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Light and airy, sweet Italian meringue, tender shortcrust pastry, fruity, tart jam and crunchy peanuts make the Minsky cake a special taste experience. Decorated with small “mushrooms”, it is also a visual highlight on the coffee table. You can make this formerly popular Soviet cake yourself at home. You can find a detailed recipe with the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions below.
What is Minsky cake?
Minsky cake was a popular Soviet cake made in the capital of Belarus according to the GOST (State Standard) recipe and named after the city. It has a square shape, just like the Leningradsky cake, the shortcrust cake “Landish” or the cake “Abrikotin”, and is almost identical to the korzinochki in terms of ingredients.
The Minsky cake consists of shortcrust pastry bases, is filled with jam and covered with Italian meringue, which is also used to fill the Soviet puff pastry horns. It is also sprinkled with chopped peanuts, just like the cake “Podarochnyi”. It is decorated with small “mushrooms” (“Gribochki”) made from the cream and the pastry.
Alternative for peanuts
Traditionally, the Minsky cake was made with peanuts. Instead, you can use hazelnuts, as for the nut cake “Belochka”. Roast them beforehand and chop into small pieces.
Jam or fresh fruits
As the Italian meringue tastes quite sweet, a tart jam is best for the cake. I used my homemade cornelian cherry jam. Sour cherry jam, blackcurrant jam or cherry plum jam work just as well.
Alternatively, you can fill the Minsky cake with fresh fruits, similar to the Pavlova cake. In summer, berries are ideal for this. However, the cake with fresh fruits should be eaten as quickly as possible.
How to decorate the Minsky cake
What immediately distinguished the Minsky cake from other Soviet cakes was its decoration. Its surface was decorated with “mushrooms” made from Italian meringue and shortcrust pastry and with pastel green “leaves”, similar to those on the Soviet sponge slices with buttercream or on the Soviet sponge cake with buttercream.
I only decorated the cake with “mushrooms”. I also used a star nozzle to make a pretty border from the Italian meringue.
If you also want to decorate the cake with “leaves”, then dye a small amount of Italian meringue with green food coloring. You will need a leaf piping nozzle for piping.
The Minsky cake is
- crumbly,
- airy,
- light,
- slightly fruity,
- tender,
- sweet,
- with crunchy peanuts,
- delicious,
- aromatic,
- to make with ordinary ingredients,
- an eye-catcher on the coffee table,
- ideal for a special occasion or for a tea round with the family,
- a classic of Soviet cuisine.
How to make Minsky cake: tips and tricks
- As the Italian meringue is quite sweet, I used less sugar for the dough. However, you can adjust the amount yourself.
- The amount of flour given may vary. Add as much flour to the butter mixture in portions until you have a very soft shortcrust dough.
- Knead the dough only briefly until it is just about homogeneous and leave it to cool thoroughly.
- It is best to use a tart jam to balance out the sweet Italian meringue.
- Weigh the ingredients for the Italian meringue exactly, as success depends on it.
- Use a kitchen thermometer to measure the temperature of the sugar syrup.
- You can replace peanuts with hazelnuts.
Did you make the Minsky cake using this recipe? I look forward to your result, your star rating and your comment below on how it turned out and how it tasted.
Try these Soviet cakes too:
- Cake “Zolotoy Klyuchik” – just like in Soviet pastry shop
- Kiev cake – the tastiest Ukrainian classic
- Cake “Charodeyka” – Soviet classic cake with magic
Minsky cake
Equipment
- kitchen thermometer
- piping bag with star and hole nozzle
Ingredients
for the dough
- 200 g butter room warm
- 50 g powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- approx. 350 g flour
- 5 g baking powder
- 1 pinch of ground vanilla bean
- 1 pinch of salt
- flour for the work surface
for the filling
- 200 g jam sweet sour
for the frosting
- 100 g egg whites (from approx. 3 large eggs)
- 200 g sugar (twice as much as egg whites)
- 65 ml water (approx. 1/3 of the amount of sugar)
- 1/5 tsp citric acid food-grade
- 1 pinch of salt
for sprinkling
- 200 g peanuts roasted
Instructions
Preparation of the dough
- Beat softened butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt for approx. 5 minutes to form a light and creamy mixture.
- Add egg and beat to a homogeneous mixture.
- Mix flour with baking powder, add it to the butter mixture in batches and knead briefly and quickly to form a very soft shortcrust dough.
- Divide the dough into two equal portions, wrap each piece of dough in cling film, flatten it slightly into a rectangle and place both pieces of dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Take one piece of dough out of the fridge first, dust it with flour and roll it out on a sheet of baking paper to a thickness of approx. 5 - 6 mm to form a square measuring approx. 18 cm x 18 cm. Cut a 2 - 3 mm thick edge from all sides of the square.
- Prick the square cake base several times with a fork and bake in a preheated oven at 374 °F (190 °C) for approx. 12 minutes.
- Roll out the second piece of dough into a square cake base of the same size, cut off a very thin edge and bake it in the same way as the first cake base.
- Form very small balls (about the size of a hazelnut) from the leftover dough that you have cut off the edges of the cake bases, spread them out on a baking tray lined with baking paper, flatten them a little and bake them at 374 °F (190 °C) for approx. 7 - 8 minutes. These will be the “mushroom hats”.
- Leave the two cake bases and the “mushroom hats” to cool.
- Spread one of the two cake bases generously with jam and carefully place the second cake base on top.
- Chill the cake while you prepare the frosting.
Preparation of the frosting
- Weigh all the ingredients for the frosting exactly.
- Place egg whites and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Put sugar and water in a small saucepan with a thick base and bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
- As soon as the sugar syrup boils, add citric acid, stir briefly and leave to simmer without stirring until it reaches 248 °F (120 °C).
- At the same time, beat the egg whites in the mixing bowl until very frothy but not stiff.
- As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 248 °F (120 °C) (use a kitchen thermometer!), carefully pour it into the egg whites in a thin stream while continuing to beat (do not stop beating!).
- Now beat the egg white frosting for approx. 7 - 8 minutes until very stiff.
Preparation of the cake
- Fill a very small amount of the egg white frosting into the piping bag with the hole nozzle. Fill a few tablespoons of frosting into the piping bag with the star nozzle.
- Spread the remaining frosting over the surface of the cake and coat the sides with it.
- Roughly chop roasted peanuts and sprinkle over the top and sides of the cake.
- Using the star nozzle, pipe a border from the frosting onto the surface of the cake. Using the hole nozzle, pipe “mushroom stems” from the frosting onto the cake and place the “mushroom hats” from the shortcrust pastry on top.
Notes
- As the Italian meringue is quite sweet, I used less sugar for the dough. However, you can adjust the amount yourself.
- The amount of flour given may vary. Add as much flour to the butter mixture in portions until you have a very soft shortcrust dough.
- Knead the dough only briefly until it is just about homogeneous and leave it to cool thoroughly.
- It is best to use a tart jam to balance out the sweet Italian meringue.
- Weigh the ingredients for the Italian meringue exactly, as success depends on it.
- Use a kitchen thermometer to measure the temperature of the sugar syrup.
- Take note of the detailed tips and tricks for making the Minsky cake at the top of the article.
If you are using Pinterest, you can pin the following picture:
