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Delicate, slightly crispy shortcrust layers, sweet chocolate caramel buttercream and fine dark chocolate are combined in the popular Armenian Mikado cake. With its numerous thin layers, it is a real eye-catcher on the coffee table. You can find a detailed Mikado cake recipe with the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions below.
Popular Armenian classic
Alongside the cake “Ptichka” and the cake “The male ideal”, the Mikado cake is one of the most popular cakes in Armenia. Here you can buy it in numerous cafeterias, pastry shops and supermarkets. Armenian families also like to make it at home.
What is the Mikado cake made of?
There are various recipes for the Armenian Mikado cake, which differ slightly from each other, just like for the Soviet Smetannik cake “Mishka na severe”, the cake “Charodeyka” or the cake “Cherepacha”. Above all, there are several variations for the cake cream.
The cake bases for the Mikado cake are made from a shortcrust pastry, similar to that used for the Soviet cake “Landish”, the Leningradsky cake, the cake “Abrikotin” and the cake “Antoshka”. They are rolled out very thinly. This makes them taste tender and slightly crispy after baking and they practically melt in the mouth.
I made the cream for the Mikado cake from caramelized sweetened condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder. It tastes sweet, chocolaty and slightly caramelized.
The Mikado cake is also sprinkled with grated chocolate. This gives it a subtle note and rounds off its taste.
Preparing the cake layers correctly
You need to roll out each cake layer quite thinly, almost translucent, just like the dough for the Tatar cookies “Barmak”. It is best to do this on a sheet of baking paper and dust it with flour.
I used the dough to make 10 cake layers with a diameter of Ø 24 cm. This made my Mikado cake quite high, similar to the medovik cake.
In Armenia, on the other hand, it looks rather flat. This means you can roll out fewer cake layers, which are then larger in diameter. For example, make only 7 or 8 cake layers. This will save you the time needed for rolling out and baking.
The cake layers are baked one after the other. They are ready fairly quickly. Do not leave them unattended in the oven so that they do not burn.
The cake layers should cool on a flat surface so that they retain their flat shape. As long as they are hot, they can quickly become misshapen.
Also handle the cake layers very carefully. They are very fragile, both when they are hot and after they have cooled down.
Alternative ideas for cake cream
Depending on your preferences, you can prepare different fillings for the Mikado cake. In my recipe, the cream consists of caramelized sweetened condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder.
You can use a chocolate spread instead of cocoa. Mix a small amount of it with caramelized sweetened condensed milk and then whip it with butter.
For a lighter version with a sour note, you can make the cream for the Mikado cake from caramelized sweetened condensed milk and sour cream, similar to the one used for the honey cake “Korovka”. Or it can also consist of caramelized sweetened condensed milk and cream, as for the cake “Damskiy kapriz”. In any case, you determine the proportions between the two ingredients yourself according to taste.
There are also recipes for the Armenian Mikado cake with a cream consisting of chocolate pudding, caramelized sweetened condensed milk and butter. The chocolate pudding mixture is then prepared in a similar way to the chocolate Spartak cake recipe, but with a little cocoa powder. Once the caramelized sweetened condensed milk and butter have been whipped together, stir in the cooled chocolate pudding in batches.
This Mikado cake is
- crumbly,
- slightly crispy,
- creamy,
- chocolaty,
- slightly caramelized,
- tender,
- sweet,
- incredibly delicious,
- with many thin layers,
- an eye-catcher on the coffee table,
- easy to make with a certain amount of time,
- a tasty classic of Armenian cuisine.
How to make Armenian Mikado cake: tips and tricks
- Instead of ground vanilla bean, you can use vanilla sugar or vanilla extract for the dough.
- The amount of flour specified in the recipe may vary. Only add as much flour to the liquid mixture in portions until you have a very soft shortcrust dough.
- Do not knead the dough for too long, but only briefly until you have a homogeneous consistency. The longer you knead the dough, the stickier it will become and the more flour you will need. This could make the cake layers taste tough and not crumbly after baking.
- Do not leave the cake layers unattended in the oven. They could burn quickly.
- Handle the cake layers carefully after baking, as they are very fragile.
- The caramelized sweetened condensed milk and butter must both be at room temperature when whipping so that they can combine to form a smooth cream. If they have a large temperature difference, the cream can curdle.
- You can adjust the amount of cocoa powder for the cream to taste.
- The Mikado cake only tastes best in the next days after preparation. If possible, leave it to stand in the fridge for around 24 hours.
Did you make the Armenian Mikado cake at home using this recipe? I look forward to your result, your star rating and your comment below on how it turned out and tasted.
Also try these delicious recipes for layer cakes:
- Raspberry cream cheese cake – recipe for fruity and creamy layer cake
- Honey cake “Ryzhik” – recipe for popular Russian red layer cake
- Chocolate honey cake with ganache – simple layer cake recipe

Mikado cake
Ingredients
for the dough
- 150 g sour cream
- 100 g butter room warm
- 100 g sugar
- 1 egg
- approx. 400 g flour
- 3 g baking soda
- 1 pinch of ground vanilla bean
- 1 pinch of salt
- flour for the work surface
for the cream
- 500 g caramelized sweetened condensed milk room warm
- 250 g butter room warm
- 30 g cocoa powder
for sprinkling
- approx. 20 g dark chocolate
Instructions
Preparation of the dough
- Dissolve baking soda in sour cream and set aside for now.
- Using a fork, mash softened butter, sugar, vanilla and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Add egg and mix to a homogeneous mixture.
- Stir the sour cream and soda into the butter mixture.
- Add flour in batches and knead briefly and quickly to form a soft dough.
- Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces (in my case 79 - 80 g each) and cover and chill for 30 minutes.
- First take a piece of dough out of the fridge, roll it in flour and roll it out on a sheet of baking paper as round, very thin and almost transparent as possible. Cut a Ø 24 cm circle out of it (e.g. using a cake ring) and place it and the cut-off pieces of dough together with baking paper on a baking sheet.
- Pierce the round cake layer several times with a fork and bake it together with the scraps of dough in a preheated oven at 392 °F (200 °C) for approx. 6 minutes.
- Take the remaining pieces of dough out of the fridge one by one, roll them out into a circle and bake them individually together with the scraps of dough in the same way as the first cake layer.
- Leave the 10 cake layers and the pastry scraps to cool.
- Then finely crumble the pastry scraps.
Preparation of the cream
- Beat softened butter for approx. 5 minutes until it becomes a light and creamy mass.
- Add caramelized sweetened condensed milk in batches and beat each time to a homogeneous mixture.
- Sieve in cocoa powder and beat again briefly to form a homogeneous chocolate cream.
Preparation of the cake
- Spread the 10 cake layers with the cream, leaving a small amount for the sides of the cake, and stack them on top of each other.
- Spread the sides of the cake with the remaining cream and sprinkle with the pastry crumbs.
- Coarsely grate the dark chocolate and sprinkle over the top of the cake.
- Chill the Mikado cake for at least 8 hours.
Notes
- Instead of ground vanilla bean, you can use vanilla sugar or vanilla extract for the dough.
- The amount of flour specified may vary. Only add as much flour to the liquid mixture in portions until you have a very soft shortcrust dough.
- Do not knead the dough for too long, but only briefly until you have a homogeneous consistency. The longer you knead the dough, the stickier it will become and the more flour you will need. This could make the cake layers taste tough and not crumbly after baking.
- Do not leave the cake layers unattended in the oven. They could burn quickly.
- Handle the cake layers carefully after baking, as they are very fragile.
- The caramelized sweetened condensed milk and butter must both be at room temperature when whipping so that they can combine to form a smooth cream. If they have a large temperature difference, the cream can curdle.
- You can adjust the amount of cocoa powder for the cream to taste.
- The Mikado cake only tastes best in the next days after preparation. If possible, leave it to stand in the fridge for around 24 hours.
- Take note of the detailed tips and tricks for making the Armenian Mikado cake at the top of the article.
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