Today it’s hard to say who first cooked the tortoise cake. This dessert was especially popular in the 80-90s of the last century.
Due to the extraordinary simplicity of preparation, as well as an unusual form, not a single children's holiday was complete without the “Turtle” cake.
Tortoise Cake A Step-by-Step Recipe - Basic Cooking Principles
Cake "Turtle" is made from biscuit cakes, smeared with sour cream and laid in the shape of a shell.
For the preparation of the cake using only the freshest and natural products. Flour should be only the highest grade. It is better to take home eggs, with them the dough will turn out to be more magnificent. Sour cream for the cream should be as fat as possible, not less than 20%. If you could not find the sour cream of the desired fat content, you can correct the situation with the help of butter. It is added to sour cream and whipped. So the cream will turn out lush and thick.
To make the right biscuit dough, you need to have certain skills and know some nuances. For this we need flour, eggs and sugar. Eggs must be cooled. Proteins are carefully separated from proteins. Here it is worth noting that if you get into the whites, even a drop of yolk, you will not be able to whip them until you need consistency, which means that the dough will not work. Proteins are whipped with a whisk or mixer in a dense foam. You can beat the eggs in a lush foam, not dividing them into proteins and proteins. Then add sugar and continue to beat until it dissolves. Now enter the yolks one by one. When the mass becomes homogeneous, reduce the speed of the mixer and add sifted flour. The main secret of the correct biscuit: beat the dough only in one direction.
Sour cream is prepared by whipping sour cream with sugar. This is a simple cream recipe. But you can diversify it by adding condensed milk, berry puree, etc.
For the “Turtle” cake, the step-by-step recipe is baked not by traditional cakes, but by small biscuit cakes, which are placed in the shell of a carapace, smearing each layer with cream. The cake will soak faster if you dip each cake in sour cream and leave for a couple of minutes. Paws and neck are made from shortcakes, which are baked in oval shape. For the head leave a round cake. The surface of the cake “Turtle” step-by-step recipe is decorated at its discretion with chocolate icing, berries, etc. With the help of chocolate icing or special pastry pencils draw a muzzle and legs.
Recipe 1. Cake “Turtle” step-by-step recipe
Ingredients for Turtle Cake step-by-step recipe
Dough
two tablespoons of cocoa powder;
six chicken eggs;
one and a half teaspoons of slaked baking soda;
white sugar - one and a half glasses;
flour - two glasses.
Cream cream
white sugar - one and a half glasses;
fresh strawberries - 300 g;
condensed milk - 200 g
Chocolate icing
milk - half a glass;
dark chocolate - 100 g;
butter - 50 g
Method of preparation
1. Before you start cooking the dough, turn on the oven at 200 degrees and remove the butter from the refrigerator. It should be soft.
2. Into the mixer capacity, beat six eggs and beat them until a fluffy foam is obtained. Continue whipping process, enter a thin stream of sugar. Continue to beat until the crystals disperse completely in the egg mixture. Instead of sugar, you can use powdered sugar. You can buy it in the store, or make it yourself, grinding the sugar through a coffee grinder. The sugar powder dissolves much faster in the eggs, and the dough will be tender and homogeneous.
3. Sift the flour twice through a sieve and combine with cocoa. Stir. Cocoa powder use only high quality. Flour must be of the highest grade. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the flour and cocoa mixture in small portions. Make sure that there are no lumps left.
4. Now add the slaked baking soda. You can repay it with vinegar or lemon juice. Stir once more. It should turn out rather thick dough, the consistency of rustic cream. Beat the dough only in one direction, in which case it will turn out to be airy. This is the main secret of a successful biscuit.
5. Cover the baking sheet with parchment or foil and brush with butter. This is to ensure that the biscuit cakes were easily removed. Put the dough on the parchment in the form of small lozenges with a teaspoon, leaving a small distance between them, as the dough rises in the process of baking. Six lozenges make an oval shape. They will be needed to form the neck and legs of a turtle. Instead of parchment or foil, you can use a special silicone mat. It is not necessary to oil it.
6. Place the baking tray in the oven and bake the bread until it is brown. During cooking, and for ten minutes at the end of baking, do not open the oven door so that the fudge will not sit down. Continue to bake cakes until you use all the biscuit dough. Put the finished shortbread in a plate, put the oval cakes in a separate bowl. 7. While baked shortbread, make cooking cream. Pick strawberries, remove rotten, tear off the tails. Place them in a colander and rinse under running water. Put on paper towel and dry. Place two thirds of the berries in a deep plate and crush to a mash with potato mash. You can mash the strawberries by placing them in a blender bowl and killing them until smooth. Chop the remaining strawberries. In the capacity of the mixer, place the sour cream, add condensed milk and whisk, constantly increasing the speed until the formation of a thick fluffy mass. If you could not find the sour cream of the desired fat content, add a little butter to the cream to make it thick. Add strawberry puree and berry pieces to creamy condensed cream. Beat a few minutes at low speed. The cream will acquire a delicate pink color and a pleasant strawberry flavor.
8. Pour half a glass of milk into a small saucepan and put it on a small fire. Milk is better to take home. Break a bar of dark chocolate into pieces and place in hot milk. Stir the mixture continuously until the chocolate has melted completely. Make sure that the icing does not stick to the walls and bottom. Remove the saucepan from the stove. Add butter to the chocolate mixture and continue to whisk until a homogeneous consistency is obtained. Leave to cool. Stir occasionally to prevent film formation from above.
9. To form a cake in two ways. Put one round flat cake to the side. Of them subsequently make the head of a turtle. In the first place on a platter a layer of cakes in the form of a circle and pour them with cream. Then form a second layer of cakes, only making it smaller than the first. Spread cakes, reducing the circumference of each layer, thus forming the tortoise shell. This method is suitable if you have time to soak. If you do not have time, the second method will suit you: dip the biscuit shortcakes in the cream and leave to soak for a while, then carefully remove them and lay them in layers, spreading them with each cream. On the sides, insert the oblong coat. It will be paws, neck and tail. To the neck, attach with a cream round cake. It will be a head. Lubricate the surface of the shell with cream and send the cake blank in the fridge to soak. 10. Then remove the cake and pour chocolate icing over the carapace. Over it you can put a drawing with sour cream. Paws and face draw with chocolate icing. Now you can buy special pastry pencils, with which you can apply absolutely any drawing. For drawing a picture on the face and legs, the glaze can be placed in a pastry syringe with a thin nozzle. Or put in a plastic bag, cut off the tip of which so that the icing comes out in thin strips. Put the finished cake in the cold for a couple of hours.
11. Serve the “Turtle” cake with a step-by-step recipe on the table as a whole, so that guests can appreciate the unusual appearance of the dessert. It is better to apply not too sweet soft drinks, tea, milk or coffee to the cake.
Tortoise Cake A Step-by-Step Recipe - Tips and Tricks
- If you place the cream in a cream for a couple of minutes before laying the cake, the cake will soak more quickly.
- Spread between slices of nuts, almonds or dried fruit between the layers of shortbread, so the cake will turn out even tastier.
- Tortoise Cake A step-by-step recipe can be made without baking. To do this, use the finished biscuit cookies.
- The icing for the cake can be prepared not only from black, but also from white chocolate.
- For cream, use sour cream with at least 25% fat.
