Happy Birthday, CK – even though you’ll hate me for doing this. 😉
In place of a doodle, I’ve come up with a torte recipe to honour CK’s birthday this year. Red and white like the Canadian flag, lemon as a nod to his current dwellings, dairy for his love of people with lactose intolerance, sour cherries and raspberries to remind him of his time in Europe, heart-shaped decorations with dark chocolate as I like dark chocolate and CK – while not right now – usually likes me, coconut because… uh…
For the base and the cookies you’ll need:
100gr flour
50gr margarine / butter
50gr sugar
50gr desiccated coconut
1 pinch of salt
vanilla
1 egg
[50gr dark chocolate; a few drops of neutral oil, e.g. canola]
Knead all ingredients (but the chocolate) into a dough. Line / grease the base and the bottom of the frame of a 26cm-diametre springform tin. Roll out / spread half of the dough on the base of the tin. Pierce throughout with a fork and bake at 150°C for about ten minutes or until golden-brown. The base may still be soft but will harden as it cools. Roll out the remaining dough (approx. 3mm) and use a cookie cutter of your choice to cut out at least 12 cookies. (A small cookie cutter like the one I used gave me about 30 pieces.) Transfer to a cookie sheet and bake like the base. Let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.
To decorate the cookies, place them base down close to each other onto a sheet of kitchen parchment. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. Add a few drops of oil if need be, an sprinkle the cookies with the chocolate. The chocolate will need a few hours to set completely.
To taste, brush 3 tbsp of jam onto the base.
For the cream filling you’ll need:
200gr quark (alternatively: low-fat cream cheese)
75gr sugar
vanilla
3 tbsp lemon juice
grated lemon peel of one untreated lemon
1 pinch of salt
250gr whipping cream
stabiliser (whatever you like using; be it starch/sugar-based, agar-agar,…]
Using a hand mixer, blend the ingredients until the creme thickens, add stabiliser and process accordingly.
Place the base onto a cake plate, put a cake ring around the base, spread the creme evenly onto it.
For the fruit topping you’ll need:
350gr sour cherries [Update: pitted, of course]
350gr raspberries [some sugar if you use frozen ones]
– If the fruit is canned in diluted juice, strain thoroughly but save the juice for the glaze. If the raspberries are frozen, add some sugar while they’re thawing to restore sweetness; also strain thoroughly. –
500ml of diluted sour cherry/raspberry juice
sugar to taste
red glaze
Spread the prepared fruit on top of the creme. Prepare the glaze and cover the fruit with it. Let the glaze set, and then refrigerate the cake for about two hours.
(Slip a knife between the cake and the cake ring to remove the ring more easily.)
Decorate with cookies before serving.
Oh, CK, the cake tastes fabulous. You can watch me eating some on webcam. I’ll use the good, high-resolution one. 😉
How about that– I missed the birthday and the torte. Brilliant.
The recipe is so easy, you can fix it yourself. If you don’t want to bake at all, you can also create a base out of cookie crumbs / cornflakes, melted butter and sugar. Press into the tin and set it to cool. Or you can just buy ladyfingers and layer everything like a tiramisu.
Ok great so who is gonna make me this cake???? My Hebrew birthday is on Halloween so the clock is ticking world. 11 days. Make me a cake!!!!
Thanks, Middle, you’ll be welcome.
I am impressed. Remind me to come visit your country some time so I can actually taste one of your amazing creations.