Cake “Slavutych” – forgotten pearl from the Soviet era

Dieser Beitrag ist auch verfügbar auf: Deutsch

The cake “Slavutych” consists of airy soufflé, fluffy biscuit, fruity lemon filling and delicate chocolate glaze. It tastes fluffy, soft and heavenly delicious. It was not without reason that the Ukrainian cake was so popular in the Soviet Union. But now it has been almost forgotten. Here I show you how to make the cake at home. A detailed cake “Slavutych” recipe with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions can be found below.

Cake "Slavutych" recipe

Where does the cake “Slavutych” come from?

The cake “Slavutych” is a Ukrainian cake that, like the Wenceslas cake, the cake “Slavyanka” or the cake “Abrikotin”, dates back to the Soviet era. At that time you could buy it in some confectioneries and bakeries in Ukraine.

The cake was then removed from the range during the Soviet era. In the meantime it has fallen into oblivion and is rarely made at home.

By the way, Slavutych is a small town in Ukraine. It is located not far from the Dnieper River. Slavutych was also an old Slavic name of the river.

Special feature of the cake “Slavutych”

The special thing about the cake “Slavutych” is the lemon layer. The fruity citrus jelly perfectly complements the taste of the sweet soufflé, the fluffy biscuit and the chocolate glaze.

It gives the cake a sour note and a delicious aroma. In combination with the other components, the lemon filling gives the cake “Slavutych” a unique taste.

Ukrainian soufflé cake

Making lemon filling yourself?

I made the lemon filling for the cake “Slavutych” myself from lemon, sugar and water. This is very easy and quick.

I didn’t use that much sugar for that. This gives the lemon mass a sour taste and is a good addition to the rather sweet soufflé.

Also, I added some water and no gelling agent to the lemon mass. That way it doesn’t get too tight. And the biscuit is soaked with the liquid at the same time.

Alternatively, you can also use ready-made lemon jelly or lemon marmalade for the recipe. In this case, you should soak the biscuit first.

For this, briefly boil a sugar syrup, as I do for example in my recipe for the cake “Tavrichesky” or cake “Gusinye lapki”. It is best to flavor it with lemon zest instead of rum or vanilla.

Agar-agar for soufflé

In the recipe, the plant-based gelling agent agar agar** ensures the stability of the cake soufflé. In order for it to firm up after cooling, it is important to use good quality fresh agar agar with no additives. Before you buy, study the ingredient list on the plant-based gelling agent packaging.

In addition, the gel strength of agar agar is crucial, just like for the classic zefir, berry zephyr, vegan apricot zefir, zefir lollies or chocolate jelly. The amount of the plant-based gelling agent that you need for the soufflé depends on this.

My agar agar, which I ordered online, has gel strength 900. I needed 7 g for the recipe.

Grocery store agar agar usually has a lower gel strength, which is often not listed. You may need a larger amount of this for the recipe so that the soufflé becomes stable. Here you just have to experiment.

Soufflé lemon cake

How to decorate cake “Slavutych”?

Classically, the cake “Slavutych” was decorated with Italian meringue. This is used to fill, among other things, the Soviet korzinochki and puff pastry horns. By the way, I also decorated my sun cake with Italian meringue.

If you have time and desire, you can prepare a small amount of Italian meringue and use it to decorate the cake “Slavutych”. To do this, fill the meringue into a piping bag with any piping nozzle and pipe flowers, for example, onto the cake.

I simply decorated the cake with melted white chocolate and lemon slices.

Similar to the Bird’s milk cake

You’ve probably noticed that the cake “Slavutych” is similar to the Russian Bird’s milk cake. What they have in common is the fluffy soufflé that makes up the two cakes. It is made from beaten egg whites, sugar syrup and butter.

In addition, both the cake “Slavutych” and the Bird’s milk cake are covered with chocolate glaze.

As far as the dough is concerned, the two cakes differed somewhat. The base of the Bird’s milk cake is a mixture of shortbread pastry and sponge cake, while the cake “Slavutych” is made of sponge cake.

And the uniqueness that the Bird’s milk cake doesn’t have and that makes the Ukrainian soufflé cake is the lemon filling.

By the way, have you already discovered my vegan Bird’s milk cake recipe?

How to make cake "Slavutych"

The cake “Slavutych” is

  • airy,
  • fluffy,
  • tender,
  • light,
  • creamy,
  • with a fruity sour note,
  • incredibly tasty,
  • without gelatin,
  • ideal for a weeknight dessert or for a special occasion,
  • easy to make,
  • forgotten cake of Ukrainian cuisine.

The recipe consists of these steps

The cake “Slavutych” recipe, which you will find at the end of this post, is not difficult, but it is a bit time-consuming. Because you have to do some work steps.

First you make a classic biscuit and let it cool down. You can also do this the day before.

Next, cook the filling from lemon, sugar, and water, what is pretty quick, and let it cool as well.

Then cut the biscuit lengthways into two cake bases and spread them with the lemon filling.

Then you prepare everything for assembling the cake. Line the springform tin with baking paper and place one of the two cake bases in it.

You can now make the soufflé. To do this, first whip butter with sweetened condensed milk to make butter cream. Then you cook the sugar syrup from sugar, water, agar agar and citric acid. At the same time, you whip egg whites until fluffy. Now you slowly introduce the hot sugar syrup into the beaten egg whites. Then add the butter cream to the egg whites in portions.

Spread the first liquid soufflé on the cake base in the springform tin, place the second cake base on top and chill the cake to set.

At the end you remove the springform tin and the baking paper from the cake and cover the cake with the chocolate glaze made of melted chocolate and butter.

Sponge cake with soufflé and lemon

How to make cake “Slavutych”: tips and tricks

  • Instead of ground vanilla, you can also use vanilla sugar or vanilla extract for the sponge cake.
  • You can make the sponge cake the day before, let it cool down and store it in an airtight container at room temperature overnight.
  • To bake the sponge cake and assemble the cake, you need a Ø 24 cm springform tin**.
  • Instead of making the lemon filling yourself, you can use ready-made lemon jelly or lemon marmalade.
  • The butter and sweetened condensed milk for the soufflé need to be room warm and both about the same temperature so they can combine well when whipped into the butter cream.
  • Use pure, good quality agar agar with no additives for the soufflé.
  • The amount of agar agar given in the recipe may vary depending on the gel strength of your plant-based gelling agent. If your soufflé doesn’t set after cooling, you can try using a larger amount of agar agar next time.
  • If possible, do not reduce the amount of sugar for the soufflé, because the consistency and stability of the soufflé depends on this.

Did you make the cake “Slavutych” using this recipe? I look forward to your result, your star rating and your comment below on how you succeeded and tasted the Ukrainian soufflé lemon cake.

Looking for more Soviet cake recipes? Try:

Cake "Slavutych" recipe

Cake "Slavutych"

The cake "Slavutych" consists of airy soufflé, fluffy biscuit, fruity lemon filling and delicate chocolate glaze. It tastes fluffy, soft and heavenly delicious. It was not without reason that the Ukrainian cake was so popular in the Soviet Union. But now it has been almost forgotten. With this recipe you make the cake at home.
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Cooling Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Soviet, Ukrainian
Servings 12

Equipment

  • Ø 24 cm baking springform tin

Ingredients
  

for the sponge cake

for the soufflé

  • 200 g butter room warm
  • 100 g sweetened condensed milk room warm
  • 3 egg whites
  • 300 g sugar**
  • 120 ml water
  • approx. 7 g agar agar (gel strength 900 for me)
  • 1 generous pinch of citric acid powder food grade

for the lemon filling

  • 2 organic lemons
  • 80 g sugar**
  • 50 ml water

for the chocolate glaze

  • 100 g dark chocolate
  • 50 g butter

for the decoration (alternative)

  • some white chocolate
  • lemon slices

Instructions
 

Preparation of the sponge cake

  • Line the bottom of the springform tin with baking paper.
  • Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt into an airy light mass.
  • Mix flour with cornstarch and fold it into the egg-sugar mixture to create a fluffy, viscous sponge batter.
  • Put the batter in the baking tin, bake the sponge cake in the preheated oven at 180 °C top and bottom heat for about 25 minutes and let it cool down.
  • Then cut the sponge cake lengthways into two cake bases.

Preparation of the lemon filling

  • Grate the yellow part of the zest from lemons and place in a small saucepan.
  • Now peel the lemons, puree them in a blender and add them to the lemon zest in the saucepan.
  • Add sugar and water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
  • Then simmer the lemon mass for about 2 minutes (It should not become thick, because the liquid will later soak the sponge cake.) and let it cool down.
  • Spread the inside of both sponge cake bases with the lemon mass and let the juice soak in a little.
  • Line the bottom and sides of the springform tin you baked the sponge cake in with parchment paper and place one of the two cake bases in the tin, lemon side up.

Preparation of the soufflé

  • Beat soft butter for about 5 minutes to an airy, creamy mass.
  • Add sweetened condensed milk in portions and whip it up briefly each time to form a homogeneous cream.
  • Set the butter cream aside at room temperature.
  • Place egg whites in a large mixing bowl.
  • In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine sugar, agar agar, and citric acid.
  • Add water and stir.
  • Bring the sugar syrup to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly so that the sugar dissolves before it boils, and simmer for 3 minutes.
  • At the same time, beat the egg whites in the mixing bowl until fluffy.
  • Immediately after boiling, slowly add the sugar syrup to the beaten egg whites in a thin stream, without stopping beating.
  • After you have introduced the sugar syrup into the egg whites, continue beating the mixture until stiff for about 2 - 3 minutes.
  • Now add portions of the butter cream that you previously set aside to the beaten egg whites and whip it into a homogeneous mass, which becomes a little runny.
  • Spread the soufflé quickly over the cake base in the springform tin and carefully place the second cake base on top, lemon side down.
  • Chill the cake in the springform tin for about 1-2 hours until the soufflé has set.

Preparation of the chocolate glaze

  • Slowly melt dark chocolate and butter together in a water bath.
  • Remove the rim and parchment paper from the cake.
  • Spread the chocolate glaze over the cake and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Decorating the cake (alternative)

  • Melt white chocolate, put it in a piping bag with a small hole and pipe stripes onto the cake.
  • Decorate the cake with lemon slices.

Notes

  • Instead of ground vanilla you can also use vanilla sugar or vanilla extract for the sponge cake.
  • Instead of making the lemon filling yourself, you can use ready-made lemon jelly or lemon marmalade.
  • Use pure, good quality agar agar with no additives for the soufflé.
  • The specified amount of agar agar may vary, depending on the gel strength of the plant-based gelling agent. If the soufflé does not set after cooling, you can try using a larger amount of agar agar next time.
  • If possible, do not reduce the amount of sugar for the soufflé, because the consistency and stability of the soufflé depends on this.
  • Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the cake "Slavutych" in the article above.

If you are using Pinterest, you can pin the following picture:

Pin Cake "Slavutych"

Share this post:

Zeen Social Icons