Dieser Beitrag ist auch verfügbar auf:
Deutsch
The mini cakes “Hercules” taste crumbly, nutty, fruity, creamy, and chocolatey all at once. The sweet treat popular in Soviet times in the form of sandwich cookies with jam and chocolate cream topping is no longer available in stores. However, you can easily make it yourself at home using common ingredients. You can find a detailed mini cakes “Hercules” recipe with nuts with the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions below.
Mini cakes “Hercules” from the Soviet era
The recipe for the mini cakes “Hercules” was created during the Soviet era, just like the recipe for the domino cakes, the peanut roll cake, and the Leningradsky pastry. At that time, pastry shops and grocery stores added them to their product range.
Nowadays, these pastries are no longer available anywhere, just like the cake “Slavutych”, the Wenceslas cake, and the cake “Abrikotin”. But with this recipe, you can make them yourself at home.
The mini cakes “Hercules” are shaped like sandwich cookies , similar to the mini cakes “Bouchee”, the yoshiki or the chocolate whoopie pies. They are made of shortcrust pastry, with the top cookie also containing nuts.
The mini cakes are filled with jam and decorated with chocolate buttercream topping.
Which nuts should I use?
I used peanuts in this recipe, just like in the shortcrust layer cake “For tea”, the shortcrust rings, or the cake “Podarochnyi” recipe. You can also use other nuts instead. Try the mini cakes “Hercules” with walnuts, hazelnuts, or almonds, for example.
Which jam should I use?
A tart jam is best suited for this recipe, as it is for the Pani Walewska cake, the shortcrust cake “Landish”, or the Minsky cake. You can use whichever you prefer. The important thing is that it has a firm and fine consistency.
How to serve and store mini cakes “Hercules”
After preparing the mini cakes “Hercules”, leave them to cool for a few hours. This allows the flavors to develop and the jam and topping to set.
Since the mini cakes are very easy to make, you can serve them for dessert during the week or on the weekend, along with the limonnik and the nut mini cakes “Belochka”. At the same time, they taste heavenly delicious and look festive. This makes them ideal for a party.
Store the mini cakes “Hercules” in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will keep for about 4 – 5 days.
This dessert is
- crumbly,
- nutty,
- buttery,
- creamy,
- delicate,
- slightly fruity,
- somewhat chocolatey,
- incredibly delicious,
- aromatic,
- with shortcrust pastry,
- with peanuts,
- with jam,
- with chocolate cream topping,
- easy to make with common ingredients,
- a sweet eye-catcher on the coffee table,
- ideal for a regular tea round or for a celebration,
- a forgotten classic of Soviet cuisine.
How to make mini cakes “Hercules”: tips and tricks
- Instead of peanuts, you can use other nuts of your choice.
- You can adjust the amount of powdered sugar for the dough to suit your taste.
- Knead the dough briefly until it has a homogeneous consistency, but do not knead it for too long.
- For the filling, use a tart jam with a firm and fine consistency.
- Traditionally, the mini cakes were topped with a chocolate buttercream. However, they also taste delicious without the topping and are perfect as cookies.
- The butter and sweetened condensed milk for the topping must be room warm and both have approximately the same temperature so that they can combine well when whipped without the mixture curdling.
- You can use the leftover egg whites to make the coconut macaroons, the Belyov pastila, or the Bird’s milk sweetss, among other things.
Have you made the mini cakes “Hercules” using this recipe? I look forward to seeing your results, your star rating, and your comments below on how they turned out and how they tasted.
Try these Soviet mini cakes recipes too:
- Kartoshka cake – classic recipe with sponge cake
- Soviet mini chocolate mousse cake “Eva”: was worth any queue
- Mini cake “Konstantinovskoe” – Soviet dessert with nostalgia
Mini cakes "Hercules"
Equipment
- approx. Ø 10 cm round wavy cookie cutter
- piping bag
Ingredients
for the dough
- 200 g butter room warm
- 130 g powdered sugar
- 1 pinch of ground vanilla bean
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 egg yolks
- approx. 350 g flour
- 5 g baking powder
- 30 g peanuts roasted and finely chopped
- flour for the work surface
for sprinkling
- 30 g peanuts roasted and finely chopped
for the filling
- 130 g jam
for the topping
- 70 g butter room warm
- 70 g sweetened condensed milk room warm
- 10 g baking cocoa
Instructions
Preparation of the dough
- Beat softened butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add egg yolks one at a time and beat each time until you have a smooth mixture.
- Mix flour with baking powder.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in portions and knead briefly and quickly to form a very soft, non-sticky shortcrust pastry dough.
- Divide the dough into two equal portions and knead finely chopped peanuts into one of the portions.
- Place the two portions of dough in an airtight container and chill for 30 minutes.
- First, take the dough portion without nuts out of the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured work surface to a thickness of approx. 5 mm.
- Using a wavy cookie cutter approx. 10 cm in diameter, cut large cookies out of the dough and the remaining dough scraps and place them well apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake the vanilla cookies in a preheated oven at 392 °F (200 °C) for about 8 minutes and let them cool.
- Now take the dough portion with nuts out of the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured work surface to a thickness of approx. 5 mm.
- Using the same wavy cookie cutter, cut out large cookies from the dough and the leftover dough scraps, place them well apart on another baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and sprinkle them with finely chopped peanuts.
- Bake the nut cookies, just like the vanilla cookies, in a preheated oven at 392 °F (200 °C) for about 8 minutes and let them cool.
- Place some jam in the middle of each vanilla cookie, place a nut cookie on top and press down gently to make sandwich cookies. Move each top nut cookie gently in a circular motion so that the jam is evenly distributed.
- Chill the jam-filled sandwich cookies while you make the topping.
Preparation of the topping
- Beat softened butter and sweetened condensed milk for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add baking cocoa and beat again briefly until you have a smooth chocolate cream.
- Fill a piping bag with the cream using any piping nozzle (I used a star nozzle) and pipe a little onto each sandwich cookie.
- Chill the mini cakes "Hercules" for about 2 hours.
Notes
- Instead of peanuts, you can use other nuts of your choice.
- You can adjust the amount of powdered sugar for the dough to suit your taste.
- Knead the dough briefly until it has a homogeneous consistency, but do not knead it for too long.
- For the filling, use a tart jam with a firm and fine consistency.
- Traditionally, the mini cakes were topped with a chocolate buttercream. However, they also taste delicious without the topping and are perfect as cookies.
- The butter and sweetened condensed milk for the topping must be room warm and both have approximately the same temperature so that they can combine well when whipped without the mixture curdling.
- You can use the leftover egg whites to make the coconut macaroons, the Belyov pastila, or the Bird’s milk sweetss, among other things.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the mini cakes "Hercules" at the top of this article.
If you are using Pinterest, you can pin the following picture:
