New Year’s Sponge Cake
Description
The bake comes together quickly and easily. Serve the colourful snowy cake at your New Year’s table with hot drinks: tea, latte, or cappuccino—for children; mulled wine or coffee—for adults. You can make the dessert ahead and leave it in the fridge to absorb the flavours. Serve warm or chilled. Perfect with tea.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
Prepare the indicated ingredients.
- 2
Step 2
Crack 3 chicken eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor, add a pinch of salt and 1 cup granulated sugar to the bowl. Whisk on maximum speed for 3–4 minutes until pale and the mixture has tripled in volume. Note: If “ст.” meant a tablespoon rather than a cup in your recipe, use 1 tbsp granulated sugar instead.
- 3
Step 3
Then add cocoa powder and 1 tbsp wheat flour to the bowl and gently fold them in with a whisk or silicone spatula, but do not beat.
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Step 4
Grease the mould or multicooker bowl with vegetable oil, then pour in the prepared sponge batter. Bake on the “Bake” setting for 50 minutes, or in the oven at 180°C for about 25–30 minutes until done.
- 5
Step 5
Carefully remove the finished sponge cake from the pan and let it cool; cut it in half horizontally, but only after it has cooled.
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Step 6
In exactly the same way, prepare a light sponge batter without adding cocoa, bake it, let it cool, and cut it horizontally.
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Step 7
In the mixer or food processor bowl, put sour cream of any fat content, add sugar and a thickening agent or stabilizer for sour cream or cream. Whip for about 3–5 minutes until thickened.
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Step 8
Add the softened butter and beat again; it will break up into small flecks throughout the cream, and that’s correct. Set aside half of the cream—you will use it to fill the inside of the cake. Into the remaining cream in the bowl, stir in a couple of pinches of blue food coloring.
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Step 9
Mix all the cream thoroughly several times until it turns light blue. The butter pieces in the cream will look like stars or snowflakes.
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Step 10
Place the first sponge layer on a plate or platter, spread some of the light cream over it, and smooth it evenly across the surface.
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Step 11
Then place the chocolate cake and coat it with cream as well. If you like moist desserts, soak each sponge layer with syrup ahead of time. Trim the top layer or use the one that was on the bottom while baking — it is rounded. On top of the assembled cake, spread the blue cream.
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Step 12
Using a silicone spatula or offset spatula, frost the cake on the top and on the sides. You can refrigerate it like this for 1–2 hours so the sponge can soak up the cream.
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Step 13
When serving at a New Year’s table, garnish the cake with biscuits, oranges, mandarins, fresh mint, or rosemary sprigs.