RUSSIAN SPARTAK CAKE (LAYERED CAKE)

How to make Russian cake and a perfect Russian dessert at home. Nothing beats a chocolate layered cake with creamy buttercream frosting. I made it extra special by covering it in chocolate ganache and topped it with roasted hazelnuts.

This cake does take some effort and time to make but it is really most definitely WORTH IT! Spartak cake is very popular in Russian speaking countries.This is the best recipe for Spartak cake!

Ingredients

For the cake

1 egg

200 gr or 1 cup of granulated sugar

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

80 ml OR ⅓ cup warm milk

1 tsp baking soda

250 gr of plain flour OR 2 cups

2 tbsp of cocoa

For the filling

230 gr of unsalted butter, softened OR 2 sticks

1 can sweetened condensed milk

300 gr of cream cheese OR 1 large pack

200 ml of double cream OR 1 cup

4 Tbsp icing OR powdered sugar

1 tbsp of vanilla extract

Directions

Step 1 : Sift all your dry ingredients, your flour and cocoa powder.
Step 2 : Whisk your egg and sugar on high speed in a food mixer or with an electrical whisk for about 5 min.
Step 3: Then add your butter, baking soda and warm milk and mix for few more minutes. While the mixture is mixing, place a large pot of water to boil.
Step 4: Place mixture into a separate bowl and over the boiling water, mix until mixture smoothes out and looks clear.
Step 5 : Remove the bowl from the heat and add the dry ingredients into the mixture. Stir until there are no lumps left and leave it to cool down for about 15-25 min. The mixture will thicken when its being cooled down, but don’t let it become cold, as it will be very hard to roll it out.
Step 6 : Preheat your oven to 180 degrees or 350 Fahrenheit.
Step 7 : I like to use the back of the baking tray to cook the layers, because its a lot easier to take them off. Place parchment paper and sprinkle some flour on that. Take a large tbsp of dough and roll it out into the nice 9 inch shape. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Sprinkle flour over the dough - so it doesn't stick to your rolling pin . Push the scraps away from the circle or they will bake into it. Once they are ready to go, just bake them for 3-6 min depending on your oven. Reserve the baked scraps, we will be using them later for decorating the cake.
Step 8 : Once your layers are baked, leave them to cool for 10 min.
Step 9: While your layers are cooling down, you can make your frosting way ahead. Whisk your cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and condensed milk until nice and smooth. In a separate bowl whisk your double cream and icing sugar. Then combine both mixtures together until nice consistency and place in the fridge to set.
Step 10: Start assembling your cake. Place each layer and cover in a generous amount of frosting until you have finished with all the layers. Then coat the cake around to make sure its all nice and covered. Place that in the fridge overnight or at least 6 hours.
Step 11 : Melt the chocolate with butter and double cream and let it set for a bit and then cover the whole cake in chocolate ganache. Place it back into the fridge until chocolate is set.
Step 12 : Crush your left over scraps with your food processor of back of your rolling pin.
Step 13: Place your hazelnuts onto a baking tray and roast them for 4-5 min at 200 degrees or 392 F.
Step 14 : Take the skin off from your hazelnuts quickly while they are hot, you can use a siv to move nuts around.
Step 15: Generously sprinkle the crumbs over the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with berries and hazelnuts on top.