3 Simple and Delicious Cakes for Every Occasion

1. Nougat Cake

You are going to need:

• 150g peeled and roasted hazelnuts
• 100g crystal sugar
• 70g butter
• 150g dark chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 0.5 dl sweet cream
• a little bit of salt
• 60g of ground cookies

Put 120g of hazelnuts, 10g of sugar, the cookies and 100g of chopped chocolate in a blender and mix until all the ingredients are minced. Blend the softened butter with the rest of the sugar until you get a foamy mass and then add the eggs. Stir with wooden spoon to combine the ingredients.

Add the blended mass to the butter and eggs cream, put a little bit of salt and pour into the 7’’ cake mold with removable edges, coated with baking paper. Bake for about an hour in preheated oven at 160 C.

Now, prepare a chocolate cream. Pour the sweet cream into the sauce pan, add the rest of the chocolate and melt it at a very low temperature. Wait for it to cool down and place it into the fridge for 15-20 minutes. After taking it out off the fridge, use hand mixer and mix until you get an airy, bright cream. Spread the cake with it. Decorate the cake with the rest of the hazelnuts. Note: If your cake mold is larger then the one in the recipe, increase the amount of the ingredients accordingly.

2. Cherry Chocolate Cake

For this taste of heaven you’ll need:

• 10 tbsp flour
• 150g dark chocolate
• 125g butter
• 3 eggs
• 125 g powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp milk
• 4 tbsp cherry marmalade
• salt

Chop the chocolate and blend it. Put the milk into a sauce pan, add the chocolate and melt it at low temperature (or steam cook it). Don’t stir until the chocolate is softened. Add previously chopped, softened butter and stir. Remove from fire and leave it to cool.
Separate the yolks from the whites and blend them with powdered sugar until you get a foamy and bright mixture. Add it to melted chocolate and stir.

When stirred, add sifted flour. Beat the whites with a little bit of salt until firm and then add them to the chocolate cream. Stir gently. Pour the mixture into the cake mold with removable edges (diameter 20 cm) coated with moistened baking paper. Bake for about 50 minutes at 150 C. When cold, take it out of the mold and serve with cherry marmalade. The cake should be soft in the middle.

3. The Diplomat Cake

This is a different version of The Diplomat cake, easy to prepare but still unbelievably tasty. It will only take you about an hour to make and you’ll need:

• 2 x 250g defrosted puff pastry from a supermarket
• 1 disk of pre-made cake from a supermarket (approximately 10’’)
• a little bit of powdered sugar
• 100g crystal sugar
• 4 yolks
• 30g flour
• 4dl milk
• 2,5dl sweet cream (very cold)
• 100g, peeled, roasted almonds
• 2-3 dry cookies (any industrial cooky will do)
• amaretto liqueur

Stretch the puff pastry into 2 disks of approximately 10’’ in diameter each. Put the baking paper onto the baking pan and then place the puff pastry over it. Sprinkle with 20g of powdered sugar and prick it with a fork. Bake the pastry one by one in the oven heated at 200 C for 20-25 minutes.

The cream: Put the yolks into a bowl with sugar and mix with a hand mixer till you get a bright cream. Add the flour and pour everything into a sauce pan. Before you start cooking the yolk cream on a very low temperature, add warm milk. While cooking, don’t stop stirring the cream. When the cream is thickened like a pudding, remove it from fire. Pour it into another bowl and leave it to cool. Pour 2,5dl of cold sweet cream, mix it with a hand mixer and then add it to the cold yolk cream. Stir it with a spatula until even.

Place one baked puff pastry and spread it with 1/3 of the cream. Place the pre-made cake over it, spray it with a little bit of Amaretto liqueur and coat it with the second third of the cream and place the second baked puff pastry over it. Ground the almonds and mix them with grounded cookies. Spread the rest of the cream over the edges of the cake using a heavy knife, lift and ‘glue’ the almonds and cookies mixture over the edges. For a finishing touch spray a thin layer of powdered sugar over the top.

You can serve these tree cakes for every occasion with coffee, brandy, white or red wine. They will turn an ordinary lunch into a special one.