Russian chocolate cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 3 eggs
• 200 g sugar
• 200 g crème fraîche
• 265 g condensed milk, sweetened, Russian
• 200 g flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 400 g butter
• 265 g condensed milk, sweetened, Russian
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 250 g sugar
• 125 ml water
• n. B. Dark chocolate, very finely grated

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/convection oven. For the batter, beat the eggs and sugar until creamy, then add the crème fraîche and sweetened condensed milk and mix. In a second bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder and gradually sift into the wet ingredients. Stir only until the mixture is creamy—no longer. Divide the batter into three portions and pour one portion into each 28 cm baking pan. 28 cm also works, but the batter will be slightly thicker and the baking time may need a few minutes longer. Place the pan in the oven for about 10 minutes. I do the skewer test after just 7-8 minutes, as the batter only needs to bake long enough so that nothing sticks. If it’s left in too long, it will become dry. Remove the base from the oven, let it cool briefly in the pan, then turn out onto baking paper and let it cool completely. Bake the other two bases in the same way. In the meantime, prepare the cream. Melt the butter until it is soft but not runny. I microwave it for 30-45 seconds, but you can also let it sit at room temperature for a few hours. Add the sweetened condensed milk and cocoa and beat until creamy. Refrigerate the cream until ready to use. For the syrup, boil the sugar and water for about 5 minutes until the syrup thickens slightly, stirring occasionally. Then let the syrup cool until lukewarm, stirring occasionally, otherwise a sugar crust will form on the surface. Stir the sugar syrup into the cream and beat until creamy. Spread the cream on the bottom layer, then place the second layer on top and spread more cream on top. Place the last layer on top and cover the entire cake with the remaining cream. Finally, sprinkle very (!) finely grated dark chocolate on top of the cake as a decoration. With a little skill, you can cover the entire cake with it. The cake can be served immediately, but it tastes much better after a day in the fridge, as the cream will then have a chance to fully infuse and the layers will be a bit moister. The original recipe calls for a lot more sugar, but it’s actually quite unpleasantly sweet. I reduced the amount of sugar, but the cake is still very sweet. If you like it even more chocolatey, you can simply add a little more cocoa.