A Troika in Norway is a special chocolate bar – a layer of marzipan, a layer of chocolate truffle and a layer of raspberry jelly dipped in chocolate to hold it together.  It is very thin and compact similar in texture to a Cherry Ripe or a Wonka Bar.

As it’s my birthday we thought we’d invent our own Troika cake.  So far I’ve only seen home-made Troika slices or cheesecakes but never a cake with a real cake base – so this is a first.  I must say it turned out amazingly well – a yummy jelly and cream filled chocolate marzipan cake.

And since I don’t want you to miss out, here’s the recipe:

Troika Cake

1 chocolate cake
1 packet of raspberry jelly, or alternatively raspberry jam
200mls cream
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
vanilla essence for taste
1 tube of marzipan
melting chocolate chips or chocolate ice cream syrup for decoration
icing sugar for rolling marzipan

Method
First make a plain chocolate cake and cool.  Cut into two cake layers.

Second, make the jelly to directions but with reduced water for extra firmness.  We lined a square ice cream container as big as the cake with plastic wrap and poured the lukewarm jelly in.  This way, when it set, it was easy to lift out and place down on the cake base.  Then we just peeled off the plastic.  (If the jelly thing is too much of a pain then just spread a thick layer of raspberry jam on the cake base.)

Thirdly, make the cream.  Whip the cream.  Before it becomes thick put in two tablespoons of sugar and some drops of vanilla essence.  Whip cream until stiff.  Save a quarter for the top of the cake.  Spread the rest over jelly.  Place the cake lid on top.  Place cake in the fridge.

Fourthly, roll out the marzipan.  Use icing sugar as ‘flour dust’ to help you roll out the marzipan.  Rolling on baking paper helps the marzipan not stick the the bench and helps to roll it onto the cake.  We use a rolling pin to make sure the marzipan is spread thin and evenly.  Take the cake out of the fridge and spread the rest of the cream on top and on the sides.  This will help the marzipan roll on and move a little for adjustments.  Pick up the baking paper with marzipan and flip it onto the cake.  Peel off the paper.  Press down the marzipan on the sides and cut off the excess.

Lastly, melt the chocolate chips in a pot over a pot of hot water.  When the chocolate has melted and is runny, drizzle it in zig-zags over the top of the marzipan.  Or… be lazy like us and get your thick chocolate ice cream topping tube (the ones that set hard are great) and squirt zig-zag patterns across your cake.

And now you have your first Troika cake to impress your Norwegian friends.  Enjoy!