Sponge cake "Charm": recipe with photo

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Baking got its name not by chance: the recipe for the Charm cake with a photo will help you to make sure of this, explaining the cooking process step by step. It looks very nice on the festive table, although the cooking time is rather long - at least three hours of activity and at least another night for soaking with cream so that the dessert reaches the necessary taste condition. Its calorie content is high from 430 kcal and above, depending on the selected fruit, so it should not be abused often.

Product description

This dessert is quite unusual, and you don't understand it right away, but only when you cut it into portioned pieces. Cake "Charm" - a biscuit with whipped cream and fruit, but the layers in it are not arranged horizontally, like a regular dessert, but vertically, moreover: light and dark parts replace one another throughout the entire product.

At first glance, it is not clear how the pastry chef achieves such a visual effect, but after carefully studying the step-by-step recipe, it becomes clear that it is easier to prepare than it seems, although it will take some work.

Required Ingredients

The Charm cake recipe is designed for a large product, but don't worry: it won't stagnate for a long time, as it turns out to be very tasty. The product list looks like this:

• 10 eggs;
• 2 incomplete glasses of sugar;
• 220-240 grams of premium flour;
• 4 tbsp. l. starch;
• 1 tbsp l. cocoa powder;
• 1 tsp vanilla;
• 650 ml cream or sour cream;
• 4–5 tbsp l. powdered sugar for cream;
• 1 bar (100g) dark chocolate;
• 1 tbsp l. without a slide of gelatin;
• 150ml juice (preferably orange);
• canned peaches or apricots, pineapples, bananas, kiwis - any tender fruit you have at home;
• for syrup: 2 tbsp. l. rum or cognac, 130 grams of sugar and 130 ml of water.

Fruits can be taken fresh if they are bananas or kiwi, and the rest is better to use canned ones, especially pineapples, because the juice of a fresh fruit will not allow the top layer of jelly to harden, and the cake will simply “leak”. It is not necessary to use several types of fruit at the same time, just one will do.

Preparation of the biscuit base: step by step

The cake consists of two biscuits of different colors, they are baked alternately on a baking sheet lined with parchment. The first step is to mix all the flour with starch and vanilla, pass the mixture through a sieve once or twice. Divide five eggs into yolks and whites, grind the first part with 0.5 tbsp. Sahara. Beat the second tostable foam, adding 3-4 tbsp. l. granulated sugar in the process. The mass should not spread over the dishes - the quality of the finished biscuit depends on this. Next, following the step-by-step recipe for the Charm cake, mix both whipped masses, adding proteins to the yolks (this is important). Then mix the mixture from bottom to top in one direction.

At the end, add 2/3 cup of starch-flour mixture and knead the dough. Pour it onto a baking sheet with a layer of no more than 1–1.5 cm. Bake the dough in the oven at a temperature of 190 degrees until a light yellow hue, not allowing it to brown too much, because this will interfere with the roll of the biscuit. The baking time is within 15 minutes, so you can start preparing the second part of the cake - chocolate. It is prepared in exactly the same way from 5 eggs, the remaining flour mixture (to which you need to add cocoa) and sugar.

Preparatory phase: where to start?

When the first biscuit for the "Charm" cake is ready, take it out on a clean cloth towel, a little sprinkled with regular sugar and roll it into a roll along with the cloth, trying not to disturb the integrity of the product. No need to try to roll it too tight - the main thing is to have an even shape. Leave to cool in this form, covered with another towel. When the chocolate part is baked, do the same with it.

Completely cooled biscuits for the "Charm" cake, carefully unfold, remove the towel and carefully roll again,cut each into two or three equal pieces (this will determine the height of the cake). Prepare syrup for impregnation by heating water with sugar until dissolved, and when it cools down a bit, pour in rum. Soak gelatin in 120 ml of water and let it swell for half an hour. Grate a bar of chocolate or just chop it with a knife into medium-sized chips.

How to make cream?

The original Charm cake recipe refers to whipping cream with powdered sugar. Also add some vanilla for flavor. To do this, simply mix the ingredients and beat with a mixer until light foam, making sure that the mass does not turn into oil, which comes from long whipping. You should also prepare the fruit by cutting them into thin slices, leaving 1/4 part to decorate the finished cake.

Product assembly features

When all the ingredients are ready to assemble the "Charm" cake, carefully unroll the biscuit rolls, soak in syrup. After 10 minutes, spread each with cream and put fruit slices along the entire length (you can use different fruits for a more unusual taste). Pour chocolate chips over the cocoa rolls over the cream, evenly distributing them over the entire surface.

To give the “Charm” cake the necessary shape, roll the first strip back into a roll, trying to make it as dense as possible. Next, make a coil of the chocolate strip, laying it out evenly along the diameter. Then again a light row and so on, until all the biscuit strips arerun out and the cake will have a formed round shape.

Design of the finished product

It is necessary to ensure that all strips fit snugly together, forming a single fabric of the product. If it turns out that in some places there are unfilled gaps due to a defect in the biscuit, then these fragments must be covered with pieces of fruit in combination with cream. Coat the entire cake (sides and top) with its remnants, put slices of chopped fruit on top, which were left for decoration. Usually confectioners lay out unpretentious patterns from them, because the appearance of the finished dish is no less important. Place in refrigerator for 10-20 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the gelatin in a water bath until completely dissolved (it is better to stir it), add the juice there, mix thoroughly and let the mass cool. When signs of gelling appear, use a silicone brush to apply jelly to the surface of the cake, covering the fruit with it. Return the cake to the refrigerator. When it completely hardens, decorate the sides and edge of the cake with the rest of the cream: use a pastry bag and a curly nozzle to make a beautiful border, small curls on the sides, making the cake as spectacular as possible. Place in a cool place overnight or at least 10 hours. It is better to cut it into portioned pieces immediately before serving, given the peculiarity of its structure.

Despite the lengthy preparation and a little confusing steps, this cake is worth making in conjunction with some significant date.