Far away, right here

Passport & Plate - Russian kiss

Brazil | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 5 photos

For some, Christmas must have Secret Santa. Or a warm turkey that just left the oven. But for me and my family, Christmas is only Christmas if it has "Russian Kiss" to eat with coffee. This traditional Brazilian cake is a necessary ingredient of my family Christmas and this recipe has been made for over 40 years on these occasions. My mother Tatiana brought the recipe for the family. When she was ten years old, she used to spent her weekends cooking with her best friend Simone. They wanted to learn the best recipes that their mothers knew! It was with the mother of her friend, Mrs. Eugenia, that my mother learned the recipe of the famous "Russian Kiss". My mother told me that Mrs. Eugenia was a very nice lady, famous for the sweets that she made for birthday parties. And when my mother brought home some pieces of "Russian Kiss" for the first time, my grandparents and uncles loved them. The pieces of cake ended quickly! Then my grandmother learned how to make the recipe too, as my aunt, and later, me and my sister. And now every Christmas we make this delicious cake with plums, chocolate and the Brazilian "doce de leite" (milk sweet). On these occasions, if you are not quick enough, when you will search for pieces of "Russian Kiss" it's probably that they have already finished!

Recipe

Ingredients:

For the cake:
- 2 cups of sugar
- 3 cups of wheat flour
- 1 and 1/2 cup of chopped prunes
- 1 and 1/2 cup of butter or margarine
- 6 eggs
- 6 spoons (soup) of chocolate powder
- 2 level spoons (soup) of baking powder

For the filling:
- 1 can of "doce de leite" (sweet milk)
* This filling ingredient is typically Brazilian, widely used in traditional Brazilian candies.

Preparation

1) Take the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. With an electric mixer, beat egg whites until it gets fluffy.
2) Leave this cream waiting, while in another bowl you put the egg yolks, margarine and sugar. Mix these three ingredients until it gets creamy.
3) Mix the cream of whites with this second cream of yolks, margarine and sugar. Beat until it gets consistent.
4) Add the chocolate powder and flour. Mix again.
5) After mixing well, add the baking powder (yeast) and mix slowly.
6) Add the prunes and mix very well.
7) Take a form and grease.
8) After put the mass at the form, put to bake in a preheated oven (200 degrees) 20-30 minutes, depending on the oven.
9) After cooling the mass, cut into cubes. Cut each cube in half and fill it with "doce de leite" (sweet milk). After this process, sprinkle each cube with sugar.