Dominostein

Four layers built down from a gingerbread base, made as a cheap stand-in for a praline.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter), dairy (milk), honey.

Ingredients

• 1 slab lebkuchen, as on its own page, about 300 g, 1 cm thick
• 400 g sour cherry juice
• 60 g sugar
• 12 g agar flakes
• 300 g marzipan
• 40 g icing sugar
• 400 g dark chocolate
• 2 teaspoons oil

Method

1. FOUR LAYERS BUILT DOWN FROM A GINGERBREAD BASE, MADE AS A CHEAP STAND-IN FOR A PRALINE. The article gives the stack: a BASE OF LEBKUCHEN, a MIDDLE LAYER OF JELLY (E.G. FROM SOUR CHERRIES OR APRICOTS), and a TOP LAYER OF MARZIPAN OR PERSIPAN, the whole thing ENVELOPED IN (TYPICALLY) DARK CHOCOLATE.
2. AND THE REASON IT EXISTS IS IN THE HISTORY. Herbert Wendler made the first ones in Dresden in 1936 and INTENDED IT AS A LOWER-PRICED ALTERNATIVE TO HIS MORE EXPENSIVE PRALINES because of the food shortage, and it took hold as a NOTPRALINE -- hardship praline, or emergency praline.
3. SO THE LEBKUCHEN IS DOING THE WORK A NUT PASTE WOULD DO, and it is cheap and filling where ground almonds were neither. Lebkuchen, as on its own page, is the base this is built on and the original used the Pulsnitz kind.
4. THE THREE LAYERS MUST BE THE SAME THICKNESS OR THE CUBE LOOKS WRONG. A centimetre each. The name is a domino tile, and a tile with a thick middle is not one.
5. THE JELLY IS SET FIRM, NOT SOFT. A spreadable jam will squeeze out sideways the moment the knife goes in. Agar sets harder than gelatine and holds at room temperature, which is what a confection in a tin needs.
6. SET THE JELLY IN A TRAY THE SAME SIZE AS THE LEBKUCHEN SLAB, then turn it out onto it. Pouring jelly straight onto cake soaks the cake.
7. ROLL THE MARZIPAN BETWEEN PAPER TO AN EXACT CENTIMETRE, dusting with icing sugar, and lay it on whole.
8. PRESS THE STACK UNDER A BOARD FOR AN HOUR IN THE FRIDGE. Unpressed, the layers shear apart as you cut.
9. CUT IT INTO CUBES WITH A HOT DRY KNIFE, wiped between cuts. Cold jelly tears on a cold blade.
10. DIP THEM WHOLE SO THE CHOCOLATE SEALS ALL SIX SIDES, which is what ENVELOPED means and what stops the lebkuchen going hard. The oil keeps the shell from cracking off the jelly as it sets.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes