How to bake a delicious Zebra? This is not difficult, but you need to follow the recipe exactly and prepare all the necessary ingredients for baking in advance so as not to be distracted during the cooking process.
A pie called "Zebra" is recognizable at a glance at a cut piece. Like the African striped horse, the cake consists of light and dark stripes created with the addition of cocoa powder. This is a delicious sour cream, which will be appropriate at a family dinner, and at the festive table. How to bake "Zebra" to get beautiful transitions from one color to another? Here it is necessary to act gradually, as described in the article.
There are several popular recipes for this fragrant and spectacular cake. It can be cooked in the oven and slow cooker, knead on sour cream or use kefir. In the article, we will consider how to bake Zebra according to the classic recipe. You will learn how to correctly form the alternation of the layers of the dough to get a beautiful picture, what make up the surface of the cake and what additional components are used for impregnation.
"Zebra" - a classic recipe
As with every recipe, including baking, there is an initial recipe that is used in cooking cards. Striped cake is no exception. Consider how to bake "Zebra" on sour cream, below in the article.
Prepare the following ingredients to knead the dough:
- sifted wheat flour - 300 grams;
- low-fat sour cream - 200 grams;
- 4 chicken eggs;
- 200 grams of granulated sugar;
- 100 grams of melted butter;
- 2 tbsp. l cocoa powder;
- baking powder - 2 tbsp. l .;
- a glass of walnuts peeled and parted.
Cooking
Following the classic Zebra recipe, you need to act gradually. First, mix the butter and eggs melted or softened to room temperature, add the required amount of sugar and mix thoroughly. If possible, use a dough mixer or a blender.
Pour the baking powder into a jar of sour cream and stir with a spoon, then add the contents to the remaining components and turn on the blender again. When the dough is homogeneous, divide it into two equal parts, pouring half into a separate container. Then pour cocoa powder into one of the bowls and mix the dough until it is a uniform light brown color. Check that there are no lumps. Before baking "Zebra", you need to form an alternation of strips in a baking dish.
How to make strips of cake
Before pouring the dough into the baking dish, grease it with butter so that the cake can be easily removed from it after the oven. To form strips, proceed as follows:
- pour in the middle of the form a spoon of light dough;
- then from another bowl, draw a spoon of already brown mass and pour it in the center of the white speck;
- thus alternating layers until the form is completely filled.
Before pouring the dough into the baking dish, turn on the oven 180 degrees so that it has time to warm up. You can leave such circles from stripes, as in the photo above, but some housewives like to dream up with such a test.
A flower made with a wooden skewer looks beautiful. It is used as a pencil. It is enough to draw a few radii from the outer edge to the center of the circle, and the chocolate layer will smoothly flow to the previous one, drawing the necessary border between the petals. You can create a marble pattern by randomly moving the wand inside the dough. Get blurry mixed lines. Before you bake the Zebra pie in the oven, be sure to warm it. To understand the readiness of the cake, use the match. After it is dipped in baking, not a single crumb should stick to its surface. If the match remains clean, then the baking is ready.
Impregnation cream
You can immediately eat the baked pie in the oven after cooling, but it’s better to work a little longer to make it more juicy and tasty. To do this, it is recommended to cut it lengthwise into at least 2 layers, soak each of them with sauce. Make it from a glass of sour cream with the addition of 100 grams of sugar. Stir thoroughly to completely dissolve the sugar.
To make sour cream sauce more flavorful, add the zest of one lemon to it using a fine grater. With a special spatula or the back of a tablespoon, coat one and the second layer of the cake and lay them on top of each other in a beautiful dish. Serve the cake best with chocolate icing. Consider how to properly brew it for such a delicious pie.
Cake Glaze Recipe
How to bake a Zebra cake at home, you already know. Let's consider how to make icing. Prepare 3 tablespoons of milk, 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, half a glass of powdered sugar, a packet of vanilla sugar and 30 grams of butter. Mix the dry ingredients first, and then pour in the milk and put on fire. While stirring, bring to a boil (thick glaze will begin to bubble) and remove from the stove. Set the pan aside and wait 10 minutes. When the icing cools, it becomes thicker. At the end, add the butter and mix thoroughly.
You can use a mixer, then the fill will be even more tender. To beautifully cover the cake with glaze, it is best to put the cakes on the grate on a raised platform. Place parchment paper or cling film underneath. Use a flat metal or silicone spatula to apply the glaze to the baking surface. Pour the icing on the center of the circle and distribute it over the entire area of the upper cake. Pour necessarily and the sides. Excess glaze drains into a paper tray. To harden the chocolate layer, put the cake in the refrigerator for half an hour. If desired, sprinkle the icing with chopped nuts, coconut, or lay strawberries chopped into pieces.
Useful Tips
If the icing is too thick after cooling, it will be difficult to apply it on the cake. Therefore, add a little boiled water to the pan and put it on the stove again. As soon as the icing heats up, stir with a spoon to mix everything with water. After boiling, leave the pan from the stove on the table so that the contents cool slightly.
If it turned out the other way around, that is, the icing is too liquid - it does not matter either. Add a little sugar to it and repeat the boiling procedure again. Stir constantly so that the contents do not burn.
Cooking a pie in a slow cooker
Many housewives are interested in the question of how to bake Zebra in a slow cooker. It is very simple. The dough prepared according to the classic recipe is laid out in the multicooker bowl as described above, after having previously lubricated its surface with butter.
Then they set the "Baking" mode, and the time is 60 minutes. After turning off, check the readiness with a match and leave the bowl inside for another 10 minutes in the "Heating" mode. It turns on automatically after the expiration of the main time.
It is very important not to rush or open the multicooker lid until the cake is baked, otherwise the dough may settle and turn out flat.
Portioned cakes
Baking according to this recipe is beautifully obtained if you use forms for small cupcakes. It is convenient to eat portioned cakes, each can be decorated in different ways, adding flavors and combinations of fruits and berries on the surface of the glaze.
The dough is poured after the surface of the mold is greased with butter, you can sprinkle it with semolina, shaking off excess on the table. Two kinds of dough are poured in layers, just like for a large pie. If the mold has a hole in the center, then the filling is done on one side, and the dough is already distributed throughout the entire container.
Now you know how to bake "Zebra" (pie) according to the classic recipe, in the oven and in the slow cooker. Baking is variegated, bright and delicious. Will surely appeal to both children and adults. If you like chocolate layer more, leave less light dough, and in the other part add more cocoa powder. Enjoy your meal!