Charming Homemade Hedgehog Cake for All Ages

Beautiful, for a holiday, original design! Homemade Hedgehog cake made from biscuit is cute and cheerful, it will delight any child and take an adult back to childhood. Cooking it is not as difficult as it might seem at first. The surprise inside the cake will cause amazement and show your skill and imagination.
cook time: 5h
Maya Lindell
Charming Homemade Hedgehog Cake for All Ages

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

253
Calories
13g
Fat
27g
Carbs
4g
Protein

Ingredients (8 portions)

For the biscuit:

Wheat flour 180 g
Cocoa 40 g
Sugar 200 g
Butter 80 g
Eggs 4 pc
Egg yolks 4 pc
Salt 0.25 tsp

For impregnation:

Water 100 ml
Sugar 50 g
Lemon juice 2 tbsp

For the first cream:

Mascarpone 400 g
Boiled condensed milk 300 g

For the second cream:

Egg whites 4 pc
Sugar 200 g
Vanilla sugar 10 g
Butter 200 g
Cocoa 2 tbsp

For decoration:

Ready shortbread cookies 100 g
Apples 10 pc
Mastic g

Recipe instructions

Step 1

Step 1
How to make a hedgehog cake from sponge cake? Prepare your food. First for the biscuit. Take natural cocoa, without additives. Powder like Nesquik will not work. Wash the eggs well and dry. Leave 4 eggs whole, divide 4 more into yolks and whites. The yolks will go into the dough, the whites into the cream. Use high-quality butter that complies with GOST.

Step 2

Step 2
How to make a sponge cake? Place the eggs, yolks, sugar and salt in a heatproof bowl. Place it on a pan of boiling water. Heat the mixture in a water bath to 40 degrees, stirring vigorously with a whisk. Determine the temperature by touch — it should become noticeably warm. Warmed eggs will hold their shape better, and the sponge cake will turn out fluffy even without baking powder. Pour them into a larger container and beat for 10 minutes until you obtain a fluffy, white, smooth foam.

Step 3

Step 3
Sift flour and cocoa and combine in a separate bowl. Next, add the flour and cocoa to the egg mixture in three stages, gently mixing it with a spatula.

Step 4

Step 4
Melt the butter. Read how to do this at the end of the recipe. Cool it to room temperature. Add 2-3 tablespoons of dough to the oil and mix well. This will make it easier to incorporate the oil into the total mass. Mix everything together. The biscuit dough is ready.

Step 5

Step 5
Cover the bottom of the mold with parchment. Lubricate the bottom and walls with a drop of vegetable oil. Pour the dough into the mold and place in the oven, preheated to 180°C for 30-40 minutes. Check readiness with a wooden skewer or toothpick — it should come out dry from the middle of the sponge cake, without sticking dough.

Step 6

Step 6
Cool the finished biscuit on a wire rack. Meanwhile, prepare the mixture for the biscuit. How to make impregnation? In a saucepan, combine water, 50 grams of sugar and lemon juice. Boil the mixture for 3 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Step 7

Step 7
While the sponge cake is baking and cooling, make the creams. The first cream is needed for layering the cakes, forming the back of the hedgehog and coating the face. How to make cream? Beat the mascarpone a little and combine it with boiled condensed milk. The most important thing is that the condensed milk and mascarpone are at the same temperature, otherwise the cream may separate. Therefore, remove the mascarpone from the refrigerator in advance so that it comes to room temperature.

Step 8

Step 8
The second cream will go to the needles. I decided to make a protein-butter cream. Firstly, I have leftover whites from the sponge cake and need to put them somewhere, and secondly, this is an amazingly delicate and tasty cream that holds its shape perfectly. Place the whites with sugar and vanilla in a water bath and bring to 70 degrees. This will allow the whites to be pasteurized, and they will keep their fluffy shape perfectly and not fall off. Here you will already need a thermometer.

Step 9

Step 9
Beat the heated whites first at low speed, then at maximum. The whipped protein mass should be held on the beaters by a fluffy cap and not fall out of the bowl, even if it is turned upside down. Allow the egg whites to cool completely while you beat them.

Step 10

Step 10
Add 1 teaspoon of butter at room temperature to the whites! This is important, otherwise the cream will separate. The finished cream will be smooth, glossy, with a clear pattern from the rims.

Step 11

Step 11
For the hedgehog we need chocolate cream. I added sifted cocoa. It can be replaced with melted chocolate, then you will need 50 grams of dark chocolate.

Step 12

Step 12
Cut the cooled sponge cake into two layers, then cut out a hedgehog shape from each. Cut a hole in the top crust. Grind the biscuit scraps in a blender. We will need this crumb for the back.

Step 13

Step 13
Soak the biscuit with cooled syrup, layer with cream 1. Pour mushroom-shaped cookies, berries into the hole, you can add nuts and dried fruits. In general, fill the hedgehog to your liking.

Step 14

Step 14
Combine biscuit crumbs with cream 1 to form a mass similar to a potato cake. Leave a little of this mixture on the ears, tail and front paws. Form the back, connecting the edges well with the cakes. Cover your head with cream 1. Roll out the green mastic, cut out the grass, place it on a plate or tray. Move our hedgehog to the grass.

Step 15

Step 15
Place cream 2 (protein) into a pastry bag. For the needles, I used an “open star” nozzle with a diameter of about 1 cm. Plant needles along the entire back. From the remaining mass from the back, form ears, paws and a tail. Make eyes and a nose from mastic. Let the hedgehog stand in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Decorate the hedgehog with mushrooms, apples, berries, nuts, whatever you want. The cake is ready!

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