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Cake "Skazka" – the sweet "fairy tale" from the Soviet era
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Cake "Skazka"

With its fairy tale appearance and equally fairy tale taste, the cake "Skazka" probably enchants everyone. Not without reason it got this name and was so popular in the Soviet Union. The "fairy tale cake" tastes heavenly creamy, moist and tender. Looking like a dreamy flower meadow, it attracts everyone to try a piece of it. With this recipe you can make the famous Soviet sponge roll cake with butter cream, which at the same time is one of the simplest cakes of that time, yourself.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Russian, Soviet
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 30 minutes
Cooling time 2 hours
Servings 12

Equipment

  • Piping bag with basket weave, star and leaf nozzle

Ingredients

for the batter

  • 3 eggs room warm
  • 110 g sugar
  • 80 g flour
  • 10 g cornstarch
  • 8 g vanilla sugar
  • 1 pinch of salt

for the cream

  • 250 g butter room warm
  • 150 ml milk
  • 170 g sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tbsp rum (cognac or liqueur), room warm

for the sugar syrup

  • 70 ml water
  • 70 g sugar
  • 1 tbsp rum (cognac or liqueur)

for the decorating (alternative)

  • food coloring pink
  • food coloring green

Instructions

Preparation of the batter

  • Separate egg yolks from egg whites. Beat egg whites with salt until light fluffy, then add vanilla sugar and sugar in portions and beat until stiff.
  • Stir egg yolks into beaten egg whites one at a time.
  • Mix flour with cornstarch and fold into the egg-sugar mixture to make a fluffy, thick sponge batter.
  • Spread the batter evenly on a baking tray lined with baking paper, bake the sponge cake in a preheated oven at 180 °C top and bottom heat for about 10 minutes and let it cool.

Preparation of the sugar syrup

  • Put sugar and water in a small saucepan and boil briefly, stirring constantly so that the sugar dissolves before it boils. Let the sugar syrup cool.
  • Add rum to the sugar syrup and mix.

Preparation of the cream

  • Put egg, sugar and milk in a thick-bottomed saucepan and mix well.
  • Place the saucepan on the stove, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, and then continue to boil, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Let the milk syrup cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
  • Beat softened butter until fluffy and creamy, about 5 minutes.
  • Add milk syrup to butter in batches, beating each time to form a homogeneous cream.
  • Add rum to the butter cream and whip it again briefly to a homogeneous mass.

Preparation of the cake

  • Cut off a 0.5 - 1 cm thick edge from all sides of the sponge cake and crumble it finely.
  • Soak the sponge cake with the sugar syrup.
  • Alternatively, to decorate the cake, transfer about two tablespoons of butter cream into a clean bowl and set aside for now.
  • Spread about half of the remaining butter cream evenly on the sponge cake and roll it up from the shorter side.
  • Stir cocoa powder into the second half of the butter cream and spread a thin layer of the chocolate cream on the top and sides of the roll cake.
  • Sprinkle the sides of the sponge roll cake with the sponge crumbs.
  • Fill the remaining chocolate cream into the piping bag with the basket weave piping nozzle and pipe stripes along the surface of the sponge roll cake of the long side.

Decorating the cake (alternative)

  • Color about 2/3 of the butter cream set aside with pink food coloring and the remaining with green food coloring.
  • Fill the pink butter cream into the piping bag with the star nozzle and pipe flowers onto the sponge roll cake.
  • Fill the green butter cream into the piping bag with the leaf nozzle and pipe leaves next to the flowers on the sponge roll cake.
  • Refrigerate the cake "Skazka" for at least 2 hours.

Notes

  • It is important not to bake the sponge cake longer than necessary, otherwise it will not be elastic, but brittle and will not form into a roll. To check if the sponge cake is done baking, gently press on its surface with a finger about the middle. If it springs back after being pressed and no marks remain, it is done.
  • Cornstarch for the sponge batter can be substituted with the same amount of flour.
  • Alcohol in the cream and sugar syrup can be left out, or you can use vanilla or a fruit syrup instead, among other things.
  • Butter, the milk syrup, and possibly rum must be room warm, and all about the same temperature when whipped into the cream so they can combine well.
  • Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the cake "Skazka" at the top of the post.