Cake2

I first had this cake in Koprivnica last spring. To say that I liked it is too little, because this cake is too much of a cake to be described simply. But, it has the right name, regarding both it’s taste and size it is a cake squared And of course it is when it’s made by such a beautiful and sweet girl as Bojana.

Cake²
(original recipe)

Biscuit Chocolate Dream: 340 g sugar, 130 g strong flour*, 120 g plain flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 30 g cocoa powder, 2 eggs, 200 ml milk, 100 ml oil, 100 ml boiling water

Beat eggs with sugar until foamy, add the rest of the ingredients (except water) and mix for another 2 minutes. Pour in water, stir and pour into round 26 cm diameter spring-form pan. I line my pan with baking paper. Bake in a preheated oven on 170°C for about 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. When biscuit is cooled, cut the top (dome-shaped) part to flatten it. You’ll have nice, flattened thick biscuit. Cut in in half horizontally.

*Strong flour is widely used in desserts, especially biscuits in this region. I had a lot trouble finding the right translation from “oštro brašno” and I’m still not sure if this is the right one. If anyone knows – please help

Lemon biscuit a la Chocolate Dream: 250 g sugar, 1 Tbsp vanillin sugar, 130 g strong flour, 120 g plain flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 50 g bread crumbs, zest of 2 lemons, 2 eggs, 200 ml milk, 100 ml oil, 100 ml boiling water

The process is exactly the same as for the biscuit chocolate dream.

Grandma’s heavenly chocolate cream: 2 large eggs, 120 g sugar, 1 Tbsp vanillin sugar, 120 g margarine (can be substituted with butter, but the cream will be runny), 75 g chocolate (minimum 50% cocoa parts), 1 tsp cocoa

Beat eggs, sugar and vanillin sugar well. Transfer into a double boiler and add chopped chocolate, cocoa and margarine and cook on low heat until it thickens.

Rum punch cream: 600 + 125 ml milk, 2 bags Pudding Powder, hazelnut flavor**, 3 Tbsp sugar, 2 egg yolks, 75 g white chocolate, 1 bag Whipped Topping Powdered Slag – vanilla flavor***

Beat egg yolks. Dissolve pudding powder in some milk (take a couple of tablespoons from the amount of 600 ml). Boil the rest of 600 ml milk with sugar. Remove from heat. Pour in pudding dissolved in milk, then cook on low heat until it thickens. Remove from heat again. Pour in beaten egg yolks and white chocolate, stir until it’s a compact mass, transfer into a bowl, cover with an aluminum foil (to prevent forming of a crust) and let cool. Beat whipped topping. When pudding cream is cooled mix it in whipped topping that you’ve whipped with 125 ml milk with a mixer.

**Original recipe calls for Rum-punch flavor which I couldn’t find in Belgrade, so I used hazelnut which is the same color. If you can not find Dolcela puddings by Podravka, than I reccomend using Dr. Oetker pudding, cream flavor or Dr. Oetker pudding, almond flavor. Or, any pudding you like as long as it’s lite in color.

***Flavored whipped topping is similar to powdered whipping cream. It’s actually an instant heavy cream that you can whip with water or milk, using a mixer. If you can’t find Podravka’s, you can substitute it with Dr. Oetker French Vanilla Mousse or something similar. Personally, I don’t like those powdered creams and whenever possible, use heavy cream. The same thing goes for puddings, I try to cook those creams myself. But, this cake was perfect as is when I tasted it and I don’t change the recipe that I know works perfectly.

Walnut chocolate glaze: 50 g chocolate (minimum 50% cocoa parts), 1 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp powdered milk, 3-4 Tbsp roasted, chopped walnuts, a little oil and milk

Melt chocolate with sugar, oil and milk on low heat in a double boiler. Stir in powdered milk and walnuts.

Decoration: 250 ml heavy cream, a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder****

Beat heavy cream with a mixer and beat in cocoa powder to taste.

****To me, it seemed that cream was a bit bitter because of cocoa, but when tasted in context of a whole assembled cake it worked good. If you want sweeter, more chocolate taste, try using Nesquik Chocolate Drink Mix.

Assembling: Place the bottom chocolate biscuit layer on a serving plate. Put the ring of a spring-form pan around it, spread half of pudding cream over, put bottom layer of yellow biscuit, spread chocolate cream over, cover with the remaining yellow biscuit, spread the second half of pudding cream and top with the remaining chocolate biscuit. Pour slightly cooled walnut chocolate glaze over. Put in the fridge overnight. Get up early the next day and take cake out of the fridge and put it in the freezer for about 2-3 hours. It will come out fresh and juicy. To quote Bojana: “It’s like a cake beauty treatment :)”. Decorate with heavy cream and that’s that It’s ready to serve