Russian sponge cake with butter cream: popular cake of Soviet era

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Heavenly moist, fluffy, soft, creamy, tender tastes this sponge cake with butter cream. Not without reason it was one of the most popular Russian cakes in the Soviet Union. Here I show you how you can easily make it yourself at home and decorate it like the original. You can find a detailed recipe for the Russian sponge cake with butter cream with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.

Russian sponge cake with butter cream: popular cake of the Soviet era

The most popular cake of the Soviet era

Everyone who lived through the Soviet era probably remembers this sponge cake with butter cream. It was available for purchase in every Russian pastry shop back then. No matter for what occasion – if you got a ready-made cake, it was often exactly this sponge cake. Its trademark, by which the cake was immediately recognized, were pink flowers and green leaves from the butter cream with which it was decorated. Although in Russian stores you can still find this sponge cake, which outwardly corresponds to the original from the Soviet Union, but in terms of taste is usually far from it.

Sponge cake with butter cream

What is the most popular Soviet cake made of?

This Soviet cake is actually a very simple cake made of sponge cake and butter cream. Nevertheless, it tastes incredibly delicious. Probably, it was so widespread and popular in the Soviet era precisely for these two reasons – simple and very tasty. The sponge cake that makes up the cake is fluffy, soft and, due to the fact that it is soaked in sugar syrup, moist. The butter cream tastes delicate and creamy. When combined, the two components create an unforgettable taste experience.

How to decorate Russian sponge cake with butter cream?

Of course, you can decorate the sponge cake according to your taste. But even without any decoration it tastes no less delicious. I had decorated the cake like the Soviet original, namely with pink flowers and green leaves from the butter cream. The classic colors of the flowers and leaves on the cake are pastel colors, which are not too colorful, but look calm and light.

Popular Soviet cake

What tools are needed for decorating?

If you want to decorate the Russian sponge cake in the classic way, you will mainly need a piping bag with the appropriate nozzles for piping the flowers and leaves from the butter cream. To pipe the stems for the flowers you need a round nozzle with a very small hole. I had made the flowers at the top of the stems with a rose petal piping nozzle. To pipe the leaves, you’ll need a leaf piping nozzle. You can make the flowers at the bottom of the stems with a closed star nozzle. I had decorated the edge of the cake using an open star nozzle. You will also need a pink and a green food coloring to color the butter cream. I use the gel food coloring. But you can also use some in powder form.

The Russian sponge cake with butter cream is

  • moist,
  • fluffy,
  • soft,
  • creamy,
  • tender,
  • aromatic,
  • heavenly delicious,
  • an eye-catcher on the dining table,
  • easy to make yourself with common ingredients,
  • perfect for a party, weekday or weekend dessert,
  • the most popular classic of Soviet cuisine.

Recipe for Russian sponge cake with butter cream

The recipe for Russian sponge cake with butter cream is very easy. For this you just need to bake the sponge cake and whip the cream. Here you can get a rough idea of how the making of the cake goes, and what you need for the recipe. The exact quantities and step-by-step instructions for making the Russian sponge cake with butter cream can be found in the recipe box below.

For the sponge dough you need eggs (separate the whites from the yolks), sugar, flour, vanilla and a pinch of salt. First, whip egg whites with sugar and salt until stiff, then add vanilla and egg yolks one at a time and continue whipping until fluffy. Then fold in flour and bake the sponge in a round springform pan. After it has cooled, cut it lengthwise into two cake layers, cutting off the bulge and crumbling it. Soak the cake layers with the sugar syrup, which you boil briefly beforehand from water and sugar and flavor with rum or cognac.

For the cream you need only soft butter, sweetened condensed milk, powdered sugar and rum or cognac for flavoring. First, beat the butter and powdered sugar until fluffy, then add small amounts of sweetened condensed milk and finally rum or cognac and beat until fluffy and creamy.

Now spread the two cake layers with the cream, stack them on top of each other, brush the edge of the cake with the cream and sprinkle the edge with the crumbs. Then decorate the sponge cake as desired and chill it for a while. And it’s ready!

Russian cake with sponge and butter cream

How to make Russian sponge cake with butter cream: tips and tricks

  • Use room-warm eggs for the sponge cake. This allows the sugar to dissolve more quickly when whipped.
  • You can use vanilla sugar, vanilla powder, vanilla extract or vanilla bean scraped out as vanilla for the sponge cake.
  • To bake the sponge cake, you will need a Ø 20 cm baking springform pan.
  • Use a toothpick to check if the sponge is baked. Insert it briefly into the center of the sponge and see if it comes out clean. Alternatively, you can use a finger to gently press on the surface of the sponge about halfway down. If it springs back after pressing, and no marks remain to be seen, it is ready.
  • All the ingredients for the cream need to be room warm and all about the same temperature when whipped together to make the cream, so they can combine well.
  • You can make sweetened condensed milk for the cake cream yourself.
  • Alcohol for the cream and the sugar syrup is alternative. You can simply omit it or use something else for flavoring instead.
  • You can also decorate the sponge cake differently – according to your taste.
  • Store the Russian sponge cake with butter cream in the refrigerator. You can store it for up to 3 days.

Have you made the sponge cake with butter cream according to this recipe? I’m looking forward to your results, your star rating and your comment below on how you liked the Russian cake.

Got an appetite for more Russian cakes? Try also:

Russian sponge cake with butter cream

Russian sponge cake with butter cream

Heavenly moist, fluffy, soft, creamy, tender tastes this sponge cake with butter cream. Not without reason it was one of the most popular Russian cakes in the Soviet Union. According to this recipe you can easily make it yourself at home and decorate it like the original.
Prep Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Cooling time 3 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine Russian
Servings 8

Equipment

  • Ø 20 cm baking pan
  • piping bag

Ingredients
  

for the dough

  • 5 eggs (room temperature)
  • 130 g sugar
  • 150 g flour
  • vanilla
  • 1 pinch of salt

for the cream

  • 210 g sweetened condensed milk (room temperature)
  • 300 g butter (room temperature)
  • 100 g powdered sugar
  • 1 tbsp rum or cognac (room temperature)

for the sugar syrup

  • 100 ml water
  • 80 g sugar
  • 1 tbsp rum or cognac

for decorating

  • some cocoa powder
  • pink food coloring
  • green food coloring

Instructions
 

Making of the dough

  • Line the bottom of the baking pan with baking paper.
  • Separate egg yolks from whites and beat egg whites with sugar and salt until stiff.
  • Add vanilla and one at a time, gradually adding egg yolks and beating each time until fluffy.
  • Fold in flour to make an airy, thick batter.
  • Pour the sponge mixture into the baking pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C top and bottom heat for about 35 minutes. Allow the sponge cake to cool and then store in an airtight container overnight.

Making of the sugar syrup

  • Put water and sugar in a small saucepan and boil it briefly, stirring constantly so that the sugar dissolves before it boils. Take the sugar syrup off the heat and let it cool.
  • Add rum or cognac and stir it.

Making of the cream

  • Beat softened butter and powdered sugar for about 4 - 5 minutes until fluffy and white.
  • In small portions, gradually add sweetened condensed milk, beating each time until homogeneous.
  • Add rum or cognac and whip again briefly to a homogeneous cream.

Making of the sponge cake

  • Cut off the curvature of the sponge cake and crumble it finely.
  • Cut the sponge lengthwise into two equally thick cake layers.
  • Soak the two cake layers from the cut side with the sugar syrup and let them dry a bit for about 5 minutes.
  • Pour about 1/3 of the cream into a clean bowl and put it aside for the time being.
  • Spread the remaining cream on the two cake layers and stack them on top of each other.
  • Spread the edges of the cake with a small amount of the cream you set aside (leave the rest for decorating) and sprinkle the crumbs over the edges.

Decorate the sponge cake

  • Pour some of the leftover cream into the piping bag with the open star nozzle and pipe a strip of cream on the surface of the cake at the edge.
  • Color a very small amount of cream with cocoa powder and draw three very thin lines representing the flower stems on the surface of the cake using the piping bag and the small hole nozzle.
  • Now color another part of the cream with pink food coloring, put some of it in the piping bag with the rose petal nozzle and the rest in the piping bag with the closed star nozzle and pipe flowers at the top of the lines with the first nozzle and flowers at the bottom of the lines with the second nozzle.
  • Color the remaining cream with green food coloring, fill it into the piping bag with the leaf piping nozzle and pipe leaves next to the flowers.
  • Chill the sponge cake with butter cream for about 3 hours.

Notes

  • Use a toothpick to check if the sponge cake is done baking. Alternatively, use a finger to gently press on the surface of the sponge cake and see if it springs back after pressing, leaving no marks to be seen.
  • All ingredients for the cream must be room warm and all about the same temperature when whipped together to make the cream, so they can combine well.
  • Alcohol for the cream and sugar syrup is alternative.
  • The sponge cake can be decorated to taste as desired.
  • Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the Russian sponge cake with butter cream at the top of the post.
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