Prajitura Tosca

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 8 egg whites
• 1 pinch of salt
• 200 g sugar
• 100 g coconut flakes
• 100 g poppy seeds
• 40 g flour
• 8 egg yolks
• 200 g sugar
• 600 ml milk
• 200 g butter
• 1 pinch of salt
• 100 g cream
• 75 g cornstarch or 2 packets of vanilla pudding powder
• 3 tsp vanilla paste (not needed if using pudding powder)
• 50 g sugar
• 250 ml strong coffee or 100 ml espresso
• 100 ml cream
• 100 g milk chocolate
• 100 g dark chocolate
• 150 g butter biscuits, approx.

Instructions

Working time approx. 2 hours; Rest time approx. 6 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 8 hours 25 minutes

Romanian poppy seed and coconut cake with buttercream

Note: Cornstarch and vanilla paste can be replaced with 2 packets of vanilla pudding powder. First, separate 8 eggs. For the buttercream, beat 8 egg yolks together with the sugar until frothy. Then add either the vanilla paste and cornstarch or the vanilla pudding powder and mix well. Gradually add the milk and mix well again. Heat the mixture, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil. Then remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Place plastic wrap directly on the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. It’s best to place the butter next to it now so that both are the same temperature later (important, otherwise the cream may curdle later). Preheat oven to 180°C (top/bottom heat). For the batter, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt in a clean, grease-free bowl until frothy. Slowly add the sugar while stirring and continue beating until the mixture is stiff. Mix the coconut flakes, poppy seeds, and flour together and fold into the stiff egg white mixture. Pour the batter into a baking pan (approx. 25 cm x 35 cm or similar). Bake in a hot oven for approx. 20-25 minutes. The batter should only brown slightly. We recommend using the toothpick test: pierce the center of the batter with a toothpick or similar tool. If no batter sticks to the skewer when you pull it out, the base can be removed from the oven. Let the batter cool in the pan. To make the syrup, melt the sugar in a saucepan. When the melted sugar is brown (be careful not to burn it), deglaze with the espresso or strong coffee (careful: it can easily boil over!). Continue to simmer while stirring until the sugar has dissolved in the liquid and the mixture has reached a slightly thickened consistency. Let the syrup cool. Once the prepared pudding and the butter are roughly the same temperature, cream the butter with a pinch of salt until fluffy. Then add the pudding a tablespoon at a time, mixing each spoonful well. Then whip the 100g of cream and fold it into the cream. Note: I actually only do this because there are usually 200g of cream in a tub of cream and these 100g would otherwise be left over. You can also skip this step. Now spread the finished buttercream evenly on the base. Then dip the butter cookies in the syrup, arrange a single layer on the cream and press down lightly so that they do not stick out. For the ganache, roughly chop the chocolate. Bring the cream to the boil and remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and mix until you have a smooth chocolate mixture. Now spread this evenly on the cake (you have to work quickly here, as the mixture sets quite quickly).