Bento Cake: recipe

Prepare all the ingredients for the bento cake. The cottage cheese and cream should be chilled. The cream should be full-fat, not less than 33%. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. It should be well heated.

Prepare the dough for the sponge cake. In a deep, clean, and dry bowl, crack the eggs. Add sugar to them. Beat the eggs with sugar using a mixer for 4-5 minutes. The mixture should increase in volume and become light, dense, and airy.

In a separate bowl, mix the sifted flour with the baking powder. Switch the mixer to the lowest speed and continue beating, gradually adding the flour mixture to the egg mixture. It is important not to make sudden, hurried movements. If you add the flour too quickly, the egg mixture may deflate, and instead of a fluffy sponge cake, you will get a flat pancake with a strong eggy taste. If your mixer does not have a low speed setting, you can gradually add the flour, gently stirring the batter with a spatula each time. This way, incorporate all the flour into the sponge cake batter.

Prepare a baking sheet for baking the sponge cake. I used a flat baking sheet measuring 25*35 cm. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour the sponge cake batter onto the baking sheet and spread it evenly over the entire surface. Place the baking sheet with the sponge cake in the preheated 180-degree oven. Bake the sponge cake in the middle of the oven in the Bottom-Heat mode. The baking time will be about 10-15 minutes. Check the readiness with a toothpick. It should come out of the sponge cake dry, and the sponge cake itself should become a tender golden color. Do not overbake the sponge cake to prevent it from becoming dry.

Let the finished sponge cake completely cool.

Prepare the cream for the bento cake. In a clean bowl, put cottage cheese. Add cold cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla sugar.

Whip everything well with a mixer. The mixture should become uniform, smooth, and delicate.

Prepare the cake layers for the bento cake. Using a small round mold, cut out 3 circles from the sponge cake. The diameter of my mold is 10 cm. You can simply eat the trimmings or freeze them. Later, they can be used for making Karotchka pastries or decorating cakes. If you have a small round mold, you can bake the sponge cake directly in it, and then cut it into 3 parts. If you are making a bento cake for yourself and you don't really care about its shape, you can make a square cake by cutting the sponge cake into equal squares or rectangles. Then there will be hardly any trimmings left.

Assemble the bento cake. On the first sponge cake, place a small amount of cottage cheese cream, leaving a small indentation in the center. The easiest way to do this is using a pastry bag.

Place 3 teaspoons of jam or preserves in the center of each cavity. Choose your favorite. I used currant preserves.

Cover with the second biscuit and repeat all the steps.

Cover the top biscuit with cream.

Decorate the bento cake according to your preferences. You can leave it as is or add a chocolate inscription. I used fresh currants and cream that I squeezed onto the cake through a piping bag with a Small Star nozzle. You can serve the bento cake immediately or let it sit in the refrigerator for a while.

The bento cake is ready. Enjoy your meal!