What is famous for Soviet cuisine? The fact that each republic brought its masterpiece to the common cookbook of the USSR. So, Ukraine became famous for Kiev cutlets and the cake of the same name. Azerbaijan entered two cakes into the cookbook at once: Absheron and Baki. In addition, everyone in the Soviet Union was fond of fondant shortbread cookies from Kurabye Baku. In this article we will tell you how to make a Absheron cake. Recipe with photos of this culinary miracle you will find below. At first glance, it seems that the process of making a cake is too complicated and cannot be repeated at home. But this is not so. A little skill and creative imagination, and a delicious cake with biscuits and condensed milk will decorate your holiday table. Not for nothing that many housewives took the Baku recipe into their arsenal.
Dough Dough Ingredients
What foods do we need to make Absheron? This cake is not at all expensive. It does not require any exotic ingredients. For the test we take products that are usually used for baking biscuit cakes. For six eggs, you need to take four hundred grams of sugar and half the flour. For flavor, stock up on a bag of vanillin. And for the dough to rise, we will use baking powder. If there is no baking powder in the house, it does not matter: take a third of a teaspoon of soda. But before adding this component to the dough, put it out with vinegar. A distinctive feature of the Absheron cake cakes is its crispy taste. It gives nuts. Variations are permissible here. Nuts can be walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts. It will take two hundred grams of peeled nucleoli. About 150 grams of nuts will be needed for decoration.
How to knead the dough
First, we separate the yolks from the proteins. So that the latter beat well, the eggs should be pulled out of the refrigerator immediately before cooking. If you have raw nuts, you need to bake them in a dry pan and cool. Then crush, but so that the pieces were the size of peppercorns. "Absheron" - a cake in which dough should be felt nuts. Beat the proteins until they increase in volume. If it doesn’t stick, add some citric acid. Continuing to work as a mixer, gradually add sugar and a bag of vanillin. And only then will we add the yolks one at a time. If we use a baking powder, mix it well in advance with the right amount of sifted flour. In the case when we decided to use soda, extinguish it in a tablespoon of vinegar and add to the egg mass. Add nuts and flour in small portions, interspersed. Gently mix the dough.
Cake baking
We heat the oven to one hundred eighty degrees. Round shape with a diameter of 25-30 centimeters is covered with cooking paper and greased with oil. The biscuit dough of which Absheron (cake) is composed has a rather liquid consistency. Therefore, pour it into the form should be ladle. The classic Absheron consists of three cakes. But divide the dough into three parts by eye. We bake downloaded one cake. This can take about twenty minutes. If you make the temperature in the oven a little higher (190 degrees), the cooking process will be reduced to ten minutes. The oven door cannot be opened, otherwise the dough will fall off immediately. It is better to use a detachable form, since walnut cake comes out very fragile. And baking paper, despite the oil layer, can stick to the dough. If possible, use a silicone mat instead. Alternately bake all three cakes. Let them cool.
Cream Ingredients
Of course, it is possible to make the interlayer between the cakes very simple. Just mix a jar of boiled condensed milk with softened butter. But this will not be the same “Absheron”. The cake, which was included in the "Golden Culinary Book of the Peoples of the USSR", delighted not only with delicate crunchy nut cakes, but also with cream. Azerbaijani culinary specialists made it half custard. In order to make a cream according to an authentic recipe, we need not only a can of condensed milk (not boiled) and two hundred and fifty grams of butter. These two ingredients will complement granulated sugar and milk. These components are required in half a glass. You may be surprised by the fact that one of the ingredients of the cream is flour. Do not worry: it will not be heard in the finished product. And it takes flour only a tablespoon and a half.
Cream preparation (budget option)
In a small saucepan, dissolve the sugar in milk. Add the flour, mix until the lumps disappear. Put the saucepan on a small fire. Cook, stirring all the time, until the milk begins to thicken. Remove from heat and cool. Meanwhile, beat the softened butter. When it turns white, gradually add condensed milk. Beat another five minutes. At the end, add custard milk cream to the oil mass. Knead until smooth. The Absheron cake (photos demonstrate this) consists of three sponge cakes smeared with this white cream. It should be more than enough on the top of the product, and on its sides.
Real Baku Absheron cake: ingredients for cream
Above, we talked about how to quickly make a layer of nut cake. But “easy” does not always mean “tasty.” Let's try to create the most delicate creamy custard, which was invented by Baku cooks. It does not have condensed milk, which tells the layer of cloying. But there are eggs. Immediately we make such an amount of cream that it is enough for the layer of cakes and for decorating the sides and top of the Absheron cake. We will need two glasses of regular sugar, half less milk, three eggs, 3 soup spoons of flour, half a bag of vanilla sugar, four hundred grams of butter, cocoa powder and nuts. As for the last ingredient, during the Soviet GOST, cooks used two-thirds of walnuts per third of almonds. But there is one more detail. We leave some nuts intact, and the rest are coarsely chopped.
We make cream for the real Baku "Absheron"
In an enameled saucepan, knead the eggs with sugar (regular and vanilla). We begin to add flour. Pour a glass of very cold milk. Stir again. Put the saucepan on a slow fire. If at least for a moment to stop kneading the mass, it will immediately gather lumps. After boiling, cook for a few more minutes. The mass should noticeably thicken. Remove from the stove and leave at room temperature. If lumps nevertheless have formed, filter the custard through a sieve. But we need to give fat to the layer of cakes. Absheron - a cake whose recipe requires a cook to make custard cream - will turn out to be very rich and festive. Beat with a mixer soft butter in a white lush mass. Custard (it is better to cool it also in the refrigerator) is added by spoon. We continue to whisk. It is important that the oil does not dissolve in the cream, but enter into a compound with it.
We collect and decorate the Absheron cake
The Baku recipe with a photo clearly shows how to gracefully complete our product. Just coat the cakes and stack them in a pile. We still have cream left. We cover them with the sides of the cake and cover them with crushed nuts. Pour a tablespoon of cocoa powder into the remaining cream. The amount of this ingredient may be smaller. We only need to make the cream brown, but not bitter. Beat cream with cocoa. We smear them on top of the product. Decorate with whole nuts. The cake should stand at room temperature overnight. If you immediately put it in the refrigerator, the cream will not soak the cakes.