Today I'm bringing you a new delicious cake with a bright raspberry flavor and aroma, complemented by the most wonderful chocolate layers. The cake isn't complicated — don't let the long list of cake ingredients intimidate you. It comes together incredibly easily, following the same principle as the "Chocolate on Boiling Water" cake: simply mix all the dry ingredients, add the wet ones, pour in the hot coffee, and that's it. You won't even need a mixer. The raspberry soufflé is just as easy to make. So if you have a stash of fragrant fresh raspberries, now is the perfect time to put them to use. And if you don't, frozen raspberries are usually available year-round. In terms of assembly, this cake is similar to the Caramel Apple Cake — two layers, a creamy gelatin-based soufflé, and crumbs on top. My cake turned out so tender and airy that it literally melted in your mouth like a "cloud," which is exactly why I gave it such a romantic name :) My taste testers devoured the entire cake in one sitting. So incredibly good!
Ingredients:
- 200 g flour
- 200 g sugar
- 100 g sour cream
- 100 g milk
- 70 g vegetable oil
- 40 g cocoa
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 150 ml hot coffee (1.5 tsp coffee)
- Soufflé:
- 600 g raspberries (frozen or fresh)
- 400 g heavy cream 30–36%
- 150 g sugar
- 15 g gelatin (1.5 packets) + 80 ml water
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
How to cook raspberry cloud chocolate cake
Make the cake layer. Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, vanilla sugar, and salt in the bowl you'll be using to mix the batter.
In a separate bowl, combine the sour cream, milk, vegetable oil, and egg. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk thoroughly until you get a thick batter.
Brew a strong cup of coffee. I used regular instant coffee dissolved in boiling water. I should mention that the coffee flavor isn't very noticeable in the finished cake, but in my opinion it definitely gives the layers a subtle, sophisticated depth of flavor. Immediately pour the hot coffee into the batter and whisk well until smooth.
Line the bottom of your springform pan with a sheet of parchment paper and latch the pan closed (my pan is 22 cm in diameter), then grease the sides with butter. Pour the batter into the pan.
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F) for 25–35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the finished cake layer cool completely.
Press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Press firmly with a spoon to squeeze out as much of the raspberry goodness as possible.
Bloom the gelatin in 80 ml of water and let it sit for 10 minutes, or for the time indicated on the package. Place the strained raspberry mixture back on the heat and add the lemon juice. Heat until hot but not boiling. Add the gelatin and stir thoroughly until it is completely dissolved. Let the mixture cool to room temperature (!).
Add the raspberry mixture and fold it in vigorously but gently with a spatula. The result is a wonderfully delicious, thick, and fragrant raspberry cream.
Assemble the cake. If the cake layer has domed on top, trim off the rounded portion, then slice the layer in half horizontally to make two layers.
For a clean, beautiful cut when serving, trim the cake layers down to a smaller diameter. To do this, I traced around a 20 cm plate with a knife (the layers themselves, as I mentioned, were 22 cm in diameter).
Pour in half of the cream and give the pan a gentle shake so it settles evenly, then refrigerate for 20–30 minutes until the cream has just barely set. Do not refrigerate the remaining cream.
Crumble the cake layer trimmings with your hands and sprinkle them over the surface of the cake, pressing them gently into the cream. Refrigerate the cake for 3–4 hours, until fully set.
Run a hair dryer around the outside of the pan, or run a thin knife along the inside edge of the pan, then unclasp the springform and slide the cake on its parchment onto a serving plate. Decorate as you like — I decorated mine with mint and frozen raspberries, which gradually thawed right on top of the cake.
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