things. Its the filli! ng of cr eam puffs and eclairs; it forms a delightful layer underneath freshly sliced strawberries or an artful arrangement of stunning fruit. Sometimes, it separates cake layers, fills the hollows of doughnuts and Boston Cream Pies, too. But it rarely gets its own day in the sun or you know, single serving bowl with a spoon and my sister thinks that it should.