Diplomat Cake
I wanted to show you the recipe for Diplomat cake for New Year’s Eve, but life happened — so I’m showing it to you now, and you’ve got time to practice it until next New Year’s Eve :)
For 2 cakes of 18 cm diameter, approximately 1.4 kg each:
For the Cream:
720 g Milk
Place it in a saucepan and heat.
180 g Egg yolks
145 g Sugar
40 g Cornstarch
18 g Vanilla
Mix in a bowl. Pour the hot milk over the mixture, stir, return everything to the saucepan and cook over medium to medium-high heat until the cream boils and thickens.
Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface, and let cool.
For the inside of the cake, I used a type of sponge, and on the outside I used ladyfingers based on Ana Consulea’s recipe. You can also use ladyfingers inside (soaked in syrup), or you can buy them if you prefer (though I’d say it’s not as nice and definitely not as good).
For the Inner Sponge:
70 g Egg yolks (4 pcs)
20 g Sugar
Whip the yolks with the sugar for 4–5 minutes until very thick and fluffy.
133 g Egg whites (4 pcs)
50 g Sugar
Whip the egg whites and gradually add the sugar until you get a firm and glossy meringue. Fold the meringue into the yolks in 3 additions, trying to keep as much air as possible.
55 g Flour
Gently fold the flour into the mixture.
40 g Oil
30 g Milk
Add a small amount of batter to the wet ingredients and mix, then fold this back into the main mixture using gentle movements. Spread into a 32.5 x 32.5 cm pan and bake for 8–9 minutes at 180°C with fan.
Once cooled, cut out 4 round layers of 15 cm diameter.
For the Ladyfingers:
75 g Egg yolks
45 g Sugar
2 g Vanilla
Whip the yolks with the sugar for 4–5 minutes until very thick and fluffy.
110 g Egg whites
100 g Sugar
Whip the egg whites and gradually add the sugar until you get a firm and glossy meringue. Fold the meringue into the yolks in 3 additions, keeping the mixture as airy as possible.
150 g Flour
1 g Salt
Add the flour mixed with salt and fold gently. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a round tip and pipe either individual ladyfingers or connected ones to form a “fence” for the edge of the cake. Dust generously with powdered sugar and bake at 180°C with fan for about 10 minutes.
For Assembling the Cake:
14 g Gelatin
70 g Water
Bloom the gelatin in cold water, then melt it over a bain-marie (or in the microwave) and incorporate it into the cream cooled to room temperature.
570 g Whipping cream
Whip the cream until fairly stiff and fold it into the custard.
145 g Candied orange peel
Fold the peel into the cream.
Place the ladyfingers inside two 18 cm rings, and in the center place one 15 cm sponge layer. Pour 450 g of cream into each cake, add the remaining two 15 cm sponge layers, then pour another 450 g of cream into each cake. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6–8 hours.
For Decoration:
350 g Whipping cream
150 g Mascarpone
25 g Powdered sugar
6 g Vanilla
Mix together until you obtain a fairly soft whipped cream, then pipe rosettes around the cake. You can place fresh fruit in the center.
Happy New Year! :)
