We all at least once in our life tried such a famous delicacy as “potato”, but few people know that the history of this dessert began with the manifestation of human wit in critical conditions. Therefore, you can call your favorite cake not only one of the most delicious, but also interesting in the matter of history. First, plunge into the past, and then we'll figure out how to make a delicious potato cake.
Where did your favorite treat come from?
The story begins in the nineteenth century. We leave for Finland, where the famous poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg lived, and it is from him that the story starts. Once, no less famous guests came to the famous poet unexpectedly. Due to the fact that Runeberg was taken by surprise, there was nothing to treat them. From food there was only old cookies and some alcoholic drinks. But before, cookies were bought not in small packs, but in whole bags, and because of the weight at the bottom there were always enough broken cookies and crumbs. Such a presentation to famous guests was inconvenient, and Runeberg's wife had to include her imagination and culinary skills. While the husband distracted the guests with his own verses, the mistress domolol leftovers of cookies, mixed it with sour cream, jam, added a drop of liquor for spice. From the resulting viscous mass, Mrs. Runeberg blinded small “potatoes”, laid berries on them and presented the dish to the guests as a delicious cake.
The experiment turned out to be so successful that the guests had long been harassing her with questions about the recipe for such an unusual dessert. This option has now become a well-known recipe for a “potato” cake. Over time, the recipe has spread throughout the world. Years passed, chefs all over the world worked on the recipe, which was quickly created by Ronerbegger's wife, and improved it.
What do world culinary experts say?
Years passed, and the dessert survived hundreds of experiments, during which it became clear that it is better to use not cookies as the basis, but a biscuit, which after baking is aged for about a day. Instead of the usual sour cream, which, for lack of a better option, the wife of Runerberg added, they began to add confectionery creams, and instead of liquor - small portions of flavored additives of cognac or rum. After years of experimentation, a classic version of the world famous delicacy called “potato” appeared.
Expert Advice
Culinary experts advise abandoning purchased cookies, as surrogate fats are used for their preparation, as well as a sea of chemical additives, and this is already undesirable for making a favorite dessert. But if you cooked cookies and gingerbread on your own, then they can be used without problems, they are perfect. Keep in mind that homemade gingerbread cookies are ideal for making pastries. But abandon the purchased. So how to cook a potato cake at home?
The perfect cake biscuit
How to cook a potato cake at home? Let's start with the basics. To prepare 400 grams of biscuit, you will need the following ingredients: eggs (6 pieces), sugar (6 tablespoons), flour (4 tablespoons), starch (1 tablespoon). We start cooking by warming the oven before whipping the dough, 200-220 degrees is enough. Then we prepare a water bath, for this, water should be poured into a five-liter pan, the temperature of which should be about 80 degrees. And here the fun begins:
- Beat the eggs in a container in which you will beat them, slowly add sugar and send it all to a water bath, not forgetting to stir. The egg-sugar mixture should warm to a temperature of forty degrees. After the mass reaches the desired temperature, still continue to whisk it until it cools. If you did everything correctly, then the volume of the mass should increase at least twice.
- Further, it is important not to hesitate, but to immediately pour flour into beaten eggs with sugar and gently stir, making sure that the foam does not settle.
- Stir the mixture until smooth and send in a special form, which must first be greased with oil, sprinkled with flour. Special paper is suitable for this, but it will also have to be treated with oil.
- Remember that the mold must be filled with mass at a maximum of 2/3 of the height, because it will rise. Smooth the surface with a spoon or knife to make the biscuit smooth.
- If the oven is warmed up two hundred degrees, then a biscuit 2.5 cm high should be kept for at least 35 minutes, but not more than 50. But for a small one, 1 cm high will last 10-20 minutes.
The readiness of the biscuit can be determined by the ruddy surface. In response to the question of how to make a potato cake, a photo is an ideal assistant.
Sponge cake with additives
To give the cake an unusual taste or just to diversify the usual dessert, you can prepare a biscuit with various additives. For instance:
- A nut biscuit can be obtained if, after beating eggs with sugar, add finely chopped nuts to three teaspoons of sugar. Walnuts, hazelnuts, cedar will suit perfectly to your taste).
- And if you add 2 teaspoons of cocoa, you get a very rich taste.
- Lemon or orange sponge cake is also popular, add half a lemon / orange, which should be grated and sent to beaten eggs.
Such easy maneuvers can diversify the taste of the usual goodies.
How to cook a potato cake? Step by step recipe
Now the fun begins, but before you start cooking, remember that the biscuit must be kept for at least twelve hours so that it hardens. So, what do we need to make ten cakes or one full cake? Make sure that the following ingredients are on hand: butter, cognac or rum, cocoa, sugar, eggs, water, citric acid. Getting started:
- We start with the fact that three or pass through a blender our pre-seasoned biscuit. It should be crushed into small, small crumbs.
- Add crushed biscuit, butter cream (300 grams) and cognac / rum (2-3 tablespoons) to one bowl.
- From the ingredients, form a large cake and divide it into equal parts.
- Since the mass is very flexible, it is not necessary to sculpt round cakes, it can be bears, apples, hedgehogs, and cones - all that is your fantasy.
At this the main stage of cooking ends, we send the resulting cakes to the refrigerator so that they freeze. For this, half an hour or 40 minutes is enough.
Cooking Oil Cream
For ten cakes, you need about 300 grams of cream, and for this you need the following ingredients: butter (150 grams), sugar (3 tablespoons), eggs (2 pieces). We start cooking:
- To begin, let the oil warm to room temperature.
- In a deep container, for example, in a pan, add sugar, eggs.
- Send it all to a water bath and remember that the mixture will increase in size by 2-3 times.
- After removing the pan from the water bath, continue to beat the egg mixture until it cools.
- Then whip the butter in a separate bowl, adding the egg-sugar mixture in the process. Beat until everything takes the form of a magnificent cream.
To give a special taste, you can add various syrups, honey, fruits, berries, rum or liquor.
Cooking fudge
It is not superfluous to decorate the cakes, especially if they are served on the festive table. To do this, you can prepare lipstick. Stock up on the following ingredients in advance: sugar (4 tablespoons), water (3 tablespoons), citric acid solution (5 drops). Lipstick is prepared as follows:
- Sugar is poured with water and brought to a boil. Now the most important thing remains - to boil before the sample on a soft ball. This happens as follows: scoop up a little liquid from a saucepan with sugar boiling in water and dip it into cold water. Everything is ready if an elastic ball rolls from the syrup. This is because there is a little bit in the syrup, 90% is sugar. After such a test, five drops of citric acid, previously diluted, are added, half a teaspoon of vinegar is also suitable.
- Stir the whole mass and put our pan with syrup in cold water so that it cools down quickly.
- We wait until the solution turns white, and when it takes on a crystalline state, this will be fudge.
In the pre-warmed state it is used for enrobing, with such lipstick you can safely decorate our cakes.
What are the experts talking about?
A cake with such a long history must have secrets and subtleties. We will talk about the most important:
- Very few people know and think about this, but inside the cake must have a light color. And what kind of potato is this? It is necessary to justify its name. And all these tricks with cocoa were invented by those who constantly burned biscuit. Thus, it was possible to mask the shortcomings of the cake.
- Inside the potato should be structural, and not even and uniform. Such a cake is usually obtained if the biscuit did not stand the right amount of time and crumbled it fresh.
- The last secret: a real "potato" will not work if you do not add a drop of good brandy or liquor to it at the cooking stage.
These three peculiar secrets will help to make the most delicious cakes.
"Potato" fast
Not everyone will want to spend a lot of time preparing a treat in accordance with all the rules. For these cases, there is a primitive dessert recipe, which everyone can do. How to cook potato cake from cookies and condensed milk? Of the ingredients we need: butter (100 grams), condensed milk (100 grams), syrup (3 tablespoons), cocoa (2 tablespoons), biscuit cookies (500 grams), ground nuts (half a glass), milk (1 glass), icing sugar (to taste).
Getting down
How to cook a “potato” cake with condensed milk?
- Heat the butter to a softened state and beat it with a wooden spoon.
- Gradually add condensed milk to the container and do not forget to stir so that the mass is homogeneous.
- Then we send our favorite jam and two tablespoons of cocoa to the mixture.
- Cookies need to be grated or minced, add ground nuts to them.
- Then our task is to mix the crackers with the previously prepared mass.
- Add milk to the mixture and stir until a mass for “potatoes” is obtained. We make cakes.
- We send all this for an hour to the refrigerator, after which we decorate with icing sugar or berries and serve.
Cooking “potato” cakes from condensed milk is easier. Such a lightweight option to taste is no worse than the classic recipe and will definitely become an adornment of any holiday table or dessert for tea.