The popular Soviet cake "Tavrichesky" consists of an incredibly soft sponge cake, which melts in your mouth, the crispy meringue, which melts on the tongue, and the delicate butter cream with a light caramel note. It belonged to a cake jewel in those days and could not be got in every confectioner's shop. With this recipe you can make it yourself at home.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Russian, Soviet
Prep Time 1 hourhour15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Drying and cooling time 7 hourshours
Servings 12
Equipment
Ø 26 cm large baking springform pan
Ingredients
for the sponge cake
4eggs
3egg yolks
165gsugar
20mlwaterroom-warm
150gflour
15gcornstarch
4gbaking powder
8gvanilla sugar
1pinch ofsalt
for the meringue
3egg whitesroom-warm
200gsugarfine
1generous pinch ofcitric acidfood grade
for the cream
330gbutterroom-warm
245gcaramelized sweetened condensed milkroom-warm
for the sugar syrup
80mlwater
65gsugar
8gvanilla sugar
Instructions
Preparation of the sponge cake
Line the bottom of a 26 cm Ø springform pan with baking paper.
Beat eggs, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt until you have a light and fluffy mixture.
Add water and beat to a homogeneous fluffy mass.
Mix flour with cornstarch and baking powder and fold it into the egg-sugar mixture to make a fluffy thick sponge batter.
Pour the batter into the baking pan, bake the sponge cake in a preheated oven at 170 °C top and bottom heat for about 30 minutes and let it cool down.
Preparation of the meringue
Beat egg whites until foamy.
Add sugar in batches and beat until stiff, and the sugar should dissolve.
Add citric acid and whip briefly.
Spread the meringue mixture evenly on a sheet of baking paper in the shape of an approx. Ø 24 cm circle (it will become slightly larger in diameter when baked), dry it at 100 °C top and bottom heat for approx. 3 hours and let it cool.
Preparation of the sugar syrup
Put water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring so that the sugar dissolves before boiling.
Remove the sugar syrup from the heat, stir in vanilla sugar and let it cool.
Preparation of the cream
Beat softened butter for about 5 minutes until fluffy and creamy.
Add caramelized sweetened condensed milk in batches and whip each time to a homogeneous cream.
Preparation of the cake
Cut off any unevenness in the sponge cake and the meringue, crumble them and mix them together.
Cut the sponge cake lengthwise into two equally thick cake layers and soak them with the sugar syrup.
Leave some cream for decorating, if necessary, and a small amount for the edge of the cake. Spread the remaining cream on the two sponge cake bases and the meringue cake base and stack them on top of each other, placing the meringue cake base between the sponge cake bases. Lightly brush the edge of the cake with the cream and sprinkle with the sponge meringue crumbs.
Decorate the cake as desired and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Notes
Use a wooden skewer to check if the sponge cake is done baking.
The meringue is finished drying when it is also dry from the bottom and no longer moist. To check it, carefully turn the meringue together with the baking paper and tap on the underside.
Be careful with the meringue because it is very fragile.
You can make the cream or meringue cake base additionally with toasted chopped nuts.
You can make the meringue layer smaller if you like the cake less sweet. In this case, reduce the appropriate amounts and make a thinner meringue cake base.
Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the cake "Tavrichesky" above in the post.