Gaby
Ingredients:
Dough for 2 cheese flatbreads:
1 cup sugar
1 stick (about 8 oz) of butter or margarine
5 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sour cream (a thicker, tangier Eastern European-style sour cream)
1 packet (18g) baking powder
3 cups (approx.) flour
Zest from 1 lemon
Egg White Biscuit:
5 egg whites
5 tablespoons sugar
A pinch of salt
4 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Cheese: 1 kg (approx. 2.2 lbs) homemade cottage cheese
150–200 g (approx. 5–7 oz) sugar
5 eggs
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 packet vanilla sugar
Frosting:
Juice from 3 medium oranges
Juice from 1 lemon
5 eggs
2.5 cups sugar (to taste)
200 g (approx. 7 oz) butter + 200 g (approx. 7 oz) margarine
For Soaking:
200 g (approx. 7 oz) strong sweet tea, cooled
1 tablespoon cognac
Glaze:
1 bar of white chocolate (“Millennium”)
3 teaspoons butter
3 teaspoons heavy cream or good sour cream
Melt the margarine.
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, then add the sour cream.
Mix the flour with the melted margarine, add the baking powder, lemon zest, and the beaten yolks with sugar and sour cream, and knead into a uniform dough.
Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Blend or process the cottage cheese, then add the cornstarch, vanilla sugar, and the eggs beaten with sugar.
Gently mix everything together.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 4 parts.
Use 2 parts of dough for each layer.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and roll out 1 part of the dough on it, then spread half of the cheese mixture on top and cover with the second part of the dough.
Prick the top in several places with a fork to prevent it from puffing up during baking.
Repeat the process with the other 2 parts of dough and the second half of the cheese mixture to make another layer.
Bake in a preheated oven for 20–30 minutes, until lightly golden.
Whip the chilled egg whites with sugar and a pinch of salt, then add the flour and cornstarch, mixing gently.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, dust lightly with flour, and pour in the batter.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 10–15 minutes.
Wash the oranges and lemons, dry them, and squeeze out the juice.
I used a citrus juicer and got about 430 g of juice.
Add sugar to the juice and stir. Add the lightly beaten eggs, mix again, then transfer the mixture to the stove and cook, stirring constantly to prevent burning and clumping.
Cook it in a double boiler if you prefer, but continue stirring.
Cook until it thickens to the consistency of sour cream, then add 200 g of butter, stir, and remove from the heat.
Let the mixture cool.
Meanwhile, whip the remaining butter and add the cooled orange-lemon mixture — essentially an orange-lemon curd. I didn’t add all of the curd to the butter because it became too runny; I saved about 100 g.
The frosting is ready.
Sweeten the brewed tea to taste, cool it, add the cognac, and soak both sides of the biscuit layer well.
For assembly:
Generously spread frosting on one cheese flatbread, place the biscuit layer on top, add more frosting, and then the second cheese flatbread.
Pour the glaze over the top: break the chocolate bar, add the butter and cream (or sour cream), and melt it in a double boiler.
Pour the hot glaze over the cake.
