Pancho cake – recipe for Russian volcano cake with pineapple

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The Pancho cake consists of fruity pineapple pieces, aromatic walnuts, delicate sour cream, fluffy chocolate sponge cake and chocolatey glaze. It tastes creamy, moist and heavenly delicious. With its fancy appearance, the Russian volcano cake is an eye-catcher on the dining table.

The recipe is very simple. You can also modify it as you like. You can find a detailed Pancho cake recipe with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.

Pancho cake recipe

Who invented the cake?

The Pancho cake, sometimes called Don Pancho or Sancho Pancho, originated from a large Moscow pastry shop. And even though the recipe for it is kept secret, many in Russia make the cake at home. Because what it consists of, approximately, you can guess.

It is a sponge cake with sour cream and pineapple or other fruits. The cake is decorated with a chocolate glaze.

Russian volcano cake

Pancho cake without pineapple

Most of the time, Pancho cake is made with pineapple. Instead of pickled pineapple, you can use fresh pineapple for the recipe. Make sure that it is very ripe.

But you can also make the Russian volcano cake with other fruits. For example, it is often filled with pickled cherries. You can also use any fresh fruit. How about strawberries, peaches or bananas? The Russian volcano cake also tastes delicious with a mixture of pineapple and other fruits.

Alternative cake cream with cream

Instead of using the classic sour cream, you can make the Russian volcano cake with a sour cream cream. For this you take cream and sour cream in any ratio. If you want a pronounced sour note in the cake, use a little more sour cream than cream.

Whip the cream, sour cream and powdered sugar together until creamy. The cake cream is ready. The sour cream and cream must be cold. The amount of powdered sugar you determine according to taste.

The Russian volcano cake also tastes delicious with an ordinary cream. Simply whip the cream and powdered sugar until creamy.

How to make Pancho cake

Sponge cake variations for Russian volcano cake

A classic chocolate sponge cake also works for the Pancho cake. Leftover sponge cake that you may already have at home can be used just as well for the recipe. You can make a vanilla and a chocolate sponge for the volcano cake. You then mix the two sponges in the cake.

Chocolate ganache instead of chocolate glaze

I used a chocolate glaze on the Russian volcano cake. It is made of chocolate and a little butter.

You can make a chocolate ganache instead. You can find a recipe for it in my post for the chocolate honey cake with ganache. Of course, you have to reduce the amounts by quite a bit.

Simply melted chocolate can also be used to decorate the Pancho cake. You can use milk or dark chocolate.

Russian volcano cake recipe

Assemble Pancho cake in bowl

To make the Pancho cake dome-shaped, you can use a salad bowl. Then assemble the volcano cake in reverse order, from top to bottom.

Line the salad bowl with cling film so that the film hangs outwards, and layer the sponge cubes dipped in the sour cream, then the walnut kernels and pineapple pieces alternately. When you have used up all the ingredients, place the round sponge cake base on top and chill the cake.

Once the Pancho cake is well cooled, invert it onto a flat plate, remove the bowl and plastic wrap, and spread with the remaining sour cream.

By the way, try my dome-shaped knit hat cake, which is also formed with the help of a salad bowl. Only here the procedure is a little different.

This volcano cake is

  • tender,
  • creamy,
  • fluffy,
  • fruity,
  • moist,
  • nutty,
  • soft,
  • incredibly delicious,
  • with pineapple,
  • also possible with other fruits,
  • easy to make yourself,
  • a fancy eye-catcher on the dining table,
  • sweet classic of Russian cuisine.

Sponge cake with sour cream and pineapple

Simple Pancho cake recipe

The recipe for the Russian volcano cake, which you can find below, is pretty simple. To make it, you first bake a chocolate sponge cake. This is not a classic sponge cake, but the batter is prepared with milk and vegetable oil.

From the sponge cake baked on a baking sheet, cut out a round cake base. Cut the leftover chocolate sponge cake into cubes.

For the cream, just mix sour cream and powdered sugar. For the filling, cut the pineapple into cubes and roughly chop the roasted nuts.

Now assemble a dome-shaped cake by alternating the prepared components on the round cake base, dipping the sponge cake cubes in the sour cream beforehand.

Let the finished volcano cake cool down and decorate it with chocolate glaze.

How to make Russian volcano cake: tips and tricks

  • Use a toothpick to check whether the sponge cake is baked.
  • You can adjust the amount of powdered sugar for the cream according to your taste.
  • Vanilla for the cream can be among other things vanilla bean**, vanilla sugar or vanilla extract.
  • You can also make the Russian volcano cake with fresh pineapple. Choose a very ripe pineapple for this.
  • Instead of pineapple you can use other fruits.
  • You can omit walnuts from the recipe.

Video for the Russian volcano cake recipe

By the way, you can find a short video for the Russian Pancho cake on my Youtube channel. There you can see exactly how to make it yourself. If you don’t want to miss any more videos from me, feel free to subscribe to my channel.

Did you make the Pancho cake yourself using this recipe? I’m looking forward to your result, your star rating and your comment here below on how you succeeded and tasted the Russian volcano cake.

Looking for more cake recipes with fruits? Try some more:

Pancho cake recipe

Pancho cake (Russian volcano cake)

The Pancho cake consists of fruity pineapple pieces, aromatic walnuts, delicate sour cream, fluffy chocolate sponge cake and chocolatey glaze. It tastes creamy, moist and heavenly delicious. With its fancy appearance, the Russian volcano cake is an eye-catcher on the dining table. With this simple recipe, which you can modify as you like, you can make the Pancho cake yourself.
Prep Time 50 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Cooling Time 4 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine Russian
Servings 16

Ingredients
  

for the batter

for the cream

  • 1 kg sour cream cold
  • 150 g powdered sugar
  • vanilla

for the filling

for the chocolate glaze

Instructions
 

Preparation of the batter

  • Beat eggs, sugar and salt to an airy light mass.
  • Add vegetable oil and whisk briefly until a homogeneous mass.
  • Add milk and mix again briefly to a homogeneous mass.
  • Mix flour with cocoa powder and baking powder.
  • Fold the flour mixture into the egg-sugar mixture to make a fluffy, thick chocolate sponge cake batter.
  • Spread the batter evenly on a baking tray lined with baking paper, bake the chocolate sponge cake in a preheated oven at 180 °C top and bottom heat for about 15 minutes and let it cool.
  • Cut out a round, approx. Ø 24 cm cake base from the chocolate sponge cake. Cut the remaining sponge cake into small cubes.

Preparation of the filling

  • Drain pineapple and cut it into small cubes.

Preparation of the cream

  • Mix sour cream with powdered sugar and vanilla.

Preparation of the cake

  • Pour some sour cream into a clean bowl to spread on the outside of the cake and put it aside for the time being.
  • Leave some toasted and coarsely chopped walnut kernels to decorate the cake.
  • Spread the sour cream on the round sponge cake base. Spread some pineapple chunks and walnut kernels on top. Dip some sponge cake cubes in the sour cream (it is enough to dip the cubes only with one side in the cream) and spread them on the pineapple and walnuts. Continue stacking the pineapple pieces, walnuts and sponge cake cubes dipped in the sour cream in a dome shape, alternating them until all the ingredients are used up and a dome cake is formed. Use your hands to gently press it slightly on all sides so that no empty space is left in the cake.
  • Now spread the outside of the cake with the sour cream set aside and chill it for at least 3 hours (or overnight).

Preparation of the chocolate glaze

  • Slowly melt dark chocolate together with butter.
  • Drizzle the top of the cake with the chocolate glaze and sprinkle some walnuts on top.
  • Chill the Pancho cake for about 1 hour.

Notes

  • Use a toothpick to check if the sponge cake is baked.
  • The amount of powdered sugar for the cream can be adjusted to taste.
  • As vanilla for the cream goes among other things vanilla bean**, vanilla sugar or vanilla extract.
  • Walnuts can be omitted.
  • Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the Pancho cake at the top of the post.

If you are using Pinterest, you can pin the following picture:

Pin Pancho cake

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