Xamk cake (serves 25)
Sponge:
- 7 eggs
- sugar, 70% of the weight of eggs (about 2,5 dl)
- wheat flour, 70% of the weight of eggs (about 4,5 dl)
- 1 tsp baking powder
Grease a cake tin and dust it with breadcrumbs (the size of the tin determines how high the cake will be). Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together into a good foam (at least 15 mins). Mix together the baking powder and flour. Sift the flour and fold it gently into the egg foam. Bake at 175 degrees, low in the oven, for 35-40 mins (note oven-specific differences).
Leave the sponge to cool and cut it into three layers.
Filling (for two layers):
- 5 dl whipping cream
- ½ dl sugar
- 300 g vanilla quark
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 400 g (or more) strawberries
Measure the cream and sugar into a bowl. Whip into a foam. Mix in the vanilla quark and finally, the vanilla paste. Chop the strawberries into small pieces and place them in a separate bowl so you can scatter them on the layers when filling the cake.
Filling the cake (previous day):
Place the bottom layer on a serving plate or cake board. Moisten with milk (you can also flavour the milk with vanilla sugar). Spread half of the filling onto the cake layer, and scatter half of the strawberries on it. Place the next layer on top of the first one, moisten it, and spread the rest of the filling and strawberries. Finally, add the top layer and moisten it. Cover the cake with a cake cover or kitchen film and ice it the next day.
Icing:
- 250 g butter (room temperature)
- 500 g powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or vanilla sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- (yellow food colouring)
Whisk the room-temperature butter and powdered sugar into a fluffy foam. Keep whisking until the mixture is white. Add cold water and continue whisking for a while. This will make the butter icing smoother and easier to spread. Colour the icing with food colouring.
Place the cake on a table and remove the film. Trim the edges with a knife. The icing will adhere better to a completely cold cake, so you can keep the cake in the freezer for 30 minutes before icing it. Spread a thin layer of icing onto the cake and let it stand in the cold for a while. Apply a thicker layer of icing on top and smoothen the surface. If you don’t have a palette knife, you can also spread the icing with the utensils you have available at home. Let the cake stand in the cold for a while and prepare the marshmallow drip (while doing this, you can also keep the cake in the freezer to make sure it’s cold).
Tip: If the butter icing is too thick and difficult to spread, you can soften it by carefully warming it in the microwave oven at a low heat.
Marshmallow drip:
- 1½ dl whipping cream
- 120 g white marshmallows
- (black food coloring)
Pour the cream and marshmallows into a saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring gently, until the marshmallows have melted. Note cooker-specific differences and be careful so that the mixture doesn’t get burned. Finally, add food coloring to the marshmallow mixture. Let the mixture cool for a while. After this, it’s ready to be put on the edges of the cake. You can re-heat the mixture if it has got too cold. By adding cream and warming it up, you can also reduce thickness of the mixture.
With a spoon, drip the mixture down the edges of the cake. You can also use a syringe for this, if you have one at home.
Tip: Stirring creates bubbles in the mixture, but these will disappear when you let it settle for a while.
If you wish, you can also add nonpareils on top of the drip, or decorate the cake with other items, such as a Xamk logo made of sugar paste.
The cake is now ready – enjoy!