Ladybug cake

Preparation steps

• Base cream
• Pour 1 dl of water over the gelatin and leave it to swell. Add sugar and vanilla sugar to the milk. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Melt the swollen gelatin over a low heat, add 6-7 tablespoons of boiling milk, heat with stirring to obtain a uniform mass. Pour in the rest of the boiled milk.
• Cool to room temperature and leave in the refrigerator to thicken to the thickness of yogurt. It takes at least 3 hours. You can leave it overnight, it won't bother you if it tightens completely.
• Whip the sweet sour cream. Mix the condensed milk briefly with a mixer, add the whipped cream and mix with a mixer until a uniform mass is obtained.
• From the obtained basic mass, separate 6 spoons for the base and the head of the ladybug, and divide the rest so that you separate a third of the cream for the chocolate cream, and the remaining 2/3 for the chestnut cream.
• A mixture of biscuits and chestnuts
• Mix ground biscuits and chopped hazelnuts. Add 6 tablespoons of base mass, chestnut puree and knead by hand. If desired, add a spoonful of cocoa to make it dark.
• Divide the mass into approximately two equal parts. One will serve as a base for the ladybug's body, and the other will shape the head.
• Chestnut cream
• Add chestnut puree to 2/3 of the base mass and whisk with a mixer (chestnut puree can be added to only one third of the base mass, and the other third remains white and without additives)
• Chocolate cream
• Melt the chocolate on a steamer or in the microwave. Add nutella and melted chocolate to one third of the base mass and mix with a mixer.
• The body of a ladybug
• Cover the hemispherical bowl with cling film. Pour in half of the chestnut cream, then the chocolate cream and then the remaining half of the chestnut cream.
• Cut a circle out of baking paper the diameter of the bowl in which you make the body of the ladybug. Press half of the mixture of biscuits and chestnuts with your hands on the cut baking paper and flatten. Apply to the surface of the tightened creams in a bowl.
• Leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours to set. Then turn everything over on a tray on which the cake will be served.
• Mix the red color with alcohol, add water, whipping powder and whisk with a mixer. Coat the body of the ladybug with a spatula.
• Stamp in the pralines. With a little melted chocolate, draw a line in the middle of the body.
• Ladybug's head
• Shape the remaining half of the biscuit and chestnut mixture into a ball with your hands and pour over the chocolate glaze. When the glaze hardens, bring the head to the body. Draw the eyes and smile with whipped cream using a syringe.
• Notes:
• This cake can also be made as a fruit cake (see here). 200 g of finely chopped fruit or even better fruit puree is added to half of the basic mass. You can also use 200 g of jam, but then you don't need to add sugar to the base mass. If it is made with fruit, to make it stronger, increase the gelatin to 30g !!! Do not make a cake with pineapple or papaya, because they break down gelatin. The
• You can add the following ingredients to one third of the base mass:
• Nothing - the base mass itself is already a delicious white cream, although it is even finer if enriched with cream or chocolate.
• 100 g of white chocolate
• 100 g white chocolate + 100 g white cream spread type linoleum milk
• 100 g of cooking chocolate
• 100 g of cooking chocolate + 100 g of nutella type spread
• 150 g of coconut flour
• 150 g of ground hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds
• 150 g ground biscuits (eg oreo biscuits - a nice black and white contrast cream is obtained)