Checker board chocolate buttercream cake / Tort sah cu crema de unt

Making a checkerboard round or square cake might seem a bit of handful when you do not have a checkerboard cake pan or print. Well…it is not exactly like that. In fact it is a bit of a walk in the park.


First the recipe:

Cocoa soft cake:

5 eggs
5 Tbs sugar
5 Tbs flour(regular)
5 Tbs vegetable oil
3 Tbs cocoa
1 unit of baking powder (2 tsp)

Beat the egg whites until stiff, add the sugar and keep on beating till stiffer.
Add the egg yolks and the oil, mixing carefully.
Add the flour mixed with cocoa and baking powder, spoon by spoon.

Preheat the oven to medium.
Grease a 25 cm cake pan or tray, powder with flour or line with baking paper.
Put the batter in the pan and bake for 25-30 min or until the toothpick comes out clean

Vanilla soft cake:

5 eggs
5 Tbs sugar
7 Tbs flour(regular)
5 Tbs vegetable oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 unit of baking powder (2 tsp)

Repeat the same method as for the cocoa cake.

Cool the cakes and slice them each on 2 levels.

Place the slices on top of each other and cut 3 round circles inserting a sharp knife so it will reach from top to bottom.
Do this for one cake and then for the other.

Mix the cut circles alternating colors. You will get 4 layers of black and white circles.

Chocolate Buttercream:
2 eggs
250 gr sugar
300 gr butter softened
100 gr bittersweet chocolate
2 Tsp dark cocoa

Mix the egg and sugar in bain-marie for 10-15 min. The mixture will become thick with the tendency to become dry on the edges. Add the chocolate broken into small pieces and cocoa. Mix until smooth. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
Cream the butter until soft and fluffy. Add the egg mixture spoon by spoon and beat continuously.

Syrup:

200 ml water
3 Tsp of rum
4 Tsp of sugar ( I used half)

Mix them all until sugar is dissolved completely.

Alternate layers so white will come of black and viceversa. Moist them with syrup, spread the buttercream on each layer.

Cover the cake in buttercream and decorate to your pleasure.

It’s lovely, creamy, and makes an impression.

Answering questions....

I was asked why 7 excuses to bake…

Well …I started baking when I was very young out of the ambition to make mom proud of me…which was quite of an ambition for a ten year old.

I tried baking for size while doing chemo…because it was a challenge that gave me something to do and made me go on doing something useful… Those were the times when I was baking on a budget and I was able to create a miracle from one egg, a bit of sugar, flower, yeast, oil and two drops of vanilla essence, a miracle called bun cakes which made people around me happy even then. I did not have a mixer, a blender, a thousands of baking trays…muffins were a very distant dream and buttercream something I read about on the internet while sending and email inside an internet café.

This was 12 years ago…a life time ago I might say.

During that time I noticed I was getting better, making people happy with every new recipe I tried, I enjoyed getting applause, looking at children’s faces when they gazed upon an amazing cake and I discovered the web…and the amazing women daring to take baking as a fun challenge, sharing their opinions, complementing each other, doing the best they can do…

The most important reason …well…I saw it in “ Julie&Julia” last Sunday and I couldn’t help but shedding a tear when I finally heard it put into words.

“ No mater how terrible is a day, in the office, at home or anywhere else you spend it…when nothing is sure in the world… you can get inside you kitchen and mix eggs , butter, sugar and chocolate and you can be sure it will get thick and become a wonderful desert. “

Little Meringue drums/ Tobitze :)

A tasty, delicate and beloved old recipe, I have inherited from my mom, and I have been making it ever since , mostly for the Holidays but also during the year when a savant combination of sweet meringue and coffee butter cream was missed.


Meringue cookies

6 egg whites (medium) –room temperature
1 pinch of salt
300 gr of white granulated sugar
300gr. grounded nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds)

Method:

Beat the egg whites with the salt until very stiff. Add the sugar gradually and keep beating until the meringue is very stiff.
Fold in gently the nuts until slightly mixed.

Warm up the oven and low to medium temperature. Line a cookie tray with baking paper and with a teaspoon put small scoops of nuts meringue leaving a bit of space between them.

Bake at low temperature for 40 min. They are done when they develop a firm crunchy crust.


Filling:

6 egg yolks
250 g of confectioners sugar
30 ml of very strong espresso coffee.
2 spoons of dark cocoa (optional)
200gr of butter (room temperature)

Mixx egg yolks , sugar and place it over a double boiler or on bain-marie and mix it until thickens. Add the coffee and keep on mixing until it resembles a thick sauce and gets a crust on the sides of the bowl. Add the coffee and cocoa, mix until smooth and creamy and remove from heat. Let it cool.

Cream the butter until light and fluffy, ad the egg mixture, spoon by spoon, mixing strongly after each addition.


Glue the meringue cookies 2 by 2 with the plan side up with the butter cream. Roll into shredded coconut or grounded nuts.

They taste better the next day.

O reteta delicate si iubita mostenita de la mama , pe care o fac de atatia ani ca am uitat de cand, in mare parte de sarbatori dar de asemenea peste an de cate ori ni se face dor de combinatia de bezea cu crema de cafea.

Tobitze

6 albusuri (medii)

1 pic de sare
300 gr zahar tos ,alb
300gr. nuci macinate (alune, pecan sau migdale)

Metoda:

Bati albusurile spuma tare cu sare . Adaugi zaharul si bati pana se tine de tel. Amesteci usor nucile macinate .

Incalzesti cuptorul pe temperature medie. Pui in tava hartie de copt si cu lingurita imparti gramajoare lasand spatiu intre ele.

Se coc 40 min la temperature joasa. Sunt gata cand au crusta crocanta.

Umplutura:

6 galbenusuri
250 zahar praf
30 ml cafea espresso foarte tare
2 linguri de cacao neagra (optional)
200gr unt moale

Mixx egg yolks , sugar and place it over a double boiler or on bain-marie and mix it until thickens. Add the coffee and keep on mixing until it resembles a thick sauce and gets a crust on the sides of the bowl. Add the coffee and cocoa, mix until smooth and creamy and remove from heat. Let it cool.

Amesteco galbenusurile cu zahar si pui pe abur amestecand pana se ingroasa si fac crusta pe margini. Adaugi cafeaua si cacao si amesteci pana se face ca o crema moale si fina. Lasi sa se raceasca complet.

Bati spuma untul si lingura cu lingura adaugi amestecul de ou,batand tare dupa fiecare adaugare.

Lipesti bezelele cu partea plata in sus folosind crema si le dai prin nuca de cocos sau nuci macinate.

Sunt foarte bune dupa ce au stat o zi.