Prague cake according to GOST: how to cook at home with step-by-step photos

Author: Irina Cooking

02 June 2021 15:54

Community: Cooking Recipes

Tags: IrinaCooking Cake Prague video recipes food cooking recipes cakes

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Here, the Soviet GOST recipe is given in the ingredients. I replaced the cocoa powder with dark chocolate and that makes all the difference. Thanks to this replacement, the taste of the cake is more rich, again, my opinion. The ingredients list both options. The choice is yours.

PRAGUE CAKE CLASSIC

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INGREDIENTS for the sponge cake 115 g sifted flour 140 grams sugar 6 large eggs 40 g butter 25-30 g dark chocolate or cocoa powder for cream 1 yolk 220 g water 200 g butter 120 g condensed milk 1 tsp. vanilla sugar 10-15 g dark chocolate or cocoa powder for coating the cake 100 g fruit jam or marmalade 90 g dark chocolate 40 g butter

The fastest and easiest recipe

This version of the Prague cake is often prepared for children's celebrations or whipped up for home tea parties. The juicy cake layers of this simple dessert do not need to be soaked, and the amount of chocolate in the recipe is minimal.

Composition of ingredients

The ingredients for the sponge cake are simple and do not require special care when mixing. The peculiarity of the cake is that condensed milk is completely added to the dough, which makes it quite sweet and moist after baking.

Ingredients for the dough:

flour – 150 g;
condensed milk – 400 g (standard tin can);
medium-sized eggs – 2 pcs.;
cocoa powder – 3 tbsp. l.;

Use 2 tsp as a baking powder. soda There is no need to extinguish it with vinegar or citric acid.

Ingredients for cream:

milk (fat content of at least 25%) – 300 ml;
butter – 150 g;
chicken eggs – 2 pcs.;
flour - 3 tbsp. l.;
sugar – 150 g;
cocoa – 3 tbsp. l.

To quickly dissolve sugar in cream, it is better to use powder. Beat the eggs whole without separating the whites.

Step-by-step cooking process

The dough for the children's version of the Prague cake is kneaded in one bowl at a time.

Preparation step by step:

Beat the eggs in a deep bowl with a whisk and add condensed milk to the mixture.
Then sift flour and cocoa into a bowl with dough, add soda, constantly stirring the mass with a whisk.
Divide the finished dough in half and bake two biscuits in an oven preheated to 180 °C. It takes 25 minutes for one cake to be ready.
Leave the biscuits to cool completely, using this time to prepare the cream.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs and add some of the milk to them. Pour flour into the mixture, beat the mixture thoroughly, and then dilute with the remaining milk.
The liquid creamy mass is slowly heated with constant stirring until thickened. Having achieved the consistency of liquid porridge, the mixture is set aside to cool.
Beat the butter with a mixer, add powder and cocoa. Beat the mixture, gradually adding the brewed egg mixture. Place the cream in the refrigerator, where it will finally cool down and thicken.

The parts that fit the “head” are cut off from the biscuits. Divide each cake in half into two layers. Place the biscuits on the dish one by one. Each one should be thickly coated with cream. Allow the dessert to set in the refrigerator, then coat and level all surfaces of the cake with the remaining cream.

The trimmed parts of the cakes can be crushed and sprinkled with the resulting crumbs on the sides of the dessert. They draw patterns on the top or write congratulations with melted chocolate. This Prague cake is soaked in cream very quickly; it only needs to be kept in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.

BEAT THE WHITES AND YOLKS

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Beat the whites into a stable foam, first at low speeds, then at high speeds. Gradually add half the sugar and beat until a thick, stable mass. Be careful not to overbeat the whites. When they are with sugar, beat them for three minutes. Beat the yolks until light, add the remaining half of the sugar and beat until fluffy.

Chocolate lipstick

Perhaps the most difficult stage of preparing the classic Prague cake. But the original recipe involves using just such chocolate fondant.

Ingredients:

Sugar – 91 g;
Water – 30 g;
Starch syrup – 14 g
Cocoa powder – 6 g;
Vanilla powder – 0.3 g;
Fruit essence – 0.3 g.

From this amount of products you should get 116 grams of lipstick. But since such a small amount of lipstick is difficult to beat, you can take double the amount indicated in the recipe. So, mix sugar with water and heat the syrup to a temperature of one hundred and eight degrees. In a separate saucepan, heat the molasses to fifty degrees and add it to the syrup. Next, over medium heat, boil the syrup to one hundred and fifteen degrees and add the essence to it.

After this, cool the syrup to forty degrees and beat it with a wooden spatula or in a beater for twenty minutes. Add cocoa and vanillin to the fondant immediately before applying to the cake.

Note:

The classic recipe is replete with instructions on the exact temperature of the products during the preparation of lipstick. For convenience, use a food thermometer.

BISCUIT

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The mass must be cooled to at least 30° degrees. Immediately pour the finished dough into the mold. Place in the oven and bake the biscuit for 30 minutes. Allow the finished biscuit to cool directly in the mold.

CREAM

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Combine the yolk and 20 ml of water. Water is needed here to prevent the yolk from curdling when adding condensed milk. Pour in the condensed mixture, add vanilla sugar and mix everything. Place on low heat and cook until thickened. The thickness of the base should resemble the same condensed milk. Turn off the gas, add 15 g of chocolate to the hot cream, mix everything. Beat softened butter until white. Add the custard base there, spoonful at a time. Take your time.

Secrets and tips of confectioners

The “Prague” cake consists of sponge cakes with cocoa, creamy chocolate cream and chocolate glaze.
The sponge cake is baked traditionally: from eggs, sugar, butter and sifted flour with cocoa powder. In this case, beat the whites and yolks separately, and then mix them with other products. The sponge cake will be lighter and airier if the whites are well cooled before beating. It will also be of good quality and porous without whipped whites if you add soda slaked with vinegar or lemon juice to the dough.
There are also other options for preparing biscuit dough with sour cream, condensed milk and almonds. Then the whites are not separated from the yolks.
The cake consists of 3 layers into which the finished sponge cake is cut. In this case, the finished biscuit after baking should stand for 6-15 hours, and only then it is cut into cakes.
To make the cakes light, soft and melting in your mouth, they are soaked in sugar syrup or alcohol.
To sandwich two cake layers, prepare a classic “Prague” cream from soft butter, cocoa, condensed milk and egg yolks. The cream is prepared in a water bath. The yolks are combined with condensed milk and boiled until thickened. Cool the cream, add soft butter and beat.
Another version of the cream is to combine eggs, sugar, milk, condensed milk and flour. Beat everything with a mixer and then cook over low heat until it boils. Then cool and mix with cocoa and soft butter.
The third cake layer is covered with fruit and berry jam. Usually, apricot confiture is used for “Prague” so that the sourness sets off the rich sweetness of the chocolate. The cake is then filled with chocolate fondant and decorated with chocolate chips and nuts. Chocolate icing is made from milk or sour cream, sugar, butter and cocoa. Sometimes they simply pour melted chocolate over the cake.
Although in some versions the cake is coated with cream on top and sprinkled with nuts or coconut flakes - without jam or glaze. Decorate with fruits and dried fruits.
For the cream, you can use melted chocolate instead of cocoa. And if the dessert is for adults, flavor the cream with cognac or rum.
A cake decorated with chocolate figures looks beautiful. You can sculpt them with your own hands.
To make the cake successful, do not replace butter with margarine, buy fresh condensed milk, and buy premium eggs.
The sponge cake is usually baked in a round mold with a diameter of 20-21 cm. Grease the mold with butter or cover with baking paper, because the dough may stick.
Fill the form with dough no more than 2/3 full, as... the biscuit will rise. Bake it for 25-45 minutes at a temperature of 180-210°C. When the biscuit has risen well, reduce the temperature to 170°C. Do not open the oven during baking, otherwise the biscuit will settle and lose its airiness.
Check the readiness of the biscuit with a wooden stick: it should remain dry.
The “Prague” cake can be baked in a slow cooker in the baking mode for 45 minutes.
It is recommended to keep the finished cake in the cold for 15 hours to obtain the desired biscuit texture and ideal impregnation. Because a cake that has not settled may fall off when cut.

FORMING THE CAKE - CORZHIS

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Now you need to cut the cooled biscuit into three parts. Place the top cake down and spread half of the cream on it. Next go to the middle cake layer, place the remaining cream on it. Place the bottom cake on top, smooth side up. Spread a thin layer of fruit jam on top. The smoother the jam, the smoother the icing will lie. Place the cake in the refrigerator until the jam hardens.

How to make Prague cake at home:

We will prepare chocolate biscuits according to GOST. Pour cocoa powder with hot water (about 40 -50 C), stir until smooth. I noticed that if you do this step, the cakes turn out to be more chocolatey in taste and color. We set the chocolate mass aside so that it cools a little and when subsequently added to the yolks, they do not curdle from the hot cocoa.

You don't have to brew cocoa, but add dry cocoa powder directly to the dough (at the moment you add flour).

Carefully separate the yolks from the whites (use 6 eggs). Pour half the sugar into the yolks and beat with a mixer until a light fluffy mass in which grains of granulated sugar are almost not felt.

When beating yolks with sugar, first mix everything with the mixer turned off or with a regular spoon (so that grains of sugar do not fly around the kitchen), and only then turn on a low speed, gradually increasing it.

Beat the whites until lightly foamy (remember that after beating the yolks with sugar, you will need to wash the whisk blades and wipe them dry, only then beat the whites with the same blades).

When the whites are whipped into foam, add sugar little by little. Added about 2 tbsp. spoons, mix with a mixer for 1 minute, then add the same amount of sugar, mix again.

When all the sugar has been added to the protein mass, beat for another 6-10 minutes until stable peaks form. I check the readiness of the protein mass this way: using a spatula, I create “drifts”; if they stand steadily and do not spread, then they can be combined with the main mass.

Add the chocolate mixture to the yolk-sugar mixture and stir with a spatula until smooth. Then pour in the melted butter, but cooled to room temperature.

If the butter is hot when you add it, the yolks will curdle. Therefore, it is important to melt it in advance and let it cool.

Add the whipped whites and mix gently. Before adding the protein mass to the yolk mixture, I beat the yolks a little again, since undissolved sugar could have settled.

Prepare the baking dish: grease with butter and dust with flour.

Add flour to the biscuit dough after sifting.

Gently mix from bottom to top, lifting the dough from the bottom. If you mix vigorously, you can destroy the air accumulated in the dough, and the sponge cake will not rise in the oven.

Pour the dough into the mold and place it in an oven preheated to 200 C. The biscuit is baked for half an hour. We check readiness with a dry match, as well as with a test for “springiness”: when pressing on the middle of the sponge cake, an indentation from the fingertips should not remain, the sponge cake should return to its original state.

Cool the biscuit on a wire rack (so that the bottom does not get soggy). For a more even shape of the top of the biscuit, you can turn it upside down (the top of the biscuit always has a bump, and when it cools in this position, it smooths out and becomes even).

It is believed that before soaking, sponge cakes should sit well (8-10 hours). This will help them remain elastic, the structure of the sponge cake will be what we need, and the cakes will not become soggy when soaked, turning into porridge.

Cut the cooled sponge cake into three layers using a saw knife. Look how porous the surface is! We beat the eggs very well, saturated the dough with air, so we could do without soda and baking powder.

To soak the biscuit, we use strong brewed coffee (you can brew instant coffee). Carefully pour each cake using a spoon over the entire surface of the cake.