Meringue cake “The Flight” – recipe for Russian classic with nut & without flour

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Crispy meringue cake layers with aromatic peanuts and popular buttercream “Charlotte” create a flavorful unforgettable duo that makes up the Russian cake “The Flight”. The meringue cake is a classic cake from the Soviet era. It tastes crunchy, nutty and sweet. At the same time, the cake is airy and light, just like the flight of a bird. The recipe for the peanut meringue cake is very simple. You’ll only need a few common ingredients for it. You can find a detailed recipe for the meringue cake “The Flight” with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.

Meringue cake "The Flight" – recipe for Russian classic without flour

Meringue pie “The Flight” – sweet classic of Russian cuisine

This Russian meringue cake dates back to the Soviet era. However, at that time it was very difficult to buy it, because it was not available in every pastry shop, and it was also expensive. Nevertheless, people loved the cake – like so many other delicious cakes from the Soviet era. How could you resist this delicious meringue cake, too! Isn’t it great that you can now make it yourself according to this recipe!!!

Meringue cake without flour

The meringue pie “The Flight” is prepared completely without flour. As a result, the meringue pie layers taste light and crispy at the same time. They practically melt in your mouth. Roasted peanuts also make them very aromatic.

Peanut meringue pie

Peanut meringue cake with “Charlotte” cream

If you have already tried your way through some Russian cakes, you have surely noticed that the buttercream “Charlotte” is very popular among them. It is used to make many Russian cakes, especially those from the Soviet era. The cream is made of milk syrup and butter, perfectly combined with various types of cake base, and it is not without reason that it is so popular in Russia. For example, the popular cake “Fairy Tale” is made with it.

Meringue cake “The Flight” – for all those with a sweet tooth

Russian cake “The Flight” is a perfect dessert for those who love to eat sweet cakes. If meringues is one of your favorite desserts, you will be thrilled with this cake. Toasted nuts also add variety to the sweet meringues and make them taste extra nutty.

Which nuts can I use?

According to the original recipe or GOST, as it is called in Russian, you prepare the meringue cake “The Flight” with peanuts. But you can also use other nuts, depending on your taste. For example, the cake tastes delicious with cashews, almonds or hazelnuts. Just use your favorite nuts if you don’t like peanuts.

Russian cake "The flight"

What can I prepare in advance for the peanut meringue pie?

You can bake the meringue pie crusts one batter ahead of time. You can also cook the milk syrup in advance and then let it cool overnight. The next day, just make the meringue cream completely, spread it on the cake layers, and your cake is ready. The cake will still taste delicious the next few days after you make it. You can put it in the fridge and enjoy it for about 5 days, if it is not eaten much faster.

Similarity with Kiev cake

Surely you know the popular Ukrainian Kiev cake or maybe you have even made it yourself. If you liked it, then you will also love the cake “The Flight”. The meringue cake is somewhat similar to the Kiev cake both in preparation and taste, but it also has its own peculiarities. For example, the two cakes consist of the popular cream “Charlotte” and the meringue cake layers with nuts. Only the meringue for the cake “The Flight” is prepared without flour and thus tastes crispier. According to the original recipe, the Kiev cake is made with cashews, while the Russian cake “The Flight” is made with peanuts.

Meringue cake without flour

Decorate the peanut meringue cake

Usually, the Russian cake “The Flight” is decorated with white meringue baubles, the yellow and the dark buttercream. For the dark color, a small amount of cream is colored with a little cocoa powder. Draw different lines, flowers, leaves and bonnets on the surface of the cake with the light cream and the chocolate cream and then place the meringue bumps on top.

When decorating the meringue cake, however, there are no limits to your imagination. You can decorate it however you like. I decorated the peanut meringue cake as follows (you can also see this in the pictures):

  1. In the middle of the cake I drew a pentagon with the chocolate cream (for this a small amount of buttercream was colored with cocoa powder). For this I used a piping bag with a Ø 2 mm hole nozzle.
  2. At each corner of this pentagon I placed the meringue stars, which I had piped with a star nozzle from the meringue mass and dried in the oven.
  3. On the meringue stars I drew leaves with the chocolate cream with a leaf nozzle.
  4. Then on the edge of the surface I made five bonnets with the light buttercream with the star nozzle, and in the middle of the surface I made another bonnet.
  5. On top of the cream bonnets were placed the meringue bonnets and from the light and dark buttercream leaves were drawn next to them.

Meringue cake with peanuts and without flour

The meringue cake “The Flight” is

  • crispy,
  • tender,
  • airy,
  • nutty,
  • sweet,
  • very tasty,
  • aromatic,
  • without flour,
  • with peanuts,
  • with buttercream,
  • pretty,
  • easy to prepare from common ingredients,
  • about Ø 20 cm big,
  • perfect for any celebration.

Russian meringue cake “The Flight”: the recipe

The exact quantities and step-by-step instructions, according to which you can make the peanut meringue cake yourself, you can find here below in the box recipe.

The recipe for the meringue cake “The Flight” is very simple. You only need a few ingredients for it, and the preparation is pretty quick. The only thing that takes longer is drying the meringue pie crust. You need to allow enough time for that.

For the meringue dough you need

  • peanuts,
  • egg whites,
  • sugar
  • and vanilla.

The peanuts must be roasted and finely chopped. Instead of peanuts you can also use other nuts of your choice.

For the buttercream you need

  • butter,
  • milk,
  • sugar
  • and egg yolks.

Alternatively, you can add a small amount of cognac for the flavor of the cream. Butter must be soft. So get it out of the fridge about half an hour earlier.

How to prepare a peanut meringue pie

  1. For the meringue dough, beat egg whites, sugar and vanilla until stiff. Fold in the chopped nuts and form two cake layers of approx. Ø 20 cm each. Dry the cake layers at 80 °C convection oven for approx. 2 hours, then turn them over and dry for another hour.
  2. For the butter cream, mix egg yolks, milk and sugar in a saucepan, boil briefly until it becomes a little thick and let the milk syrup cool down. Beat soft butter briefly, add the milk syrup in portions and whip to a homogeneous cream.
  3. Spread the butter cream on the two meringue cake layers and stack them on top of each other. Decorate the cake as desired and chill for a few hours. Done!

Cake "The flight" without flour

Tips and tricks: how to make the meringue cake “The Flight” perfectly

  • For the meringue you need twice as much sugar as your egg whites weigh. Therefore, first separate the egg whites from the yolks, weigh the egg whites and use twice the amount of sugar. In my case, 4 egg whites weighed 130 g, so I needed 260 g of sugar.
  • The nuts for the meringue should be roasted to release their flavor. You can either buy them already roasted or roast them yourself, for example in a pan or in the oven.
  • When you crush the nuts in a blender, you should make sure that no oil comes out of the nuts. The oil can cause the protein mixture to collapse later. So crush the nuts by turning the blender on for just a few seconds and then turning it off again. Repeat this until the nuts are chopped to the desired size. It’s better if you just chop the nuts by hand (with a knife).
  • For vanilla you can use vanilla sugar, vanilla powder, vanilla extract or vanilla bean scraped out.
  • Egg whites should be room warm so that the sugar can dissolve better when whipped, even if it takes longer to whip.
  • After whipping the egg white-sugar mixture, the sugar should be completely dissolved. You can check this by rubbing a small amount of the mixture between two fingers. If you don’t feel any crystals when rubbing, the sugar has dissolved. To ensure that the sugar dissolves before the mixture becomes stiff, you should first whip it on low or medium mixer or food processor speed and slowly increase the speed.
  • You should very carefully fold the chopped peanuts into the egg white mixture so that it remains stiff and glossy. Each time after you add a small portion of nuts to the egg white mixture, stir it only briefly and not too long.
  • It is important not to let the finished meringue rest. It must be processed or baked immediately.
  • If you can fit the two meringue layers on one baking sheet, you can also dry them at 100 °C top and bottom heat.
  • Note that the oven temperature must not be higher than 100 °C top and bottom heat or not higher than 80 °C convection heat when drying the two meringue pie crusts.
  • The meringue pie crusts must be dry and firm on both sides after baking.
  • For the cake cream, you can use 1 egg instead of two egg yolks. However, since the meringue requires 4 egg whites, leaving 4 egg yolks, it is ideal to use two of them for the cream.
  • Use a thick-bottomed saucepan to boil the milk syrup so that it does not burn.
  • To remove any lumps, for example from the egg yolks, from the milk syrup for the cream, you can pour the syrup through a sieve after boiling.
  • You should stir the milk syrup again and again as it cools so that no film forms on the surface.
  • It is important that the butter, milk syrup and cognac are all at room temperature before whipping into the cream, and that all three are at about the same temperature so that they can combine well.
  • You can omit the cognac from the cream.
  • You can decorate the meringue as you like.
  • Store the Russian peanut meringue in the refrigerator. It will keep for about 5 days.

Did you make the Russian peanut meringue using this recipe? I’m looking forward to your result, your star rating and your comment on the recipe below, how you succeeded and tasted the cake “The Flight”.

Russian meringue cake "The Flight"

Russian meringue cake "The Flight"

Crispy meringue cake layers with aromatic peanuts and popular buttercream "Charlotte" create a flavorful unforgettable duo that makes up the Russian cake "The Flight". The meringue cake is a classic cake from the Soviet era. It tastes crunchy, nutty and sweet. At the same time, the cake is airy and light, just like the flight of a bird. The recipe for the peanut meringue cake is very simple. For this you need only a few common ingredients.
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours 20 minutes
Cooling time 3 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine Russian
Servings 12

Equipment

  • piping bag (alternative)

Ingredients
  

for the meringue dough

  • 100 g peanuts (roasted and chopped)
  • egg whites of 4 eggs
  • approx. 260 g sugar (twice as much as egg whites)
  • vanilla
  • 1 pinch of salt

for the cream

  • 220 g butter (room temperature)
  • 120 ml milk
  • 130 g sugar
  • yolk of 2 eggs
  • 1 tbsp cognac

for sprinkling

  • 40 g peanuts
  • 3 - 4 meringue bumps

for decorating

  • some cocoa powder (alternative)

Instructions
 

Preparation of the meringue dough

  • Weigh egg whites and take twice the amount of sugar. Beat egg whites, sugar, vanilla and salt until stiff and glossy.
  • Pour 1 - 2 tablespoons of meringue into a piping bag and fold chopped peanuts into the remaining meringue.
  • Form two circles of the peanut meringue mixture, each about 20 cm in diameter, on a baking tray lined with baking paper. You can either first draw the circles on the baking paper with a pencil and then spread the meringue mixture inside, or you can place the edge of a Ø 20 cm springform pan on the baking paper, spread half of the meringue mixture inside, then carefully remove the edge and repeat the same for the second circle. Using the meringue without peanuts in a piping bag, make small meringue bumps or flowers on the baking sheet next to the two peanut meringue cake layers.
  • Dry the two peanut meringue cake layers and the meringue bumps in a preheated oven at 80 °C convection oven for approx. 2 hours. Then take out the meringue sticks, turn the two cake layers and dry them for another 1 hour. Let them cool down afterwards.

Preparation of the cream

  • Mix egg yolks, milk and sugar in a thick-bottomed saucepan until homogeneous. Put the saucepan on the stove and bring the mixture to the boil, stirring constantly. The sugar must have dissolved before the mixture starts to boil. Then boil the mixture, stirring, for about 5 minutes until it thickens slightly (about the consistency of sweetened condensed milk), remove it from the heat and let the milk syrup cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
  • Beat softened butter for about 4 - 5 minutes until creamy and white.
  • Gradually add the milk syrup in small portions, beating each time until a homogeneous creamy mass. Add the cognac last and whip briefly to a homogeneous cream. (For this, note the detailed tips and tricks for preparing the cake at the top of the post).

Preparing the meringue

  • Set aside some of the cream for decorating. Spread the two meringue layers with the cream and stack them on top of each other. Then spread the cream around the edges of the cake.
  • Chop some of the meringue and peanuts together and sprinkle over the edge of the cake.
  • Decorate the cake as you like with the set aside amount of cream (you can color a small amount of it with cocoa powder) and the meringue. Chill the meringue for at least 3 hours.

Notes

  • For the meringue mass, smoke twice as much sugar as the egg whites weigh.
  • If nuts are crushed in a blender, make sure that no oil comes out of the nuts. The oil may later cause the egg whites to collapse.
  • Fold the chopped peanuts into the egg white mixture very carefully to keep it stiff and glossy. Do not stir the mixture too long, but only briefly.
  • Do not let the finished meringue rest, but process or bake immediately.
  • The oven temperature when drying the two meringue cake layers must not exceed 100 °C top and bottom heat or 80 °C convection oven.
  • For the meringue cream, 1 whole egg can be used instead of two egg yolks.
  • To boil the milk syrup, use a saucepan with a thick bottom so that the syrup does not burn.
  • Butter, the milk syrup and cognac must be room warm and all three about the same temperature before whipping into the cream so they can combine well.
  • Cognac in the cream is alternative.
  • Note the detailed tips and tricks for DIY Russian meringue cake "The Flight" at the top of the post.
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