Chocolate sponge cake with custard and meringue

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Beat the egg whites with the sugar until stiff peaks form. Mix the remaining batter ingredients in a bowl, then gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Grease a smaller 32 × 20 cm baking pan with butter and dust with flour. Pour in the batter and bake in an oven preheated to 180 °C (350 °F) for 15 minutes.

   Once cool, split the cake horizontally into two layers, leaving one layer in the pan.

2. For the filling, cook the pudding according to the package directions, but without sugar. Stir the egg yolks into the hot pudding, then add the sugar and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and cover with plastic wrap.

3. Mix the room-temperature butter into the cooled pudding filling. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually beat in the powdered sugar a little at a time.

4. Boil the lemon juice with the granulated sugar until the syrup forms a thread. Beat the hot syrup into the meringue and continue beating briefly.

5. Spread some of the meringue over the chocolate cake layer in the pan and smooth it evenly. Spread a thick layer of pudding filling on top, smooth it, and let cool.

6. Cover the pudding filling with the remaining meringue, then top with the second cooled cake layer. Melt the chocolate over a water bath, pour it over the cake while still warm, and smooth the top.

Tip: Pour the hot syrup into the meringue in a thin stream down the side of the bowl, not directly onto the beaters, where it would splatter and harden into threads.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Dvojfarebné rezy s pudingovým krémom a snehom