So I haven’t eaten any dairy for about 6 months and the past two weeks before my birthday I had the greatest craving for ‘smetanik’ or a sour cream cake. After a store bought one did not satisfy my cravings (because it tasted nothing like the real thing, creamy plastic on dry bread with sugar would have tasted better) I decide to make my own. I knew that ‘kolobok’ would suffer from it but it would be only for a little bit. I promise I will have just a little piece. I found this Russian recipe online and proceeded to create my obsession. The recipe turned out very simple and easy to make -coming from someone who does not like baking and finds everything that has to do with dough or flour difficult. This is a quick cake to make; takes a little bit more work than brownies but tastes unbelievably superior. My only complaint about the recipe is WAY too much sugar! Next time –if there is a next time- I will put one third of sugar into the cream. This cake is NOT dairy-free for it has condensed milk, butter, and sour cream in it. When I’m done breastfeeding I will make this cake to celebrate!
100g Butter
2 eggs
1 can condensed milk
3/4 c flour
1-1.5 TBSP cacao powder
1 tsp baking soda
1tsp vinegar
700-800 g sour cream
3 c sugar (use less)
Melt butter in a double boiler (or use a microwave if you have/use one). In a mixing bowl beat eggs by hand or on slow speed in mixer. Add butter to the eggs slowly while mixing and mix till it’s a single consistency. Then add the condense milk and mix well. React baking soda with vinegar and add it to the mix. Mix in flour adding little at a time. Preheat oven to 350F, butter a cake pan, and pour half of the batter in to it. Put it in the oven and let bake for 15-20 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Meanwhile add cacao powder to remaining batter and mix throughout. Take out the first layer and let cool. Butter the pan again and pour in the chocolate batter. Bake as previous piece. When it will be done take it out and let cool. While it’s baking you can start making the cream. Pour the sour cream into a mixing bowl, add sugar to it and start mixing till sugar dissolves. When the two cakes have cooled cut of the edge and crumble it and set aside. You will use this to decorate the cake. Slice the two cakes in half so you have 4 layers of cake. Place the first half on a plate and cover with the sour cream and poke holes in the cake to help the cream absorb into the cake. Add a different color cake and spread cream in it, then the third and spread cream in it as well and the last and spread cream on it. Decorate the cake with the crumbs and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight.
Tip: When I attempted this cake twice with regular Daisy brand sour cream it would spill off the sides of my cake. If I attempted to dump all of the cream on the cake as the recipe calls for my cake would be swimming in a 5 foot pool of sour cream. This would also result in a huge mess. So I just always had a lot of sour cream left over and the cake tasted dry. My belle-soeur informed me that sour cream in Russia is way thicker for some reason and if I substitute 1/3 (maybe more) of the sour cream for cream cheese then it would hold together and I could get more into the cake and it would absorb better. I have not tried this yet but am planning on when I make this cake again. If you try it let me know what works for you.
aamaksimchuk 