Chameleon cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 3 eggs, (M)
• 70 g sugar, preferably brown
• 80 g flour, possibly cocoa powder
• 20 g cornstarch (e.g. Mondamin)
• ½ pack of baking powder (cream of tartar)
• 1 tsp vanilla powder or pulp 1 vanilla pod
• 300 g fruits of your choice, fresh (except kiwi, papaya or pineapple), frozen or canned
• Lemon juice for drizzling over fresh fruit (they turn brown)
• 4 m.-sized eggs, separated
• 100 g sugar, preferably brown (a little more if honey)
• 250 ml low-fat milk
• 1 lemon(s) or orange, juice and zest
• 18 sheets of gelatin, or 3 packets of ground gelatin or instant gelatin
• 1 kg quark (low-fat quark)
• 200 ml cream, whipped (optional)
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder, if desired
• 300 g puree (fruit puree), sweetened, or reduced-sugar jam/marmalade/jelly
• 120 g honey, or 100 g sugar, approx.
• 1 vanilla pod(s), pulp
• possibly food coloring
• 200 g puree (fruit puree), sweetened, or sugar-reduced jam/marmalade/jelly (sugar-reduced 3:1 ratio
• 100 g honey, or 100 g sugar (less or more to taste)
• 1 vanilla pod(s), pulp
• possibly food coloring
• Fruits, fresh
• Chocolate shavings
• mint

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest time approx. 4 hours; Total time approx. 4 hours 45 minutes

lean zebra cake without cream in various colors and flavors

Place the low-fat quark in a sieve to drain and collect the whey. Make the sponge cake: Beat the eggs and sugar until frothy, then fold in the flour and baking powder until well combined. Bake in a 26 cm springform pan or cake ring on baking paper at 180°C until light golden (8-10 minutes). Allow to cool. If desired, add a little cocoa powder for a dark base. Wash and trim fresh fruit, cut it into bite-sized pieces, and drizzle with lemon juice if it tends to brown (e.g., bananas, peaches, apricots). Drain canned fruit thoroughly. Frozen fruit can be used without thawing. Soak the leaf gelatine in water. Soak the ground gelatine in the collected quark whey. Quark cream: Mix the milk, sugar, and orange or lemon juice, bring to a boil, and remove from the heat. Stir in the beaten egg yolks with a hand whisk or whisk, return the pan to the lowest heat, and heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and dissolve the squeezed-out leaf gelatine, or swollen ground gelatine, in the hot, but no longer boiling, mixture. For a two-tone quark mixture: Place the quark cream in two bowls. Stir about 100g of honey or 70g of sugar (to taste) and the seeds of a vanilla pod into one half of the still-warm mixture. Stir the fruit puree or jam into the other half (warm slightly if very solid). For a three-tone quark mixture: Place the quark cream in three bowls. Stir about 70g of honey or 40g of sugar (to taste) and the seeds of a vanilla pod into one third of the still-warm mixture. Stir the respective fruit puree or jam into the other two bowls (warm slightly if very solid). If necessary, add a suitable food coloring to enhance the color. Alternatively, one-third can be colored brown with 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (plus honey or sugar). It’s even more delicious with about 70g of warmed nougat or chocolate, or ready-made chocolate sauce. A dash of rum or some instant coffee powder also works well. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then beat them over a boiling water bath for 2-3 minutes: the stiff peaks will become more stable and the egg whites will no longer be raw. With fresh eggs, this precaution is actually unnecessary. If desired, whip the cream until stiff. First, divide the egg whites into 2 or 3 portions, then carefully fold them into the fruit, chocolate, or vanilla quark mixture. Place the sponge cake on a cake plate with a cake ring or springform pan rim. Spread the fruit (frozen fruit, if necessary, unthawed, lightly dusted with sugar) on the sponge cake. Alternately, using a medium-sized ladle, place the 2 or 3 creams onto the cake, one ladle at a time, either side by side or always in the center. The mixture will then naturally run to the edges. If desired, draw circles with a wooden skewer to create a marbled effect. Chill; it takes a good 3-4 hours to set. To loosen the ring, first run a flat spatula or knife along the edge all the way down. Suggestions for combination: Serve the fruit with the appropriate jam/fruit puree; brown stands for chocolate quark, white for vanilla quark: Chocolate base – raspberries or strawberries – three-tone brown – white – pink-red. Chocolate base – bananas or apricots – three-tone brown – white – yellow-orange. Light base – blackberries or blueberries – two-tone white – purple/blue. Light base – quince – two-tone white – yellow. Decorate with star anise or star fruit, if desired. Chocolate-cinnamon base (2-3 tsp cinnamon instead of vanilla) – plums – bicolored – white – green-purple (depending on variety). Chocolate-cinnamon base (2-3 tsp cinnamon instead of vanilla) – pears – bicolored – white – brown. A good dash of Williams pear in the puree is a must here. Tiger or Giraffe Cake: Chocolate base – peaches, mirabelle plums, or apricots – bicolored brown – yellow, layered in blobs. Camouflage Chameleon or Camouflage Cake: Chocolate base – kiwi (blanched) | gooseberry | rhubarb – tricolored brown – white-yellow – green. Peppermint – Twist: Light base with 60-80g chopped peppermint chocolate (bars) – pineapple or mango – two-tone white – turquoise green (turquoise green: quark with 70-80ml peppermint syrup or liqueur or Blue Curaçao and 3 tbsp lemon juice) Tips: If you don’t want to use gelatin or are not allowed to use it, use agar-agar (“Agartine” in larger supermarkets) or locust bean gum (e.g. Biobin from a health food store). If quark cream is made with red fruits, you can also use red (leaf) gelatin for this part of the cream. ***Kiwi and pineapple contain protein-splitting enzymes (kiwi: actinidin; pineapple: bromelain, invertase; papaya: papain). They do not mix well with dairy products – they quickly become bitter and sour if used raw, because the enzymes break down the milk protein (which otherwise only happens in the stomach). Brief blanching or steaming prevents this reaction.