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Crispy tender meringue and fruity creamy strawberry butter filling – that’s what the Soviet cake “Pautinka”, which translates as “Spider Web”, is made of. You can make it yourself at home with ordinary ingredients. The sweet cake will love those who like meringue desserts. You can find a detailed recipe for the cake “Pautinka” with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.
For all meringue lovers
The cake “Pautinka” is just the right dessert for all meringue lovers. The crispy meringue is perfectly complemented with the delicate butter cream. Strawberries give the meringue cake a fruity touch. Since the cake tastes quite sweet, serve it best with unsweetened tea or coffee. Fresh fruits also go perfectly with it.
Use ready-made strawberry jam
In the original recipe for the Soviet meringue cake “The Spider Web”, the cream is prepared with strawberry jam. However, since I find the cake sweet enough as it is, I cooked strawberry puree without sugar beforehand and made the butter cream with it. Of course, you can take ordinary strawberry jam for the recipe.
Two recipes for cake “Pautinka”
For the cake “Pautinka” there are two recipes from the Soviet era. One recipe is what I show you here. This cake is made of meringue cake layers and strawberry butter cream. It is a little easier to make than the second version. According to another recipe, the Soviet cake “The Spider Web” is made of shortcrust pastry, meringue, nuts and cherries.
The Soviet meringue cake “The Spider Web” is
- crispy,
- creamy,
- fruity,
- sweet,
- delicious,
- with strawberry flavor,
- without flour,
- to make with common ingredients.
Recipe for cake “Pautinka”
The recipe for the meringue cake “The Spider Web” is not difficult, but requires some steps. Here you can form a rough idea of how the preparation is done, and what you need for it. The exact quantities and step-by-step instructions for making the cake “Pautinka” yourself can be found in the recipe box below.
For the meringue you need
- egg whites,
- fine sugar
- and food grade citric acid.
For the cream you need
- strawberries and pectin for strawberry puree – alternatively strawberry jam,
- room-warm butter,
- sugar,
- sweetened condensed milk,
- water,
- a little rum and vanilla.
How to make cake “Pautinka”: here’s how (Check out the detailed recipe below.)
- For the meringue, whip egg whites with sugar and citric acid until stiff, spread the meringue mixture in the form of three circles on baking sheets, dry the cake layers in the oven at 80 °C convection oven for about 3 hours and let them cool.
- For the cream, first puree the strawberries and simmer the puree briefly with pectin. Then boil the sugar syrup from water and sugar to 108 °C, let it cool down and mix it with sweetened condensed milk. Now whip the butter until fluffy and stir in the condensed milk-sugar syrup in batches. Then add vanilla and rum. Pour some of the cream into a clean bowl and stir the strawberry puree into the remaining cream.
- Spread the two meringue cake layers with the strawberry cream and stack them on top of each other. Place the third cake layer on top and spread it with the cream without strawberries. Done!
How to make meringue cake “The Spider Web”: tips and tricks
- Use room-warm egg whites and fine sugar for the meringue so that the sugar dissolves more quickly when whipped.
- You can additionally prepare the meringue cake layers with toasted chopped nuts.
- The meringue is finished drying when it is also dry from the underside and no longer moist. To check it, carefully turn one of the meringue cake layers together with the baking paper and tap the underside.
- Be careful with the meringue cake layers because they are very fragile.
- You can make the meringue cake layers the day before and store them in a dry place.
- Butter and the condensed milk-sugar syrup need to be room-warm when whipped into a cream, and both need to be about the same temperature to combine well.
- Instead of making strawberry puree, you can use ready-made strawberry jam for the cream.
- Vanilla for the cream can be vanilla sugar, vanilla powder, vanilla extract or vanilla bean scraped out.
- You can leave out rum in the cream.
Did you make the cake “Pautinka” using this recipe? I’m looking forward to your result, your star rating and your comment here below, how you succeeded and tasted the Soviet meringue cake “The Spider Web”.
Got an appetite for more cakes with meringue? Try:
- Cake “Tavrichesky” – luxury Soviet cake from Yalta
- “Vetka” – Soviet sponge meringue cake with nut “The tree branch”
- Meringue cake “The Flight” – recipe for Russian classic with nut & without flour
Cake "Pautinka" (meringue cake "The Spider Web")
Equipment
- kitchen thermometer
Ingredients
for the meringue
- 6 egg whites (210 g for me)
- approx. 420 g sugar fine (twice as much as egg whites)
- 1/4 tsp citric acid food grade
for the cream
- 130 g strawberries
- 120 g butter room-warm
- 75 g sugar
- 30 g sweetened condensed milk room-warm
- 25 ml water
- 3 g apple pectin
- 1 tbsp rum room-warm
- vanilla
for the edge
- meringue crumbs
- 30 g walnut kernels roasted and chopped
for the decorating
- 30 g dark chocolate
- strawberries
- walnut kernels
Instructions
Preparation of the meringue
- Beat egg whites with citric acid until foamy.
- Add sugar in portions and continue beating until a white, glossy stiff mass is formed.
- Line two baking sheets with baking paper and spread the meringue mixture on them in the form of three circles, each about 18 cm in diameter (two circles on one baking sheet and one circle on the second baking sheet).
- Dry the three meringue cake layers in the oven at 80 °C convection oven for about 3 hours and let them cool thoroughly.
Preparation of the cream
- Puree strawberries and stir in apple pectin.
- Put the strawberry mixture into a small saucepan, bring to a boil while stirring and simmer for 2 - 3 minutes. Let it cool down afterwards.
- Add sugar and water to a small saucepan, bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly so that the sugar dissolves completely before boiling, and continue to boil the sugar syrup over medium heat until it reaches 108 °C. Then take it off the heat, immediately transfer it to a clean container and let it cool to room temperature.
- Add sweetened condensed milk to the sugar syrup and mix until homogeneous.
- Beat softened butter for about 5 minutes until fluffy and creamy.
- Add the condensed milk-sugar syrup to the butter in batches and beat each time until homogeneous.
- Add vanilla and then rum to the butter cream and beat briefly until homogeneous.
- Pour two tablespoons of butter cream into a small bowl and set aside for the time being. Add the strawberry mixture to the rest of the cream in batches and whip each time to a homogeneous strawberry cream.
Preparation of the cake
- Carefully cut off any bumps in the meringue cake layers, crumble them and mix them with toasted and chopped walnuts.
- Leave a small amount of strawberry cream for the edge of the cake. Spread the remaining strawberry cream on two meringue cake layers and stack them on top of each other. Place the third meringue cake layer on top and spread with the white butter cream set aside without strawberries.
- Spread the edge of the cake with the leftover strawberry cream and sprinkle it with the mixture of walnuts and meringue crumbs.
- Refrigerate the cake while you prepare the decoration.
Decorate the cake
- Melt dark chocolate and let it cool so it doesn't become too runny.
- Pour the chocolate into a piping bag with a very small hole and draw a spiral on the cake. Now use a toothpick to draw lines from the center to the edge of the cake, as if you were cutting it into cake pieces.
- Decorate the cake as you like with strawberries and walnut kernels and chill it for a few hours.
Notes
- The meringue is finished drying when it is also dry from the bottom and no longer moist. To check it, carefully turn one of the meringue cake layers together with the baking paper and tap the bottom side.
- You can make the meringue cake layers the day before and store them in a dry place.
- Instead of making strawberry puree, you can use ready-made strawberry jam for the cream.
- Vanilla for the cream can be vanilla sugar, vanilla powder, vanilla extract or vanilla bean scraped out.
- Rum in the cream can be omitted.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the cake "Pautinka" above in the post.