Cake "Gift" according to GOST: ingredients, recipe with photo, cooking features

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

For many decades, a simple cake sprinkled with pieces of roasted peanuts has not disappeared from the windows of pastry shops. It has nothing special in design, it consists of an ordinary biscuit and butter-based cream, but for some reason it does not lose its popularity against the backdrop of modern masterpieces of confectionery art. What is the magic of this cake that attracts its fans and admirers?

Cake of all time

The “Gift” cake according to GOST from the USSR has long become one of its symbols: concise, accessible to everyone and at the same time very tasty. Unlike the usual round shape, it was baked square or rectangular, generously sprinkled with roasted peanuts: it is because of these nuts that many "children of the country of the Soviets" associate this cake with childhood.

At the same time, those over 45 say that the current cake is not at all the same in taste, although it has the same appearance. I wonder if the recipe has not changed, why did the taste of the finished product change? Is it really the quality of the raw ingredients that is to blame? The best way to find out isprepare this dessert at home: this article describes in detail and step by step the recipe with a photo of the Gift cake according to GOST. It is easy to prepare this dessert at home, having such detailed instructions, and make sure from personal experience whether it tastes right.

Ingredients

For the preparation of the "Gift" cake according to GOST, ordinary biscuit cakes are used, which are prepared from beaten eggs (cold method). To bake a sponge cake with a side of about twenty-five centimeters, you must use the following products:

• 180 grams each of flour and granulated sugar;
• six eggs;
• 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Before kneading the dough, it is recommended to sift the flour through a sieve at least twice so that it is well enriched with oxygen. The original biscuit does not contain soda or other types of baking powder for dough, so for a lush cake it is necessary to create all favorable conditions: sift the flour and beat the eggs with high quality. If a cake of this size seems too big, then you can reduce the recipe by half or cook according to a smaller scheme:

• four eggs;
• 120 grams of granulated sugar and the same amount of wheat flour.

Dough kneading

At the “Gift” cake according to GOST (see the photo of the cakes below), the dough for the base biscuit is prepared in a cold way, that is, from chilled eggs, which should be divided into proteins and yolks. First, take care of the proteins: at a low speed of the mixer, start beating the proteins until the first foam, then add sugar (half of the entire norm) to the mass by a tablespoon, continuingwhip.

When all the sugar has been added, increase the mixer speed and continue to beat until a stable foam, when the groove drawn through the center of the mass with a spoon will not change its position. Next, in another bowl, mix the rest of the sugar and yolks and beat until the mass turns white, acquiring incredible splendor. At the end, add vanilla to it. Carefully, using only a spoon (never a mixer), combine both masses, mixing the protein mixture into the yolks from the bottom up, and then add the flour, trying to quickly mix the dough so that it does not start to settle.

Baking Tips

Line the bottom of the biscuit mold with parchment, grease the walls with oil and sprinkle generously with flour. Pour the dough into it: it should occupy no more than 1/2 of the total volume, since during baking the biscuit usually rises strongly, increasing in height. If this does not happen, then the technology for preparing the "Gift" cake according to GOST has been violated. If, in violation of tradition, not a square, but a round shape is used, then it is better to use a detachable one - it will be much easier to remove the finished cake without damaging it. A biscuit is baked in the oven at a temperature of 200 degrees for at least forty minutes, while it is important not to open the door earlier than this period, as the tender dough may settle and the cake will be spoiled. After the right time has passed, open the oven door and pierce the biscuit with a wooden stick to the bottom, run your fingers over it. If dry, the cake is ready. Turn off the oven, open after ten minutesdoor, and after another ten - remove the form. Allow the biscuit to cool and then carefully remove the mold.

What is needed for the cream?

To lubricate biscuit cakes, a special cream is used - Charlotte, it is he, in combination with nuts, that creates the unique taste of this cake. The recipe necessarily emphasizes that other types of cream are not used, otherwise it will be a completely different cake and should not be called by this name. In order to prepare Charlotte cream, you need to take:

• 120 ml fresh milk;
• two eggs;
• 230 grams butter (natural);
• 180 grams of granulated sugar;
• 1, 5 tbsp. l. cognac.

How to make Cream Charlotte

Preparing the cream according to the GOST recipe for the Gift cake begins with whipping slightly softened butter: it should not be melted, but just have a soft texture, which is easy to get by leaving the butter at room temperature for an hour or two. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy. In a small saucepan, combine milk, sugar and eggs, lightly beat the mixture with a fork until evenly combined.

Put on a small fire and, stirring, bring to a boil. There is no need to be afraid that the egg white will curdle - there is too much sugar in the mass, which will prevent it from doing so. Boil for about three minutes - the cream will thicken, so you need to constantly stir it so as not to burn. Remove from heat and cool, stirring occasionally, the mixture will thicken when completelycool down. Using the mixer at low speed, add whipped butter (one tablespoon at a time) to the cooled cheese, kneading the cream thoroughly each time. At the very end, add cognac for flavoring. Cream Charlotte is very light, airy and incredibly tasty, despite the oil structure.

Syrup for impregnation

In the standard recipe according to GOST, the “Gift” cake is not only smeared with cream, but also soaked in sugar syrup, because the biscuit itself is quite dry, and butter cream is not able to deeply soak it. The syrup is prepared from the following ingredients:

• 160ml water;
• 130-150 grams of granulated sugar;
• 1, 5 tbsp. l. cognac and rum (if not, double dose of cognac is used).

Mix sugar and water, heat until sugar grains dissolve, remove from heat and add alcohol. Let it cool completely.

How to properly soak a biscuit?

Syrup for soaking biscuit cakes should be cooled to room temperature. After baking, the pre-baked biscuit for the “Gift” cake according to GOST must lie on the grate for at least twelve hours in order to reach the desired condition of taste and crumb, so it is very convenient to bake it in the evening and do the decoration the next day.

First of all, you need to cut the cake lengthwise into two halves. Given that it is very soft and it is very difficult to do this with a knife, confectioners began to use nylon thread for this, and later special electric knives. Each half of the biscuit must be evenly poured with syrup for impregnation, using a regular spoon, and left for half an hour. Then you can start putting the cake together.

How to cut a biscuit with a string?

To begin with, with a sharp knife, mark a cut along the perimeter of the cake, measuring an equal amount from above and below, sticking toothpicks into it for a guide. The thickness of the incision should be about 1-2 centimeters. Wrap the thread around the cake so that it enters the cut evenly on all sides. Cross the ends, pointing them towards you, not to the sides, and begin to tighten a little, without making sudden movements.

It is important to keep the thread line parallel to the top of the biscuit so that the cut goes evenly. When the thread is extremely tightened, direct it to yourself, pull it out and then, using a wide knife or spatula, spread the biscuit base into two finished halves, prying them under the center of the cake. If there is no nylon thread, then nylon or regular fishing line can be used for this purpose.

Shaping and decorating the cake

Divide the pre-prepared Charlotte cream into three equal parts: grease the cakes over the impregnation with two, put them on top of each other, forming the classic look of the “Gift Cake” according to GOST: it should have two cakes smeared with cream. Some unscrupulous chefs sometimes make three or even four cakes, arguing that more will turn out, but this is considered a violation of the correct recipe. From above, press the cake a little so that the cream appears slightly along the seam, then with the restsmear the cream on the top and sides of the product, leveling with a knife until smooth. It should be noted separately that the traditional cake "Gift" according to GOST does not have the following details in its design:

• cream roses, leaves, swirls and other cream decorations;
• caramel or sugar balls, marzipan animal figurines, etc., and chocolate tendrils;
• chocolate icing. Cocoa is not in the standard recipe at all. If chocolate is mentioned in the preparation of a biscuit or cream, this is not a recipe according to GOST, but a free improvisation on the theme of the "Enchantress" cake.

In the photo, “Gift Cake” looks completely unobtrusive: its top and sides are sprinkled with halves of roasted peanuts (230 grams), sometimes it is crushed a little, placed in a simple paper bag, which you need to walk with a rolling pin several times. When the nuts completely cover the cake from the outside, additionally sprinkle it with powdered sugar (2-3 tablespoons). Nothing else should be used if you want to follow GOST. The finished product should brew a little, so you need to leave it in a cool place for three to four hours.

GOST authorities

Many novice cooks and inexperienced young mothers are frightened by this incomprehensible abbreviation, not knowing exactly what is hidden behind it, so recipes labeled “according to GOST” are immediately eliminated and are never used in the process of compiling the menu. In fact, GOST is abbreviated as “state standard”, product quality control and nothing more. It's not at alldoes not mean that such recipes are difficult to prepare or have hard-to-find ingredients. On the contrary, they tried to compose them in such a way that cooking according to such recipes was accessible to a wide mass of people.

This is repeatedly mentioned by an authoritative specialist in such recipes, a culinary blogger with the nickname Chadeika, in the world - Irina Chadeeva. According to Chadeika, the recipe for a gift cake according to GOST is elementary, so it’s stupid to refuse such a yummy just because of a far-fetched fear of a complex recipe.