How to make
It was difficult for me to give a name to this festive cake - Easter Birthday Cake or Mom's Homemade Cake.
The result is a delicious, juicy and fragrant chocolate cake, which melts in your mouth with every bite.
First, prepare the cake layers for baking.
Prepare a baking tray with a diameter of 9.5″ (24 cm), which is greased with oil and sprinkled with flour.
If you use a cake tin with a ring, line it with baking paper.
In two bowls divide the yolks and whites. Beat the yolks for 5 minutes on medium speed, then add 1/2 of the sugar.
Proceed in the same way with the egg whites, by beating them well.
Mix the egg ingredients carefully with a spatula to preserve their volume. Gradually add the melted in a water bath and cooled butter.
Sift the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder. Also add the vanilla. Mix the dry with the liquid ingredients. Mix them well.
Divide the finished mixture into two parts. In one add the cocoa and stir.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin and place it in a preheated oven.
Bake the cake layers at 360°F (180°C) for 40 minutes. Leave them to cool and cut them into three parts.
During this time, prepare the cream for the cake as well.
In a suitable saucepan, heat 3 cups (750 ml) of milk on a low heat, to which you need to add 10 tbsp. of sugar.
Separate the whites and yolks.
Mix the yolks with the flour and the rest of the milk.
If you want to be precise, you can strain the mixture, so that there are no lumps.
Add the mixture in a thin stream to the milk in the pan, while stirring at all times.
The temperature when boiling the cream should be very low.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir at all times, while adding the vanilla and grated lemon peel.
We beat the egg whites well with 4 tbsp. of sugar. Add them slowly to the mixture. Stir constantly, but be careful, so that it doesn't lump up.
They are tempered in a short time and add a fluffy texture to the cream.
After the desired density has been obtained, remove the cookware from the heat and add the butter.
Divide the cream into two parts, by adding dark chocolate to one. Stir the chocolate cream, until it melts.
Cover the surface with foil, to prevent it forming a crust and wait for it to cool.
You are now ready to assemble the Easter Cake. For this purpose I use the ring mold in which I baked the cake layers.
Start off with the cocoa cake layer. Syrup it a little with apricot syrup, by not overdoing, so that the cake layer doesn't become too soggy.
Spread it with the white cream. Next up is the white cake layer, which we cover with chocolate cream.
Alternate cake layers and cream, by finishing off with a white cake layer. Syrup it.
Here you can now use your imagination to decorate it to your liking.
Roll up a strip of aluminum foil, which is place in the middle vertically.
That way the cake is divided in half and cover one part with white cream and the other with chocolate.
Leave a cup from the chocolate cream aside.
Flatten it after removing the foil and place the form with the cake in the refrigerator for 12-15 hours to harden.
During this time, prepare the decorations. For the chocolate nest, use white chocolate melted in a water bath.
Add a piece of butter to it. I used an eggshell, on which I applied the chocolate and put it in the freezer to firm up. This will be for the nest.
Since I did not have sliced almonds, I soaked fresh almonds in water for 6 hours. Rinse, peel and cut them into pieces.
The next day, carefully remove the ring. Finish it off by spreading chocolate cream on the sides.
Sprinkle it with sliced almonds. Decorate it with fruit over the white part. I decorated it with flowers from a blossoming quince.
Arrange the nest in the chocolate half by placing the chocolate eggs in it.
The Easter Homemade Cake is ready and it is left in the fridge for 3-4 hours before serving it.
Its taste can't be compared to the store bought ones, because this one takes me back to my childhood.
