Zebra Cake

Beat the eggs with sugar until stiff peaks. Add sour cream and melted butter cooled to room temperature to the beaten eggs. Mix well.

Gradually add flour and baking soda activated with vinegar. Mix the batter thoroughly after each addition of flour to avoid lumps. The batter should be the consistency of thick sour cream.

Divide the batter into two equal parts. Add cocoa to one part. If you want the dark stripes to be more vivid, add 2 to 3 tbsp of cocoa. For lighter stripes, 3 tsp is enough. If you add a lot of cocoa, also add some flour to the light batter to equalize the thickness.

In the center of a greased and floured pan, alternately place light and dark batter. In the very center, place 3–4 tbsp of light batter. In the center of the light batter, place 3 tbsp of dark batter. Do this with shaking, “pecking” motions. Then 2.5 tbsp of light batter, and so on, gradually decreasing the amount. The final dark dot in the middle will be 1 tbsp of batter.

Place the pan in an oven preheated to 160°C and bake for about 1 hour. Do not open the oven for the first 20 minutes. Check doneness with a wooden skewer. Let the finished cake cool slightly without removing from the pan.

For the cream: beat 250 ml heavy sour cream with 0.5 cup sugar. Cut the cooled cake into 2 layers. Spread cream on one layer, cover with the second layer and pour chocolate glaze over it.

To make the chocolate glaze: place a saucepan over low heat, add sour cream, butter, sugar and cocoa. Stir well to avoid lumps and cook until the sugar dissolves (bring to a boil). Let the glaze cool and pour over the cake. Sprinkle with toasted and coarsely ground walnuts on top. Instead of nuts, you can decorate with colored glaze from Dr. Oetker.