Servings: 9servings (7-inch square cake or 8-inch round cake)
Calories: 187kcal
Author: Marvellina
Make this soft and airy Ogura cake with zebra stripes and natural coloring and flavoring. All the tips you need to make this cake successfully. It is easier than you think.
¼tspcream of tartaror 1/2 tsp of lemon juice or vinegar
80gsugar
Instructions
Take the eggs and milk out from the fridge 30 minutes before you plan to make the cake. The egg white will whip better and the cake will rise better too
Preheat oven to 300 F (150 C) for conventional oven. For convection oven, set to 285 F (140 C)
Use cake pan that does not have seams so water won't leak into the pan. Your cake will be wet at the bottom if water leaks into it. If you use pan with a removable base or the pan have seams, make sure you wrap the outside with 2-3 layers of aluminum foil to prevent water from leaking into it
Brush some oil on the bottom and sides of the pan. Line an 7-inch (18 cm) square pan with a parchment paper. The best is to line two parchment papers overlapping and come up to the side so you can easily remove the cake from the pan. If you use a round pan, line the bottom with a parchment paper. Cut a strip of parchment paper (about 1.5 x the height of the pan) to line the side of the pan
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. You will pour this over a large baking pan later for the hot water bath
Mix the cocoa powder and instant coffee with 30 ml of hot water and stir to mix. Set aside to let it cools down
Prepare the thick batter:
Whisk 5 egg yolks and 1 whole egg until smooth. Add oil, milk, and whisk again. Sift in both cake flour and whisk again until smooth. Strain the better if you can't get rid of lumps. Set aside
Make the meringue:
Clean your mixing bowl by wiping it with a bit of vinegar to make sure there's no grease in a bowl. Your egg white will not beat well if there's a trace of oil
Whisk the egg white over speed 4 until it's foamy, then add lemon juice/vinegar and add 1/3 of the sugar and continue until you use up all the sugar. Turn the speed up to speed 6 and beat until the egg white start to form a firm peak with a slight bent on the tip. Lower the speed to 4 and beat for 10 seconds and then continue to lower down the speed every 10 seconds and then turn off the machine. This helps to even out large bubbles
Fold in the meringue into the thick batter:
Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the thick batter. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the meringue into the batter. Mix until the batter is incorporated. Continue with the next 1/3 and then the last 1/3 until both are incorporated
Divide batter into two (to add different colors/flavors):
Divide the batter into two equal parts as much as possible. Add mocha paste you prepared earlier into one of the batter
Create the zebra stripe pattern:
It's up to you which color you want to start first, drop about 4 tablespoons of mocha batter into the center of the pan. Drop another 4 tablespoons of regular batter on top of the mocha batter. Continue to alternate this way until you use up both batter. You can gently shake the pan to let the batter spread as you layer the two batter. Gently lift the pan up and tap on the counter several times to pop any large air bubbles
Bake the cake (in a hot water bath):
Place the pan inside another larger pan. Very gently pour in the hot boiling water until it comes up to about 1 inch of the baking pan
Place this in the middle of the oven, 3rd rack from the top for my oven. Close the oven door and bake for the next 2 hours (yes, 2 hours). Every oven is different, but my oven, which is pretty brand new and accurate, needs 2 hours at 300 F (150 C) to bake a cake this size, using a water bath method. We bake at lower temperatures throughout and this really yields a cake that is very soft, spongy, yet sturdy and resistant to collapse. When you force a cake to rise too quickly, it will collapse and shrink when you take it out of the oven. The cake should be dry to the touch and spring back when you touch it and no longer jiggly. If it is, bake a bit longer
Once out from the oven, remove from the water bath and drop the pan from about 6-7 inches height for 2-3 times. This will minimize shrinkage. If you use a square pan, remove the cake out from the pan by gently grabbing the parchment paper and place it on top of the cooling rack and peel the parchment paper off the sides of the cake. Let it cools down completely
If you use a round pan with a removable base, loosen the sides of the cake and push the cake out from the bottom and let it cools down completely then remove the bottom base. If you use a round pan without a removable base, loosen the side of the cake and put a cooling rack on top of the pan and quickly flip it over to the cooling rack, peel off the parchment paper. You can leave it to cool down this way (there will be cooling rack prints on top of the cake later, which is perfectly fine as part of the presentation) or put a plate or board on top of the cake and quickly and gently flip it back to let it cools down completely
When ready to serve:
Use a serrated knife to gently cut the cake into a desired size
Storing:
The cake can be stored at room temperature for 3 days. After that, store the leftover cake in a fridge wrap with a cling plastic wrap and try to consume in the next 3 days. The longer you keep in the fridge the drier the cake will be