I decided to make her cake tonight for a co-worker who got a promotion and who’s leaving our restaurant in a few days. I intended to write “Congratulations” on the top of the cake, but the ready-to-use icing tube that I thought I had was nowhere to be found, so I decided to decorate the top of the cake instead. I put maraschino cherries and walnuts on top of the chocolate layer. I also used my dessert decorator gun that Kemal got for me the other day to make the little whipped cream stars. That was lots of fun!
Okay, here’s the recipe. Hope you have as much fun making it as I did!
Rokada Cake
Ingredients for the Pastry Layer:
- 4 egg whites
- 4 egg yolks
- 4 tbsp. sugar
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp. butter
Ingredients for the Walnut Cream Layer:
- 1/2 lb. ground walnuts
- 10 1/2 tbsp. milk, warm
- 2 sticks butter
- 10 1/2 tbsp. powdered sugar
Ingredients for the Chocolate Layer:
- 1 cup sweet chocolate chips
- vegetable oil
Ingredients for the Vanilla Cream Layer:
- 5 pkgs. Dream Whip
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 10 tsp. vanilla
Ingredients for Decorating the Top of the Cake:
- Some of the Whipped Cream that you made with the Dream Whip
- Walnuts, whole
- maraschino cherries
- Optional: ready-to-use icing tubes
Instructions for making the pastry layer:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease an 8-inch Springform pan with the 2 tbsp. butter.
- Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a large bowl and the yolks in a smaller bowl.
- Beat the 4 egg whites with the 4 spoons of sugar. Don’t add all the sugar at once. Just add one spoon at a time.
- Beat the egg whites and sugar until the sugar and egg whites are thoroughly mixed.
- Beat the egg yolks and set aside.
- Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips. (Don’t add oil.)
- When the chocolate is melted, add it and the egg yolks to the egg white mixture.
- Mix well.
- Pour the pastry mixture into the greased pan.
- Bake about 20 minutes. You’ll know the cake is done if you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.
- Cool the cake.
Note: The cake will rise up quite a bit while you’re baking it, but once you cool the cake it will collapse some, which is what you want it to do.
Instructions for making the Walnut Cream Layer:
- Set the butter on your counter top so it can get to room temperature and soften.
- Grind the walnuts in your blender on puree.
- Warm the milk in a small sauce pan.
- Mix the walnuts into the milk and cool in the refrigerator.
- Cream the butter and powdered sugar with a beater until it’s well blended and creamy.
- Add the creamed butter and sugar to the milk and walnuts when the milk and walnuts have cooled.
- Mix well and set aside.
Instructions for Making the Vanilla Cream Layer:
- Mix together in a large bowl the 5 packages of Dream Whip, 10 tsp. vanilla, and 1 1/2 cups milk.
- Beat with an electric beater until the whipped cream is thick and fluffy.
- Refrigerate until you’re ready to assemble the cake.
Note: Keep in mind that the vanilla cream will not be white. It’ll be an off-white color because of all the vanilla that’s in it.
Instructions for Assembling and Decorating the Rokada Cake:
- Once the cake is cool, spread the walnut cream layer on top it.
- Now you want to spread a thin layer of chocolate on top of the walnut cream layer.
Instructions for Making the Chocolate Layer:
- Melt 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a small sauce pan.
- Pour enough oil over the chips to cover them. If you don’t use enough oil, the chocolate layer will not be smooth.
- Stir until the chocolate is melted and mixed with the oil.
Continued Instructions for Assembling and Decorating the Rokada Cake:
- After you’ve spread the warm chocolate on top of the walnut cream layer, you want to refrigerate the cake so the chocolate can harden.
- After the chocolate is hard, then take the cake out of the refrigerator.
- Take a knife around the the edge of the cake and then open the Springform pan, removing the ring.
- Now spread the vanilla cream topping around the sides of the cake.
Note: The way you finish decorating the cake is up to you. You can put whipped cream entirely on the sides and top of the cake, or you can decorate it the way I did by spreading whipped cream around the sides and then some on the top. I use a stainless steel dessert decorator with a star tip to decorate part of the top of the cake. Then I added maraschino cherries and walnuts.
You can also cover the entire cake (the sides and top) with the vanilla cream.
Another way to decorate the cake is to spread the vanilla cream around the sides only so the top of the cake is chocolate. Then if you want, you can use one of those ready-to-use icing tubes to decorate the top of the cake by writing, “Happy Birthday, Congratulations,” etc.
