Baking did not get such a name: it will help to make sure the recipe for the Charm cake with a photo, explaining the cooking process step by step. It looks very nice on the festive table, although the cooking time is rather big - at least three hours of active action and at least another night for soaking with cream so that the dessert reaches the necessary taste condition. Its calorie content is high from 430 kcal and higher depending on the selected fruits, therefore, they should not be abused often.
Product Description
This dessert is quite unusual, and you understand this not immediately, but only when you cut it into portioned pieces. Cake "Charm" - a biscuit with whipped cream and fruit, but the layers in it are not arranged horizontally, like a regular dessert, but vertically, moreover: light and dark parts replace one another throughout the whole product.
At first glance, it is unclear how the confectioner achieves such a visual effect, but after carefully studying the step-by-step recipe, it becomes clear: it is easier to prepare it than it seems, although you will have to tinker.
Essential Ingredients
The recipe for the Charm cake is designed for a large product, but do not worry: it does not stand for a long time, as it turns out to be very tasty. The list of products looks like this:
- 10 eggs;
- 2 incomplete glasses of sugar;
- 220–240 grams of premium flour;
- 4 tbsp. l starch;
- 1 tbsp. l cocoa powder;
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 650 ml cream or sour cream;
- 4–5 Art. l icing sugar for cream;
- 1 bar (100 g) of dark chocolate;
- 1 tbsp. l without a hill of gelatin;
- 150 ml of juice (preferably orange);
- canned peaches or apricots, pineapples, bananas, kiwi - any delicate fruits that are at home;
- for syrup: 2 tbsp. l rum or cognac, 130 grams of sugar and 130 ml of water.
You can take fresh fruit if it is bananas or kiwi, and the rest is better to use canned ones, especially pineapples, because the juice of a fresh fruit will not allow the top layer of jelly to solidify, and the cake will simply “flow”. It is not necessary to use several types of fruits at the same time, just one will do.
Cooking a biscuit base: step by step
The cake consists of two biscuits of different colors, they are baked alternately on a baking sheet lined with parchment. The first step is to mix all the flour with starch and vanilla, pass the mixture through a sieve once or twice. Divide five eggs into yolks and proteins, grind the first part with 0.5 tbsp. Sahara. Beat the second until stable foam, adding 3-4 tbsp. l granulated sugar in the process. The mass should not spread on the dishes - the quality of the finished biscuit depends on this. Further, following the step-by-step recipe for the Charm cake, mix both whipped masses, adding proteins to the yolks (this is important). Then mix the mixture from the bottom up in one direction.
At the end, add 2/3 cup starch-flour mixture and knead the dough. Pour it on a baking sheet with a layer of no more than 1-1.5 cm. Bake the dough in the oven at a temperature of 190 degrees to a light yellow shade, not allowing it to turn too brown, because this will be an obstacle when folding the biscuit into a roll. The baking time is within 15 minutes, so you can start cooking the second part of the cake - chocolate. It is prepared in the same way from 5 eggs, the remaining flour mixture (in which you need to add cocoa) and sugar.
Preparatory phase: where to start?
When the first sponge cake for the Charm cake is ready, take it out on a clean cloth towel sprinkled with a little sugar and roll it into a roll with the cloth, trying not to violate the integrity of the product. No need to try to fold it too tightly - the main thing is to have an even shape. Leave to cool in this form, covering with another towel. When the chocolate portion is baked, do the same with it.
Carefully unfold the completely cooled biscuits for the Charm cake, remove the towel and carefully fold it back, cut each into two or three equal parts (this will determine the height of the cake). Prepare a syrup for impregnation, heating water with sugar until dissolved, and when it cools down a little, pour in rum. Soak gelatin in 120 ml of water and let it swell for half an hour. Grate a bar of chocolate or simply cut with a knife into medium-sized chips.
How to make a cream?
The original recipe for the Charm cake indicates the preparation of whipped cream with powdered sugar. You should also add some vanilla for flavor. To do this, simply mix the ingredients and beat with a mixer to a state of light foam, making sure that the mass does not turn into oil, which comes from prolonged whipping. You should also prepare the fruit by cutting them into thin slices, leaving 1/4 part to decorate the finished cake.
Product assembly features
When all the components are ready for the assembly of the Charm cake, carefully roll up the biscuit rolls and soak in syrup. After 10 minutes, spread each cream and put fruit slices along the entire length (you can use different fruits for a more unusual taste). Pour chocolate chips onto cocoa rolls over the cream, evenly distributing it over the entire surface.
To give the “Charm” cake the necessary shape, turn the first strip back into roll, trying to make it as dense as possible. Next, make a coil of chocolate strip, laying it out exactly in diameter. Then again a light row and so on, until all the biscuit strips are over and the cake has a round shape.
Design of the finished product
It is necessary to ensure that all strips fit snugly against each other, forming a single product web. If it turns out that in some places there are empty gaps due to a biscuit defect, then these fragments should be covered with pieces of fruit in combination with cream. Coat the whole cake with its leftovers (sides and top), put slices of sliced fruit on top, which were left for decoration. Typically, confectioners lay out simple patterns from them, because the appearance of the finished dish is no less important. Put in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, warm the gelatin in a water bath until it is completely dissolved (it is better to stir it), add the juice there, mix thoroughly and allow the mass to cool. When there are signs of gelation, use a silicone brush to apply jelly on the surface of the cake, covering them with fruit. Return the cake to the refrigerator. When it completely hardens, decorate the sides and edge of the cake with the rest of the cream: use a pastry bag and a curly nozzle to make a beautiful border, small curls on the sides, making the cake as spectacular as possible. Put in a cool place overnight or at least 10 hours. Cut into portioned slices it is better immediately before serving, given the peculiarity of its structure.
Despite the lengthy preparation and a bit confusing actions, this cake is worth it to cook, timed to coincide with some significant date.