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Fluffy chocolate cake layers with honey flavor, delicate pudding butter cream and sweet chocolate glaze make up the unique taste of the Spartak cake. It tastes so heavenly tender that each piece of it practically melts in your mouth. It is not without reason that it is one of the most popular Russian cakes. You can find a detailed chocolate Spartak cake recipe with the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.
Invention remains a mystery
The history of the Spartak cake, just like the honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” or the cake “Damskiy kapriz”, has somehow been lost. Who invented the cake is not known.
It is assumed that it is a folk recipe, similar to the cake “Muraveynik”. But why the cake got the name “Spartak” is unclear.
Everyone who has ever tasted the cake is guaranteed never to forget its special taste. No wonder that the chocolate Spartak cake has been so popular in Russia and the other Slavic countries since the Soviet times, along with the famous cake “Skazka”, Leningradsky cake and Bird’s milk cake.
Chocolate medovik or honey Napoleon
The Spartak cake is often called “chocolate medovik” and “honey Napoleon”. This is because, just like the medovik cake, it consists of honey cake layers, only chocolate flavored. The cream is a pudding butter cream, which is also used to make the classic Napoleon cake.
What can I prepare in advance?
You can make the cake layers for the chocolate Spartak cake, just like for my chocolate honey cake with ganache, the day before. Then store them in an airtight container at room temperature after they have cooled.
You can also make the pudding for the cream in advance. Store it in the refrigerator overnight.
Let the pudding warm up at room temperature for about 1 hour before you make the cream with it. The butter and the pudding must be at about the same temperature, as is the case with the cake “Charodeyka”, so that they can combine well.
Most importantly, you can or should make the chocolate Spartak cake the day before or a few days in advance before serving. Because in the next few days, when it has had a chance to properly infuse, it will taste even more delicious, similar to the Russian honey cake “Ryzhik” or honey cake “Korovka”.
This Spartak cake is
- creamy,
- moist,
- fluffy,
- tender,
- soft,
- chocolaty,
- moderately sweet,
- heavenly delicious,
- aromatic,
- with chocolate honey cake layers,
- with pudding butter cream,
- a sweet eye-catcher with many thin layers,
- easy to make, but with a certain amount of time,
- ideal for a weekend coffee with the family or for a special occasion,
- one of the most popular Russian cakes.
Easy chocolate Spartak cake recipe
The chocolate Spartak cake may look mighty with its many thin layers, but you shouldn’t let that scare you away. Because the recipe for it, which you can find here at the end of the post in the recipe box, is absolutely not difficult, just a bit time consuming.
First you make the cake layers. To do this, briefly heat the mix of honey**, eggs, sugar, butter and baking soda until all the ingredients are well combined. After the honey mix has cooled down a bit, add flour with cocoa powder and knead it into a soft chocolate dough. From the dough, roll out round cake layers thinly and bake them shortly after each other.
While the cake layers are cooling, you can make the cream. First boil milk, eggs, sugar and cornstarch to make a pudding and let it cool down. Then whip room warm butter until fluffy and stir in the pudding and vanilla in batches.
Now spread the cream on the cake layers, stack them on top of each other and cover the cake with the chocolate glaze made of chocolate and butter.
Allow the finished Spartak cake to cool thoroughly in the refrigerator before cutting it.
How to make chocolate Spartak cake: tips and tricks
- Use a good quality aromatic honey for the dough.
- The amount of flour given in the recipe may vary. It is better to mix a smaller portion of flour with cocoa powder first and add the rest of the flour only when kneading as needed.
- Do not knead the dough too long, but only until it reaches a homogeneous consistency.
- To save time, you can roll out fewer (for example, 8 instead of 10), but larger in diameter cake layers.
- If you have too much dough left over, you can roll out another cake layer from it and use the leftover dough to make the crumbs.
- Butter and the pudding for the cream must be room warm and both about the same temperature so that they can combine well when whipped.
- Instead of vanilla bean, you can use vanilla sugar or vanilla extract for the cream.
- In the next few days, the chocolate Spartak cake will taste much more delicious. So it’s best to let it sit in the fridge at least overnight.
Chocolate Spartak cake video recipe
By the way, you can find a short video for the Russian chocolate Spartak cake on my Youtube channel. There you can see exactly how to make it. If you don’t want to miss any more videos from me, feel free to subscribe to my channel.
Did you make the chocolate Spartak cake using this recipe? I’m looking forward to your result, your star rating and your comment here below on how it turned out and tasted.
Looking for more delicious Russian cake recipe? Try these yet:
- Cake “Slavyanka” – nostalgia USSR dessert with secret ingredient
- Cake “Abrikotin” – forgotten Soviet shortbread cake
- Wenceslas cake – sweet Soviet happiness with a “pearl”
Chocolate Spartak cake
Ingredients
for the dough
- 130 g honey**
- 100 g butter
- 120 g sugar**
- 2 eggs
- 35 g cocoa powder**
- approx. 470 g flour**
- 6 g baking soda** (sodium bicarbonate)
- 1 pinch of salt
- flour for rolling
for the cream
- 250 g butter room warm
- 650 ml milk
- 2 eggs
- 150 g sugar**
- 40 g cornstarch**
- 1 pinch of vanilla bean**
for the chocolate glaze
- 100 g dark chocolate
- 60 g butter
Instructions
Preparation of the dough
- Put honey, eggs, sugar and salt in a thick-bottomed saucepan and mix thoroughly.
- Add butter cut into pieces and baking soda and heat (do not boil!) the honey mix slowly in a water bath, stirring, until the butter and sugar have dissolved and the mix has become a lighter color. (It took about 5 minutes for me).
- Take the honey mix off the heat and let it cool to lukewarm.
- Mix about 420 g of flour with cocoa powder, add it to the honey mix and knead it into a soft chocolate dough, adding the remaining flour in portions as needed if the dough is sticky.
- Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces.
- First roll one piece of dough in flour, roll it out thinly on a sheet of baking paper and cut out an approx. Ø 24 cm round cake layer from it. Put the dough scraps aside for the time being.
- Pull the baking paper with the cake layer onto a baking tray, pierce the cake layer several times with a fork and bake it in a preheated oven at 356 °F (180 °C) for about 5 minutes.
- Roll out the remaining 9 pieces of dough, cut out round cake layers and bake them in the same way one after the other. Let all 10 cake layers cool down.
- Also roll out the leftover dough thinly, bake it, let it cool and crumble it finely.
Preparation of the cream
- Thoroughly mix eggs, sugar and cornstarch in a thick-bottomed saucepan until a homogeneous mass without lumps.
- Pour in milk and mix again.
- Place the saucepan on the stove and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. The mixture will thicken like a pudding.
- Cook the pudding, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes, remove it from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
- Beat softened butter and vanilla for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy and creamy.
- Add the pudding to the butter in batches, whisking briefly each time to form a homogeneous cream.
Preparation of the cake
- Spread 9 cake layers evenly with the cream, leaving a small amount of cream for the sides of the cake, and stack them on top of each other.
- Place the last cake layer without cream on top.
- Spread the sides of the cake with the remaining cream and sprinkle with the crumbs (from the leftover dough).
Preparation of the chocolate glaze
- Melt dark chocolate together with butter slowly, so that a liquid smooth glaze is formed.
- Pour the chocolate glaze over the top of the cake and spread it evenly with a spreading knife.
- Refrigerate the chocolate Spartak cake for at least 5 hours or preferably overnight.
Notes
- Use a good quality aromatic honey for the dough.
- The specified amount of flour may vary. It is better to mix a smaller portion of flour with cocoa powder first and add the rest of the flour as needed during kneading.
- Do not knead the dough too long, but only until it has a homogeneous consistency.
- If you have too much leftover dough, you can still roll out a cake layer from it and use the leftover dough to make the crumbs.
- Instead of vanilla bean, you can use vanilla sugar or vanilla extract for the cream.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the chocolate Spartak cake at the top of the post.
If you are using Pinterest, you can pin the following picture:
