Today I want to share a delicious and impressive dessert. We'll prepare a 'Balladyna' cake: thin cocoa sponge cake interspersed with cheese layer, biscuits and caramel, covered with a thick layer of raspberries and jelly.
Moist cocoa sponge hugs smooth cheese layer, while its delicate coffee flavour goes perfectly with the thick layer of fruit jelly, and we get additional flavour and sweetness from caramel filling. A delicious, beautiful cake that requires some effort, but pays back in flavour and is sure to impress your guests.
You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.
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List of ingredients (26 x 26 cm baking tin)
Sponge cake
- 80 g cake flour
- 25 g cornstarch
- 25 g dark cocoa
- 1 flat tsp baking powder
- 4 large eggs
- 100 g sugar
- 50 g vegetable oil
Cheese layer
- 18 g powder gelatine + 150 ml hot water
- 250 g whipping cream
- 750 g cream cheese
- 100 g icing sugar
- 1.5 tsp vanilla paste
Also
- 150 ml coffee liqueur
- 150 ml water
- 2 packets raspberry jelly + 800 ml hot water
- 500 g raspberries
- 400 g biscuits
- 400 g caramel filling
Method
- Prepare cocoa sponge cake. Sift 80 g cake flour, 25 g cornstarch, 25 g dark cocoa and 1 flat tsp baking powder through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Stir through the dry ingredients shortly with a whisk to distribute everything evenly and set them aside.
- Pour 4 large eggs at room temperature into a separate large bowl and add 100 g fine sugar to them. Beat the contents of the bowl with an electric mixer until eggs at least double in volume, and become light and fluffy. Depending on your electric mixer, it may take up to 10 minutes, so be patient. I recommend starting at low mixer speed and increasing it gradually as eggs grow in volume.
- Add 50 g vegetable oil to the eggs. Do it slowly, in a thin trickle, at medium mixer speed. Once you've added all of fat continue mixing the contents of the bowl for another 30 seconds to ensure everything combines as it should.
- Add dry ingredients to the batter. Do it in two batches, a few tablespoons at a time, and carefully combine each part with the batter using a silicone spatula. It is important not to overmix the cake and not to remove too much air, so stop mixing once as soon as you can no longer see raw flour.
- Transfer the batter into a square baking tin, 26 x 26 cm, and spread it in an even layer across the whole surface. Cover the bottom with baking paper first, but leave the sides clean. This will help the cake stick to the as it bakes and not deflate while cooling.
- Put the cake into an oven preheated to 170 deg C, no fan, for around 20 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out clean. Take the cake out of the oven and drop it onto a work surface from 40-50 cm height, removing hot air rapidly. This will prevent the cake deflating, too. Set the cake aside, still in the baking tin, to cool completely.
- After an hour carefully cut off the cake from the sides of the baking tin, remove baking paper and transfer the cake onto a worktop. Cut through the cake to create two thin sponge cake layers, using a long serrated knife.
- Prepare cake soaking mixture. Pour 150 ml coffee liqueur and 150 ml cool water into a medium jug. Stir through the contents of the jug shortly to obtain a uniform liquid.
- Pour 150 ml hot water into a separate medium jug and add 18 g powdered gelatine. Stir through the liquid until gelatine crystals dissolve and set it aside for a few minutes to cool.
- Pour 800 ml hot water into a large jug and add 2 packets raspberry jelly. Stir through the contents of the bowl until jelly crystals dissolve and set it aside for a few minutes to cool slightly.
- Add 100 g icing sugar to 250 g of cold whipping cream. Beat it with an electric mixer until cream becomes lighter and at least doubles in volume, but is not stiff yet. It is best to stop beating when mixer beaters start leaving visible marks in cream.
- Put whipped cream into a fridge and move on to cheese. Put 750 g cream cheese into a separate large bowl and add 1.5 tsp vanilla paste. Cheese should be at room temperature; it's best to take it out of the fridge before starting on a sponge cake. Stir through the contents of the bowl until vanilla becomes evenly distributed.
- Add 1 tsp cheese into cool gelatine solution and stir through it shortly with a whisk, until uniform.
- Add tempered gelatine to cheese mixture. Do it slowly, in a thin trickle, while mixing the contents of the bowl a medium speed. It will make it easy to distribute liquid in cheese. If your cheese is at room temperature, there will be very little risk of lumps forming, especially after tempering gelatine. Once you've added all of liquid continue mixing for around 30 seconds to ensure everything combines as expected. Add whipped cream to cheese and incorporate it into the mixture with a silicone spatula.
- Return bottom sponge cake layer into the clean baking tin and soak it with roughly a half of prepared cake soaking mixture. The bottom of the baking tin should be lined with baking paper, and its sides - with paper or acetate foil. Transfer around a half of cheese mixture onto soaked sponge cake and spread it evenly across the whole surface.
- Arrange a layer of buttery biscuits on top of cheese. Spread 400 g of caramel filling on the biscuits. If caramel filling is too thick, heat it up in a microwave oven or water bath and stir it well. Once you've got an even caramel layer, cover it with the second batch of biscuits.
- Pour remaining cheese mixture on top of biscuits and spread it evenly across the surface. Cheese may be thickening at this stage, but it should still be fluid. Cover cheese with the second sponge cake layer. Press it down lightly to make all layers stick to one another. Soak the cake with remaining cake soaking mixture. Put the cake into a fridge.
- Meanwhile, return to jelly that should've cooled down slightly by now. Add around 500 g frozen raspberries. Stir through the contents of the bowl to break down any large fruit lumps and set it aside for, at most, 2 minutes, until jelly starts thickening. Take the cake out of a fridge, pour thickening jelly on top and spread it as evenly as possible. Return the cake into a fridge for a few hours, or best overnight, for all layers to set.
- Enjoy!
Approximate nutritional value
100 g
- 196 kcal
- Carbs: 26 g
- Fat: 7 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Fibre: 1 g
1 slice (recipe makes 25 slices)
- 314 kcal
- Carbs: 41 g
- Fat: 12 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Fibre: 1 g
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