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Crispy meringue, delicate chocolate butter cream and aromatic walnuts are combined in the popular Soviet cake “Grafskie razvaliny”. It tastes airy, light and sweet and is a real eye-catcher on any coffee table. The dessert requires no flour and is easy to make. You can find a detailed cake “Grafskie razvaliny” recipe with the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions below.
What does the name mean?
“Grafskie razvaliny” translates from Russian as “ruins of a count’s castle”. The cake got this name because of its appearance. Meringue pieces are layered in such a way that it looks like the ruins of a castle.
The cake “Monastyrskaya izba” was also named after its appearance.
However, the cake “Grafskie razvaliny” is more of a dessert. It contains no cake bases and even no flour, just like the meringue cake “The Flight”. The dessert consists of meringue pieces, chocolate butter cream and nuts.
Popular sweet classic from Soviet Union
The cake “Grafskie razvaliny” became famous during the Soviet era. It was a popular homemade dessert back then, just like the cake “Muraveynik” and the Smetannik cake “Mishka na severe”. Every Soviet housewife had her own recipe for it.
Countless recipes for cake “Grafskie razvaliny”
There are many different recipes for the cake “Grafskie razvaliny”, similar to the cake “Damskiy kapriz”. The classic version is made without flour, using only meringue.
There are also recipes with sponge cake and meringue, which is what the cake “Vetka” is made of. Both the classic sponge cake and a chocolate or nut sponge cake are used.
In some recipes, the sponge cake is used as a whole and the small meringues are layered on top. In other recipes, however, the sponge cake is cut into cubes, as in the Pancho cake, and layered alternately with the meringue to form a mound.
Instead of walnut kernels, other nuts can be used for the cake “Grafskie razvaliny”, as well as for the cookies “Chestnuts”. It can also be refined with any dried fruits or chopped chocolate.
Decorate to your heart’s content
You can also experiment with decorating the cake “Grafskie razvaliny” as you wish, just like with the crepe cake with pudding cream.
For example, prepare a larger portion of chocolate glaze and cover the entire meringue dessert with it. Or sprinkle it with grated chocolate instead.
You can also decorate the cake with fresh fruits or whole nuts, similar to the naked cake.
The cake “Grafskie razvaliny” is
- crispy,
- creamy,
- airy,
- light,
- chocolaty,
- nutty,
- sweet,
- unbelievably delicious,
- with meringue,
- without flour,
- an unusual eye-catcher on the coffee table,
- easy to make,
- ideal for a tea party at the weekend or for a celebration,
- homemade classic of Soviet cuisine.
Cake “Grafskie razvaliny” recipe without flour
The cake “Grafskie razvaliny” recipe, which you can find in the recipe box at the end of this post, is not difficult at all. You just need to allow plenty of time for the meringue to dry.
Step 1:
To make the meringue, beat egg whites, powdered sugar and citric acid until stiff, turn them into dots on a baking sheet and dry the meringues in the oven for a couple of hours.
Step 2:
For the cream, mix egg yolks, sugar and milk in a saucepan and simmer the mixture briefly until slightly thickened. Once the mixture has cooled, whisk it with softened butter, cocoa powder and vanilla to make a chocolate cream.
Step 3:
You can now assemble the cake. To do this, dip the meringues into the chocolate cream and layer them to form a mound, sprinkling each layer with toasted and chopped walnuts.
Step 4:
After the cake has cooled for a few hours, drizzle with the chocolate glaze made from melted chocolate and butter.
How to make meringue cake with chocolate butter cream: tips and tricks
- Instead of using a piping bag, you can also simply use two tablespoons to pipe mounds of the meringue mixture onto the baking sheet.
- Butter and the milk egg yolk mixture for the cream must be room warm and both at about the same temperature. This is the best way to combine them without lumps when whisking.
- Instead of walnut kernels, you can refine the cake with other nuts, dried fruits or chopped chocolate.
Have you made the cake “Grafskie razvaliny” using this recipe? I look forward to your result, your star rating and your comment below on how you liked it.
Also try these meringue cakes:
- Kiev cake – the tastiest Ukrainian classic
- Mini Pavlova – recipe for the world favorite summer dessert
- Cake “Pautinka” – Soviet meringue cake “The Spider Web”
Cake "Grafskie razvaliny"
Equipment
- piping bag with star nozzle
Ingredients
for the meringues
- 4 egg whites
- 200 g powdered sugar
- 1 pinch of citric acid food-grade
for the cream
- 250 g butter room warm
- 200 ml milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 100 g sugar
- 15 g cocoa powder
- 1 pinch of ground vanilla bean
- approx. 80 g walnut kernels
for the chocolate glaze
- 20 g dark chocolate
- 10 g butter
Instructions
Preparation of the meringues
- Place egg whites in a mixing bowl and beat briefly until frothy.
- Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until stiff.
- Add citric acid and beat for a few more minutes.
- Fill the meringue mixture into a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and pipe dots onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
- Dry the meringues in a preheated oven at 248 °F (120 °C) for approx. 1 hour.
- Then switch off the oven, open the oven door ajar and leave the meringues to cool slowly in the warm oven for 1 - 2 hours.
Preparation of the cream
- Roast walnuts in a pan or in the oven, leave to cool and chop coarsely.
- Put egg yolks and sugar in a thick-bottomed saucepan and whisk together.
- Pour in milk and mix again.
- Place the saucepan on the stove and bring the mixture to a boil over a medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Simmer it for approx. 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened.
- Remove the milk egg yolk mixture from the heat and leave to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
- Beat softened butter for approx. 5 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add the milk egg yolk mixture in batches, beating each time to form a homogeneous cream.
- Add vanilla and cocoa powder and beat briefly to form a homogeneous chocolate cream.
Preparation of the cake
- Leave a few meringues and some of the chopped walnuts to decorate the cake.
- Spread a thin circular layer of chocolate cream on the cake plate.
- Coat each meringue on one side with the chocolate cream (or dip it into the cream) and layer the meringues randomly on the cake plate to form a mound so that they stick together through the cream, sprinkling each meringue layer with the chopped walnuts.
- Chill the cake for about 2 hours (or overnight).
Preparation of the chocolate glaze
- Slowly melt dark chocolate and butter together.
Decorating the cake
- Drizzle the cake with the chocolate glaze as desired and decorate with the meringues and walnut kernels set aside.
Notes
- Instead of using a piping bag, you can also simply use two tablespoons to pipe mounds of the meringue mixture onto the baking sheet.
- Butter and the milk egg yolk mixture for the cream must be room warm and both at about the same temperature. This is the best way to combine them without lumps when whisking.
- Instead of walnut kernels, you can refine the cake with other nuts, dried fruits or chopped chocolate.
- Take note of the detailed tips and tricks for preparing the cake "Grafskie razvaliny" at the top of the article.
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