Salted Egg Yolk Lava French Toast Recipe

This salted egg yolk lava French toast makes a super impressive breakfast (or dessert), but is actually quite easy to make.

I first heard of salted egg yolk lava French toast during a trip to Singapore in 2016. Although I think the origin may have been in Hong Kong – which makes sense because it's like a suped up Hong Kong-style French toast in the first place. The first versions were sandwich-sized in height, but gradually got taller and taller. Until eventually they were as big as brick toasts.

If you like salted egg yolk lava buns in dim sum, you'll love salted egg yolk lava toast. It's salty-sweet, creamy and rich, and goes with the fluffy eggy fried bread so well.

You can also watch me make this on my YouTube channel:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Salted Egg Yolk Lava:

3 salted duck egg yolks (cooked)
50g caster sugar
2 tbsp milk
50g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
30g full fat milk powder
1–2 tsp condensed milk

Ingredients for French Toast

2 eggs
1 tbsp condensed milk
45ml milk
1 super thick block of bread (preferably shokupan/tangzhong milk bread)

To Fry:

Vegetable oil

Method:

1. Mash the salted duck egg yolks together with the sugar and milk, and press through a sieve to get rid of any tough bits.

2. Stir in the butter and milk powder, and set aside.

3. If your block of bread has crusts on, cut them off. Slice a 'lid' off the top of the square of bread (about 1/4 of the whole block itself), and set aside.

4. Score a big, deep square into the thick piece, taking care not to cut all the way through. Gently scoop out the square so you're left with a square-shaped bread box.

5. Fill the centre with your salted egg yolk mixture to the top (you'll probably have some left over).

6. Spread a little condensed milk around the rim of your bread box, and gently but firmly press your bread lid on top to stick together.

7. Heat some vegetable oil in a wok (about 2–4 cm in depth of oil) on medium heat. Meanwhile, in a large wide bowl, whisk the eggs, 1 tbsp condensed milk and milk together.

8. To test the heat of the oil, dip a wooden chopstick in: it's the right temperature when the chopstick sizzles after just a second or two, but not too violently.

9. Dip your bread box into the egg mixture, making sure to cover all sides, and carefully lower into the hot oil (lid-side-up).

10. Using kitchen tongs to hold the lid firmly to the rest of the bread, turn the bread box around in the oil to cook on all sides, waiting a minute or two for each side.

11. Once golden brown all around, place on a plate and serve hot.

Enjoy, and have fun.