Chocolate Cake Recipe (Prague Cake)

Steps

1. Preheat Oven to 300˚F. Butter and flour the walls of the pan and line the bottom with parchment paper to prevent sticking.

2. Mix cocoa, instant coffee and warm water. Stir to dissolve and set aside.

3. Separate the egg whites and yolks, than place in the two large bowls.

4. Whisk 5 egg yolks with 1 cup sugar until smooth. Whisk in vegetable oil a few tbsp at a time and stir until it’s an even consistency. Gradually whisk in the coffee/cocoa syrup and set aside.

5. In a medium bowl, combine 1 ½ cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp baking soda. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir until well blended.

6. Add ¼ tsp salt to the bowl of egg whites. Tip: make sure your bowl for egg whites is clean and dry before beating or whites won't rise well. Beat on medium speed for 1.5 minutes. When they start to get foamy, add ¼ cup sugar and beat on high speed until soft peaks form for 1.5 minutes.

7. Fold your fluffy egg whites into the chocolaty batter until even consistency and color in the bowl. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated 300˚F oven (about 1hr) or until a toothpick comes out almost clean. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR.

8. Remove cake from oven, take it out of the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. Let it rest 5-6 hours then cut into four layers.

9. In a small sauce pan, whisk together 3 reserved egg yolks, ¼ cup water, and 1/3 cup condensed milk.

10. Start heating the pan over low heat and gradually increase the heat until it’s just letting off steam but not boiling. Continue whisking until your mixture is the consistency of raw condensed milk.

11. Remove the mixture form heat and immediately stir in 2oz chocolate, whisking until smooth. Let your mixture cool off to room temperature.

12. In a separate bowl, beat butter on high speed for 5 minutes. Add chocolate mixture, a few tablespoons at a time and continue to beat on high speed between each addition. Beat an extra 2 minutes when it’s all mixed in.

13. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup raspberries and ¼ cup preserves/jam. Gently mash raspberries with a fork just to break them up.

14. Place your first layer on a serving plate. Spread the top with ½ of the raspberry sauce, avoiding the edges. Place the next layer on top and generously spread with about 1/3 of the chocolate cream. Top with the third cake layer and spread the next ½ of raspberry sauce. Top with the fourth layer and frost the whole cake and sides, using remaining frosting. Decorate with raspberries on top.