Soviet luxury - an elite "Prague" cake. Everything in it just breathes the holiday: chocolate biscuit, chocolate cream and thick chocolate fudge. The refined taste of dessert in the conditions of global scarcity seemed to be the pinnacle of pleasure, and with the current abundance, Prague is still a favorite treat.

The story of everyone's favorite dessert

The creator of the recipe for the goodies everyone knows today is Vladimir Mikhailovich Guralnik, the chief confectioner of the Prague restaurant. It is believed that Vladimir Mikhailovich adapted one of the European cakes for mass production.

The progenitor of the Soviet version is often called the Austrian dessert Sacher. His authentic recipe has been kept secret for more than two centuries, it is known that for one glaze only three varieties of chocolate are used, which are specially made for him in Belgium. The cake does not have a cream layer, the cakes are covered with apricot confiture. There are many variations of this recipe, both in Austria and throughout Europe. “Prague” is distinguished by an original oil cream, which is the author’s find of Guralnik.

Another possible source of inspiration is the Prague cake, the technology of which Czech colleagues shared with Soviet confectioners as part of an exchange of experience. Rum-soaked sponge cake with four flavors of cream made with Benedictine, Chartreuse and cognac liqueur is just as little like the familiar Prague man. Currently, the recipe for this mythical cake in the Czech Republic is unknown.

The Soviet "Prague", in turn, gave rise to many similarities.

It is authentically known that almost fifty years ago, the Guralnik recipe was sent out across the state through the Trust of restaurants and canteens, which oversaw the entire catering. Initially, the cake was prepared according to the standard approved by GOST. In any corner of the country you could try the real "Prague".

The recipe was not strictly classified, but was not widely published. Those who wanted to make a cake at home had to copy the recipe at random.

During the perestroika period, in many catering establishments, they began to consciously depart from the approved recipe, in attempts to reduce the cost of dishes. Such experiments did not always end successfully, which is why "Prague", prepared according to the original recipe, is so appreciated.

How to cook in accordance with GOST

For butter biscuit:

  • 100 g of flour;
  • six eggs;
  • 150 g of sugar;
  • 40 g butter;
  • 30 - 40 g of cocoa.

So that the oil does not deprive the cake of splendor, the whites are whipped separately. The structure of the biscuit is completely dependent on the quality of the protein foam.

The oven is preheated in advance to 200 ºС. With a mixer, the dough is cooked in a few minutes. It is advisable to use it immediately so that the foam does not settle.

  1. Beat the squirrels.
  2. Add sugar and beat again until a lush relief cream is obtained.
  3. Grind the yolks with sugar.
  4. Transfer protein cream to them. You need to make it in parts and mix the masses very carefully. You can not use a mixer for this.
  5. Sift flour and cocoa and mix in the dough in parts, very carefully.
  6. Pour the melted butter. It should not be hot.
  7. To make the biscuit rise well, the sides of the mold are not smeared. The bottom should be greased with oil and sprinkled with flour or covered with parchment.
  8. Bake for half an hour without opening the door. The biscuit does not tolerate temperature changes.
  9. Turn the hot sponge cake onto the wire rack and cool.
  10. From 6 to 8 hours, the cake should ripen at room temperature. At this time, it is wrapped in film so as not to dry out.

Special cream for the "Prague" cake, with condensed milk and cocoa, is also prepared according to GOST.

Ingredients:

  • 40 g of cocoa powder;
  • 30 ml of water;
  • two yolks;
  • 200 g of condensed milk;
  • 200 g butter;
  • vanilla extract.

Prepare two containers for a water bath so as not to overheat the egg mixture.

  1. Stir the yolks in the water.
  2. Pour in condensed milk and vanilla extract.
  3. Heat the composition in a water bath until it thickens.
  4. Beat warm butter.
  5. Pour in a slightly cooled mixture and beat again.
  6. Crush cocoa through a sieve into a cream.
  7. Beat thoroughly again.

Cake assembly:

  1. The biscuit is divided into three cakes. You can very carefully cut it with a thread or fishing line. Make two cuts around the circumference, outlining the thickness of the cakes. Insert into one thread. Cross the ends and slowly pull in different directions. Repeat with a second notch.
  2. Cakes layered with chocolate cream with condensed milk. With the rest of the cream, align the sides.
  3. Prime the top cake under the glaze with warmed apricot jam.

To cover the cake, chocolate fudge is prepared. It is softer than glaze and does not completely harden.

Ingredients:

  • 300 g cocoa powder;
  • 100 g of sugar;
  • 800 ml of milk;
  • 60 g of oil.

A lot of sweets are cooked, as some of it drains from the cake during decoration.

  1. All components are boiled in a water bath for 10 minutes. It turns out a dense homogeneous glossy mass.
  2. To preserve the gloss, cold oil is added to the finished fondant. It must be stirred until completely dissolved. As a result, the fudge cools down a bit.
  3. Decorate the cake on a wire rack to drain excess, and transfer to a dish.

With condensed milk cream

Many Soviet housewives, trying to repeat the recipe for Guralnik, simplified it. The taste of the dessert changed slightly, but still remained richly chocolate.

One option is chocolate air biscuit and cream with boiled condensed milk.

For shortcakes:

  • five eggs;
  • 100 g of flour;
  • 60 g of cocoa;
  • 200 g of sugar.

So that the biscuit is not dry, it is impregnated with very sweet tea or just sugar syrup.

  1. Beat whites and yolks separately, with sugar.
  2. Stir in the yolks first protein foam, then flour.
  3. Bake at 180 ºС for about half an hour.

For cream, beat butter and boiled condensed milk in equal proportions.

Coat the cake with chocolate: dark chocolate and butter 1: 1.

Classic recipe in the oven

This is the most common recipe for home cooking. This was in the notebook of almost every Soviet mistress.

Ingredients for Biscuit:

  • three eggs;
  • 200 g of sugar;
  • 200 g of condensed milk;
  • 200 ml of fat sour cream;
  • 200 g of flour;
  • 80 g of cocoa powder;
  • 10 g of baking powder.

The biscuit turns out wetter than in the recipe of Vladimir Guralnik, in addition, the cakes are soaked in cognac syrup, for greater juiciness and aroma.

  1. Beat eggs with sugar.
  2. Pour in sour cream and condensed milk, continuously working with a mixer. Of course, before everything was beaten by hand, with a whisk, and the ingredients were poured in parts.
  3. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder into the cake.
  4. Lubricate the bottom of the mold, pour out the dough.
  5. In an oven preheated to 180 ºС, bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
  6. For cream, mix soft butter and condensed milk 2: 1, add cocoa and vanilla extract to taste.
  7. Soak cakes with syrup: cognac and sugar 1: 1. Cook the syrup for 15–20 minutes. In the cake for children, cognac can be replaced with cherry juice or water.
  8. Coat the cakes with cream, and the top with apricot jam.
  9. Cover the cake with fudge or glaze.

From chiffon biscuit

Modern experiments and departures from GOST sometimes give amazing results. For example, replacing an ordinary biscuit with an American chiffon sponge significantly enriches the traditional dessert flavor.

Harry Becker's know-how - vegetable oil in a biscuit - makes baking softer and wetter.

Ingredients:

  • 180 ml of water;
  • seven eggs;
  • 230 g of flour;
  • 250 g of sugar;
  • 130 ml of vegetable oil;
  • 10 g baking powder;
  • 5 g of soda;
  • 5 g of salt;
  • 60 g of cocoa;
  • 30 g of instant coffee;
  • vanilla extract.

Excess vegetable oil will not allow the biscuit to rise. The dosage must be strictly observed.

  1. Coffee and cocoa diluted in boiling water.
  2. Beat proteins and 100 g of sugar in a strong white foam.
  3. Grind the yolks with the rest of the sugar.
  4. Add oil and all dry ingredients to them.
  5. Pour in the cooled mixture of coffee and cocoa.
  6. In a spoon, add protein cream, with slow movements from the bottom up.
  7. Do not grease the form, just cover the bottom with parchment.
  8. Bake at 100 ºС for 45 - 50 minutes.

Prague cake with three types of cream

The original idea of ​​the culinary blogger Olga Matvey is to cover the cakes with three types of cream. Cream creams are distinguished by subtle shades of taste and color. Dark chocolate, coffee and cream layers look spectacular on the cut.

Cream first:

  • 120 g of oil;
  • one yolk;
  • 10 g of cocoa powder;
  • 150 g of powdered sugar;
  • 20 ml of milk.

This cream is the most saturated in color and taste. Therefore, cocoa is not to be spared in it, and it is advisable to add a little vanilla or rum essence.

  1. Beat softened butter until increased in volume.
  2. Introduce the yolk into it.
  3. Beat everything thoroughly at each stage.
  4. Pour milk into a ready-made cream, without turning off the mixer. Milk should be very cold, it will help the cream “grab”.

Second cream:

  • 150 g of oil;
  • 100 g of condensed milk.

Add cocoa at the tip of the knife so that the color differs significantly from the first cream. Vanilla essence in this cream will also not be superfluous.

  1. Beat softened butter, as in the first cream.
  2. Add condensed milk and cocoa in parts without stopping the mixer.

Cream third:

  • 150 g of oil;
  • 40 g of boiled condensed milk;
  • 100 g of powdered sugar.

The color of this cream is determined by condensed milk, so you need to cook it for at least 2.5 hours or buy a finished one.

  1. Beat soft butter thoroughly.
  2. Lay condensed milk a little to get a more delicate shade than in the second cream.
  3. Try the finished composition. Add sugar powder only if the taste is not sweet enough.

Vanilla is not added to this cream, boiled condensed milk will give it a delicate caramel flavor.

Prague cake by Olga Matvey

The personal recipe of a popular blogger is very different from GOST.In addition to three types of cream, Olga Matvey offers two rum impregnations for cakes and additionally aromatizes cakes for baking. It is not much more difficult to make a Prague cake according to this recipe than according to GOST.

In the biscuit:

  • six eggs;
  • 150 g of sugar;
  • 120 g of flour;
  • 25 g of cocoa;
  • 40 g butter;
  • 10 g of baking powder;
  • vanilla extract.

The ingredients are whipped in the same way as in the recipe according to GOST.

An important addition to the technology is a small amount of baking powder, as well as triply sifted flour and cocoa.

Using this technique in production is too troublesome, but at home this is an additional guarantee of a successful, high biscuit.

  1. Before assembling the cake, two cakes are impregnated with rum, and two - with rum and sugar syrup 1: 1.
  2. Dark chocolate cream is applied to the lower cake, then - coffee-colored cream, and, finally, the lightest.
  3. The top of the cake is covered with apricot jam and chocolate fondant.

Cooking in a slow cooker

Modern kitchen devices make it easy to work with moody biscuit dough. The biscuit for the "Prague" cake in the slow cooker rises perfectly. The ideal microclimate created in a sealed bowl allows you to get a lush structure and an even soft crust.

  1. The dough can be kneaded according to the classic recipe or according to GOST.
  2. Grease the bottom of the bowl with vegetable oil. In order for the biscuit to rise well, the walls of the bowl must be dry.
  3. Set the "Baking" or "Biscuit" mode. Baking time is one hour.
  4. After a signal of readiness, do not open the lid of the multicooker for another quarter of an hour so that the biscuit “reaches”.
  5. Use a plastic spatula to hold along the edges of the cake, separating it from the walls.
  6. Remove the biscuit by turning the bowl over the dish.
  7. Just like from the oven, this cake blank should cool and ripen under the film for 6-8 hours.

A simple way to cook in a pan

Super fast and easy recipe without the use of an oven for those who are used to save time.

  1. Prepare a biscuit dough according to one of the proposed recipes.
  2. Heat the pan with the lid over medium heat.
  3. If the dishes are non-stick, then the cake is baked on a dry surface. In a regular pan, you need to drop a couple of drops of vegetable oil and rub it with a napkin so that only a thin film remains.
  4. Distribute a small amount of dough - a quarter or a third - in an even layer of about 1.5 cm.
  5. Cover and bake for 5 to 7 minutes.
  6. If the cake is not baked, turn over and bake for another minute without a lid.
  7. Cool the cakes on the wire rack.

Dessert decoration

To decorate the cake, in addition to chocolate fudge and glaze, melted dark chocolate is used, with which you can draw a thin cobweb or net on its entire surface.

For special occasions, the cake is decorated with cream patterns. Traditionally, these are relief curls around the circumference and 1-2 large roses.

Cream, which layered cakes, is not suitable for decoration, it is too soft.

You can make a small amount of powdered sugar-based butter cream. It has a great shape and is very easy to prepare.

Whip for cream:

  • 200 g of soft oil;
  • 200 g of powder;
  • 20-30 g of cocoa powder for color.

You can combine cream decor and a chocolate net or write the name of the cake using a stylish font with strokes.

Sometimes the sides of the cake are covered with biscuit crumbs. In this case, the glaze will need half as much as usual.

Making homemade dessert, you can follow the tradition, or you can fantasize as you like, decorating your own “Prague” to your liking.

Similar:More from the author: