Ben's birthday cake #2 - Untested

https://astucesaufeminin.com/gateau-a-la-creme-patissiere-2/

Also look at https://www.mesrecettes.info/gateau-moelleux-a-la-creme-patissiere/

For the Pastry Cream

1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup heavy cream

Optional - 1 Tbsp rum

For the sponge

175g of room temp soft butter

150g sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

80g almond flour

The grated zest from 1 lemon

220g of flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

Optional : 1 egg yolk

NOTE: This is a dessert that requires 8 hours of rest before serving.

For the Pastry Cream

1. Put the milk in a saucepan. Heat to a simmer, remove from heat, cover, and add the vanilla. Set  aside to cool.
2. Beat the yolks with the sugar until pale. Beat in the flour.
3. Very slowly whisk the milk into the egg mixture. 
4. Pour back into the saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook one minute. Remove from the heat (optional: stir in 1 tablespoon rum or liqueur of your choosing). 
5. Strain into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to cool. 
6. When chilled, stream the cream in and mix with whisk until smooth.

For the Cake

1. Beat together the butter an sugar until pale. Add the egg and 1 egg yolk, then the almond flour and the lemon zest.
2. Add the flour, the baking powder and the salt. Knead until the dough forms into a cohesive ball.
3. Wrap, flatten lightly, and chill the refrigerator for 2 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F.
5. Divide the ball of dough (weigh and divide) into uneven pieces, one smaller than the other (when weighing, record what I decided on). Roll each piece out with a rolling pin. Place the larger one in a pie dish (or would a cake pan look better?), the edges coming up onto the rim.
6. Spoon the pastry cream onto the dough.
7. Roll out the smaller piece of dough.
8. Dampen the edges of the dough in the pie dish, place the smaller round on top and pinch the edges to seal. Let rest a few minutes.
9. Meanwhile, you can brush the top with another egg yolk, and then make patterns with a fork.
10. Bake for 40 minutes