How to make Russian Graffs Cake | Meringue Chocolate Cake

Hello, welcome to my channel I'm Yummy Food and welcome, today I have the most amazing cake for you guys ever and it's so so good, it has few steps how to make it and it's got different elements but boy this cake is to die for, I served it at my dinner party last night and everybody demolished the cake, literally like one minute, nobody spoke because they just munching the cake away and it's one of these like random cakes you wouldn't think the combinations work but it is a Russian cake it's been requested by one of my followers and it's called Grafinski Grafinski Tort basically in translation it's like a grass chocolate cake so it's got a really light genoise sponge at the bottom then you've got like a crushed uh genoise sponge with chocolate and nuts and then top it all off with chocolate cream and custard and little meringue cookies and then more chocolate on top of course guys honestly this cake is the bomb and i really really hope you make it you enjoy it let me know in the comments down below what other Russian cakes you'd like me to make or Latvian cakes i've got a pretty good list but if you want something specific do let me know and guys make sure you subscribe to this channel i really really want to reach 100,000 subscribers so click the notification bell this way you will get updated every single time i upload a new video and i upload new videos once a week so far and i do a bunch of amazing recipes like this one so i hope you enjoy it let's get started first thing we're gonna do is make our genoise sponge cake so in your stand mixer add your room temperature eggs and you want to attach a whisk attachment we're going to whisk this on medium speed at first and then increase as we go and then add sugar slowly just to make sure the mixture volumizes and gets three times bigger than its original sort of size you want to add sugar a little bit at a time and have on and have the mixture on a high speed after five to ten minutes depending on your stand mixer the mixture will double in size look at that and it also changes the color and looks pale and white and when it starts to do these little drawings that means it's done over here I've got baking powder together with plain all-purpose flour I'm just mixing it through and I'm gently sifting it inside my mixture so you want to do this in stages you want to add your half then mix everything together fold it in and you want to go in round circles and then make sure you scrape the bottom as well and then you want to add the rest of your flour and just kind of fold it in. You don't want to do this process very slowly as the mixture will sort of flatten and you want it to be nice and fluffy. This way it's going to rise and we want that Genoa sponge to be nice and big. So do be quick and don't knock out too much air. Don't be too slow. It's something that you will learn quickly. Here I've got my baking tray. I've lined it with some parchment paper and I'm spraying it with some cooking oil just so it doesn't stick to the bottom and also around the sides now add your genoa sponge mixture inside and then just gently even it out and it's ready to go in the oven and bake and it's gonna smell so good guys in your house i promise when it's done it's gonna look just like that and we really want to go around the edges with the knife test it of course make sure it's nice and cooked just go around the carefully and just take off the lid and you want to leave the cake to cool down completely so leave it on the cooling rack for about 20 to 25 minutes next we're gonna make our meringue kisses or meringue so in a bowl add your egg whites and then we want to whisk them on high speed on the whisk attachment again we're gonna do the same thing want to break down the proteins and we're going to start adding a little bit of sugar at a time and just keep mixing only at a stage when it's foamed already this is the stage you're going to add the sugar so you want to add sugar a little bit at a time together with your salt and once everything is mixed in you will see the meringue will be nice and fluffy and it will even change the color and become super bright and white um this is really important for meringue to have soft peaks and have no sugar in between your hands so this is a test that you can do now i'm also squeezing a little bit of lemon juice inside my meringue whisking it on high speed and it's done look at that so creamy so delicious and if you turn the bowl over it should not fall out next we're going to use a tall glass and a piping bag and we're going to need a star nozzle to pipe our beautiful shapes for our Russian grass cake. This is the key element here so it has to be the star nozzle. However you can also use just a plain one. You want to scoop all your meringue into your piping bag and fill as much in as you can. Once it's all done you're going to use a parchment paper or a silicone mold on the baking tray, it's completely up to you and just pipe these beautiful shapes of meringue kisses and they should be roughly the same size once you're done we're going to place them into oven and cook them for about one hour or so so you can also do this ahead of time a day ahead if you wanted to as this cake takes a while once they're done they should be nice and browned very crispy on top and very gooey in the middle just like that. Next we're going to make our chocolate custard. So you want to add your egg yolks into a bowl together with sugar and then we're going to add some corn flour as well and some cocoa powder. You want to mix everything inside, sift it through so there are no lumps, add vanilla extract and then you want to use your whisk and mix everything together into a nice chocolate paste just like this okay you do want to mix everything beforehand so there are no lumps when you're going to be cooking the mixture next add your milk into a pot and once it reaches the boiling stage you want to take it off the heat straight away and then add a little bit at a time into your chocolate mixture mix it in add more milk mix it in and kind of repeat the process until your custard is completely cooked and done if you add all your hot chocolate milk straight way your mixture will curdle and you will cook your eggs so it's really important that you don't do that. Then you want to place it back into your pot and onto the stove and we're going to cook this for five to eight minutes depends on how quickly it will set but it needs to look just like that when it's done. We're going to place it to cool down and then in the meantime I'm adding my softened butter into my stand mixer and whisking it on high speed until it creams together just like this. Once my custard has cooled down I'm going to add it inside my butter and you want to add one tablespoon at a time and whisk on high speed and keep adding a little bit at a time until you get your chocolate custard mixture. Scrape down the sides make sure everything is incorporated the color will become quite pale but that's okay it will still taste absolutely delicious and chocolatey once it's done it's gonna look like that your cream is done and we're gonna set it aside now our next step is to make our chocolate sauce so we're gonna add milk and then chopped dark chocolate inside a pot and also adding some cocoa powder and with a spatula you just want to mix everything together until your chocolate melts completely and your cocoa powder has dissolved. Mix it through and this process won't take a long time. Then add a little bit of butter and I'm also adding a little bit of rum but this is completely optional. I do really like the flavor of rum in this dessert. It really adds that extra kick but just a tiny bit. You can exclude the alcohol of course if you wanted to. So mix everything together and leave it to cool down completely. Now it's finally time to assemble the cake. Our Genoa sponge has cooled down so you want to gently peel off the parchment paper it will come off pretty easily but just be careful and then you want to take your bread knife and slice your cake in half so you want to be really really careful and gentle here we're gonna use the bottom the bigger bottom as our cake base and so you want to place the second half onto your chopping board and cut it into small pieces so you want to aim for squares or something similar. We basically want to create a lot of cake sort of crumbs. Once it's been all cut up you're gonna add this into a large bowl and then add your chocolate sauce inside. Then add some crushed walnuts and mix everything together. The mixture will be very very chocolatey and kind of become like a chocolate mush. Then you're gonna add your second half of your genoise sponge and then spread the custard at the bottom you want to use around two tablespoons and then dip each meringue cookie inside and then create like a little sort of sideboard with the cookies and this will act as a glue as well so you dip your meringue and then place it onto your cake around the sides now you want to take your chocolate biscuit mixture with the walnuts and then add that inside the cake and then you're gonna go around with your rest of your meringues and chocolate custard and top it all over just like that and don't be shy it's gonna go all over on top and make sure you use all the custard and all the meringue and there it is guys what else do we need extra chocolate so do add some drizzled chocolate on top I'm using dark and the cake is done you do want to leave it to soak through for about half an hour up to an hour and then when it's done you can cut inside it will be super soft and moist and so delicious guys this is one of the most delicious cakes you'll ever make trust me i can't wait to see your photos enjoy it's creamy it's chocolatey and it's crunchy at the same time thank you so much for watching and i'll see you soon Thank you.