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Armenian cake "The male ideal"
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Cake "The male ideal"

The cake "The male ideal" tastes heavenly nutty, slightly caramelized and incredibly fluffy. It is not without reason that it is so popular in Armenia. It consists of a honey sponge cake with nuts and the buttercream with caramelized sweetened condensed milk and nuts. With this recipe you can make the Armenian cake "The male ideal" at home.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 25 minutes
Cooling time 3 hours
Servings 10

Ingredients

for the batter

  • 4 eggs
  • 130 g sugar
  • 90 g walnut kernels
  • 60 g honey
  • 180 g flour
  • 6 g baking powder
  • 1 pinch of ground vanilla bean
  • 1 pinch of salt

for the cream

  • 390 g caramelized sweetened condensed milk room warm
  • 220 g butter room warm
  • 80 g walnut kernels
  • 1 tbsp cognac

to soak

  • 60 ml strong black tea
  • 1 tbsp cognac

for sprinkling

  • 130 g walnut kernels

to decorate

  • 30 g dark chocolate

Instructions

Preparation of the batter

  • Line the baking sheet with baking paper.
  • Roast walnuts in a pan or in the oven, leave to cool and chop coarsely.
  • Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt for approx. 10 minutes until light and fluffy.
  • Add honey and mix carefully.
  • Mix flour with baking powder and fold into the egg sugar honey mixture to create an airy, thick batter.
  • Carefully and briefly stir the chopped walnuts into the batter.
  • Spread the batter evenly on the baking sheet, bake the cake base in a preheated oven at 356 °F (180 °C) for approx. 15 minutes and leave to cool.

Preparation of the cream

  • Roast walnuts in a pan or in the oven, leave to cool and chop coarsely.
  • Beat softened butter for approx. 5 minutes until light and creamy.
  • Add caramelized sweetened condensed milk in batches and beat briefly each time to form a homogeneous cream.
  • Add cognac and beat again briefly.
  • Stir the chopped walnuts into the cream.

Preparation of the cake

  • Roast walnuts in a pan or in the oven, leave to cool and chop coarsely.
  • Cut the nut sponge cake into three equally sized, smaller cake bases.
  • Mix black tea with cognac and soak the three cake bases in it.
  • Spread the cake bases generously with the cream, leaving a small amount for the sides of the cake, and stack them on top of each other.
  • Spread the sides of the cake with the remaining cream.
  • Sprinkle the top and sides of the cake with the chopped walnuts.
  • Melt dark chocolate slowly over a water bath and decorate the cake with it.
  • Chill the layer cake for at least 3 hours or overnight.
  • Leave the cake "The male ideal" to stand at room temperature for approx. 20 minutes before serving.

Notes

  • Hazelnuts and peanuts are suitable alternatives to walnuts. You can also use a mixture of different nuts.
  • If your honey has a solid consistency, heat it briefly to make it more liquid before stirring it into the egg sugar mixture.
  • Instead of black tea, you can soak the cake bases with a strong coffee.
  • Butter and caramelized sweetened condensed milk must both be at room temperature when whisking so that they can combine to form a smooth cream. If the two ingredients have a large temperature difference, the cream may curdle.
  • Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the Armenian cake "The male ideal" at the top of the article.