Barista cake

Let’s give the floor to Anastasia: “Well, I finally chose the name for the cake. I will call it BARISTA. This option literally bribed me. The taste of the cake exactly corresponds to the profession: coffee, chocolate, cream liquor and my secret dream to stand behind the bar counter of my personal coffee shop, belted with an apron. I would love to make coffee while you enjoy a delicate piece of cake, maybe even this one, Well, dreams do no harm, just like indulge yourself with something delicious.”

The calculation is for a 18 cm (7 inch) cake.

For the biscuit:

• 5 eggs | 5.00 items
• 150 g sugar | 5.30 oz
• 180 g flour | 6.35 oz
• 35 g butter | 1.25 oz
• 10 g vanilla sugar | 0.35 oz
• 8 g baking powder | 0.30 oz

Whip the eggs with sugar and vanilla sugar until fluffy and firm. Sift the dry ingredients. Melt the butter. Add the dry mix in three passes, gently stirring with a spatula. Mix 3 tablespoons of dough with the butter in a separate bowl, and return it back to the dough. Stir the dough, and bake it at 180C (356F) for 30 minutes. Be guided by your oven.

For the condensed chocolate cream:

• 150 g sugar | 5.30 oz
• 200 ml cream 33% | 7.05 oz
• 1 tsp honey | 1.00 tsp
• 50 g butter | 1.75 oz
• 80 g milk chocolate | 2.80 oz
• 1 tsp cocoa | 1.00 tsp
• 80 g white chocolate | 2.80 oz

Place all the ingredients in a stewpan (except for chocolate and cocoa), and boil it over a low heat for 10 minutes. Remove the mass from the heat, and divide the crème base into two parts. Add the white chocolate to one part, and the milk one and cocoa to the second part; mix each one. The mixtures will be liquid, but that’s ok. Wait for the crème to cool down, and place it in the fridge overnight. Don’t forget to cover the crème with the cling film. In the morning you will see that both crèmes will be stabilized.

For the crème #1:

• 300 g mascarpone | 10.60 oz
• 100 g cream cheese | 3.55 oz
• 150 g condensed cream with white chocolate | 5.30oz
• For the crème #2:
• 200 g mascarpone | 7.05 oz
• 100 g cream cheese | 3.55 oz
• 150 g condensed cream with milk chocolate | 5.30 oz

An important point when working with mascarpone: all the ingredients for the crème should be at the same temperature as the mascarpone! It’s more convenient to work with them at the room temperature. Therefore, take everything necessary for the crème out from the fridge at the same time, and leave it on the table for a while. Due to the temperature difference during whipping, the crème may exfoliate, and that’s disgusting.

Cook each crème separately, but according to the same scheme. First, whisk the cream cheese with the condensed chocolate cream; then, add the mascarpone, and just stir until smooth. There is no need to twist the mixer whisk like hell; otherwise the mascarpone can be whipped. This is a delicate cheese, incomparable in the crème.

For soaking:

• 90 ml freshly brewed coffee | 3.00 fl oz
• 1 tbsp condensed milk | 1.00 tbsp
• 30 ml cream liquor (like Baileys) | 1.00 fl oz

Brew the coffee; add the liquor and the condensed milk, and cool.

Cut the sponge biscuit into three layers, sand soak each one abundantly. Place both crèmes in different bags; cut off the tips with a diameter of 1 cm (0.4 inch), and squeeze out the crèmes in turn in a circle, (starting from the edge to the center) onto the first sponge biscuit layer. Then, repeat it with the second layer. If you change the crèmes order on the second biscuit layer, then you will get a checkerboard pattern when cut the cake. Cover the crème with the third biscuit layer (with the soaking down), and cover it with white crème. Use the remains of the brown crème to make an arbitrary or marble pattern.

NOTE: nothing in the crème can be replaced, neither mascarpone, which gives its creamy tenderness, nor the cream cheese, which balances the sweetness with its saltiness.

You should cook both the biscuit and the condensed chocolate cream the day before, and keep it in the fridge overnight.

It is undesirable to replace the liquor in soaking. But if you wish, you may cook the cake without the liquor at all.