All Soviet pastries were famous for a simple set of products and ease of preparation. After all, women worked along with husbands and did not have the opportunity to stand at the stove for a long time. But in any family there is always a unique recipe for the Zebra cake, because each mother, aunt or grandmother prepared it in her own way, with a zest inherent only to her. Do you want to at least return to your childhood? Make the same dessert for your loved ones! We bring to your attention a step-by-step recipe for a homemade cake "Zebra" - with photos, tips and tricks. Let's get started?
Dessert story
It is easy to guess that the Zebra cake got its name for the similarity of the cut of cakes to the skin of the same animal. This effect is achieved by alternating layers of vanilla dough with chocolate. The rich black or brown color of the dark dough is achieved by adding chocolate, cocoa or food coloring. However, the first two options are more preferable. After all, any dyes are quite harmful, and therefore, if necessary, you should not spoil the classic recipe with them. Homemade cake "Zebra" will win your favor from the first bite, just imagine: crumbly and at the same time wet dough reveals a gentle vanilla taste in your mouth, instantly alternating with spicy and chocolate tones. Tempting, isn't it? It's time to start cooking!
Ingredients
The Zebra cake recipe can be safely called budget, because most of the ingredients are often already in the refrigerator and pantries of thrifty housewives, but even if you have to buy something, it will not hit your pocket much. The quality of the products should be very high, try to keep everything fresh and well-chilled in advance. After all, the key to the success of baking is the same temperature of all components. To implement the Zebra cake recipe at home, you will need:
- Wheat flour, preferably of the highest grade - 320 g.
- White or brown sugar - 200 g.
- Low-fat sour cream, buttermilk, neutral yogurt or kefir - 250 ml.
- Chicken eggs, preferably selected - 3 pcs.
- Natural butter, no spread - 50 g.
- Quality Cocoa - 40 g.
- Baking powder - 1 sachet.
- Vanilla extract - a few drops.
- Soda - 1/2 tsp.
- A pinch of salt.
Vanilla pastry
Cake preparation begins with vanilla dough. For convenience, consider the stages of baking. The step-by-step recipe for the Zebra cake is as follows:
Step 1
To begin, place eggs, salt, and sugar in a chilled bowl. Beat all products until smooth. You can use either a mixer or a regular fork or whisk. As a result, the mass should be a thick whitish foam. If you want to significantly ease the whipping, then place a cup with the mixture in a water bath - so sugar will react much faster with the egg.
Step 2
Add sour cream and pre-softened butter to the egg-sugar mixture. Mix lightly, but do not overdo it. Excessive force can destroy all air bubbles, and baking settles or rises poorly.
Step 3
Portion into the mixture, flour, previously sifted at least five times. It is no secret that sifting enriches the product with oxygen, which means that baking will be more airy and loose. Also at this stage, you can add baking powder and soda. It is not necessary to extinguish the latter: soda will react with fermented milk products and will give the necessary effect. The consistency of the dough should turn out quite thick and fall off the shoulder blades in small portions. If the dough drains, then the flour is not enough, add a little more. As soon as you finish mixing, take the balance and divide the mixture into 2 equal parts. In one of them, you can immediately add a few drops of vanilla extract.
If you could not find it in your city, you can always do with vanilla or vanilla sugar. The main thing in this business is not to overdo it.
Chocolate dough
Step 4
For the remainder of the dough, add the sifted cocoa and mix thoroughly. Let the mixture stand for a while, the cocoa powder should disperse a little, otherwise it will be unpleasant to grit on the teeth during the tasting, and we don’t want to spoil the impression of the dessert, right?
But I want to talk about the chocolate dough separately. Indeed, at this stage of cooking, you can move away from the traditional recipe and show a little creativity by adding new flavoring shades to the good old recipe. Zebra cake can sparkle with new colors if you add a little brandy or cognac, ground cinnamon, orange zest or nuts to the chocolate dough. Do not be afraid of experiments. Perhaps you will be able to create your own original recipe for the Zebra cake, which will be passed from the hostess to the hostess in your family for decades.
The subtleties of the formation of the picture
The pattern inside the cakes can be formed at your discretion or repeat the technique, which is shown in the photo. We figured out a step-by-step recipe for the Zebra cake, it remains to familiarize ourselves with the methods of laying out the dough to form a pattern. There are several simple ways:
- Place both portions of the dough in different pastry bags. Put the dough in small strips in the baking dish, alternating between light and dark colors. You can do this in circles or diagonally, in any case, the end result will pleasantly surprise you.
- Another way is suitable for those who do not want to bother much about the picture. To do this, alternate portions of vanilla and chocolate dough and put them in a small portion, the order can be chaotic. When the dough is over, shake the mold slightly, take a thick wooden skewer and make arbitrary movements with your hands, as if mixing layers of dough inside and out. Here you can safely show your imagination, and the most interesting thing is that each time a pie will be obtained with a unique pattern.
- The classic way to create a striped pattern for the Zebra cake is also very simple. To do this, pour a spoonful of dough exactly in the center of the mold. Alternate colors until it's all over. The width of the stripes can be adjusted by the amount of dough, the more you pour in the center, the wider the lines. If you want to make a frequent drawing, then at one time lay out no more than a tablespoon.
Baking Features
Before baking, be sure to prepare the form, you can cover the bottom with parchment, or you can use the "French shirt". If your mold is made of silicone or ceramic, then you do not need to use anything, baking will be so easy to remove. The oven must be preheated beforehand, if you have an electric cabinet - set the top-bottom mode and the function of circular blowing.
The optimum temperature for baking muffins on fermented milk products is 160-165 degrees. At this temperature, the crumb crust will remain moist, but at the same time will be friable and light. As for time, the process will take about 45-50 minutes. After 35 minutes from the start of baking, you can regularly check the cake for readiness with a skewer. As soon as it comes out dry - turn off the fire. Open the door and leave the form in the oven for another 25-30 minutes. Then remove the Zebra from the mold and let it cool completely on a dish or wire rack.
Cream or icing?
What is good about the Zebra cake is that even in an independent form without impregnation and cream, it is very good-looking. It can be served as a cake, and rest assured: after the departure of the guests there will not be a bit left. However, for lovers of all chocolate there is a nice bonus: the cake can sparkle with new colors and turn into a complex and pretty decent dessert, if ennobled with topping.
There are 2 options to choose from:
- Chocolate glaze. Traditionally prepared on the basis of quality chocolate or cocoa, cream and butter. You can complicate the recipe a bit and prepare a glaze on gelatin. It differs from the classics with a mirror shine and keeps its shape perfectly after hardening. The working temperature of the glaze is about 37 degrees, with such a consistency you can cover the entire top of the cake, and beautiful streaks will appear along the edges.
- Cream. Here you can give free rein to imagination and prepare a cream based on proteins, cream or cheese. But a prerequisite is the presence of chocolate shades in the recipe, because we need to emphasize the taste of dark dough.
Assembly and design of the cake
If you liked the “Zebra” cake recipe described by us and the photos presented as an illustration, you can easily design your dessert in a similar style. To do this, divide the finished cupcake into two parts, soak each half with alcohol-based syrup or weak coffee. Then make chocolate cream with cream or cheese cream with cocoa.
Collect the cake, smearing each cake with a good layer of cream, and do not forget about the design on the outside. As a topping, you can use nuts, confetti, colored sugar, cocoa or grated chocolate.
Unleash your imagination and create your own unique Zebra cake recipe!