Sponge slices with butter cream: so tasted small Soviet happiness

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Fluffy, moist, soft, creamy, tender – these Russian sponge slices with butter cream, which were very popular in the Soviet Union, taste heavenly delicious. Classically decorated with flowers and leaves in pastel colors, they are a sweet eye-catcher that looks good enough to eat. Here I show you how to make the mini cakes yourself. It’s easy, and you only need common ingredients for it, which you may already have at home. You can find a detailed recipe for the sponge slices with butter cream with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.

The little sweet happiness from the former Soviet Union

In many Soviet pastry shops and canteens you used to be able to buy the pretty sponge slices with butter cream. The small sweet happiness had cost 22 kopeks at that time. Both children and adults loved the mini cakes with pink flowers and green leaves from the cream. As the taste of childhood, they are remembered by many children at that time.

Sponge slices with butter cream

What are the magical mini cakes made of?

The sweet slices consist of the classic sponge cake and butter cream. The sponge cake tastes fluffy and soft. Due to the fact that it is soaked with the sugar syrup, it is also very moist. The cream here is not an ordinary butter cream. It is made with home-made cornstarch syrup, which makes it incredibly airy, tender, creamy and snow-white in appearance.

How to decorate the sponge slices with butter cream?

Classically, Russian sponge slices are decorated with pink flowers and green leaves from the butter cream. To do this, color some of the cream with food coloring, fill it into the piping bag with the appropriate nozzle, and then place the flowers and leaves on the mini cakes. The colors here are not flashy, they are usually pastel colors. Of course, you can decorate your sponge slices any way you like.

Mini cakes with sponge cake and butter cream

What do I need for decorating?

Here I list what you need if you want to decorate the sponge slices with butter cream the way it was done in the Soviet Union. But you can also decorate them in a completely different way – the way you like it. Completely without decoration, the mini cakes will taste no less delicious.

Food colors

Pink and green were very popular when it came to Soviet pastries. In these colors, which were not flashy, but pastel colors, many cakes and tarts were decorated at that time. You will also need the two food colors for the sponge slices. You can use powder or gel food coloring. I always use the second one.

Piping bags and nozzles

To pipe flowers and leaves onto the sponge slices, you’ll need a piping bag and the appropriate piping nozzles. I used the nozzle Rose. But you can also make the flowers with other suitable nozzles. For example, a simple large closed star nozzle fits for this. I also used a very small closed star nozzle to pipe small flowers. To pipe leaves, you’ll need a leaf piping nozzle. I had also piped some green drops, for which I used a round hole nozzle with a very small hole.

Teeth dough scraper

To cover up any imperfections of the cream on the surface of the mini cakes before decorating them, a teeth dough scraper with serrations is used. Spreading the mini cakes in a wavy shape with it also gives them a nice pattern.

You can see exactly how I decorated my sponge slices in the pictures here.

Russian mini cakes with butter cream

Russian sponge slices with butter cream are

  • fluffy,
  • moist,
  • soft,
  • tender,
  • creamy,
  • aromatic,
  • incredibly delicious,
  • a sweet eye-catcher on the dining table,
  • easy to make with common ingredients,
  • perfect for a celebration,
  • classic of Russian cuisine.

Recipe for Russian sponge slices with butter cream

Even though the mini cakes seem elaborate at first, the recipe is actually easy. You just have to bake the sponge cake and cook the cream. Here you can get a rough idea of how the making goes, and what you need for it. You can find the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions on how to make the Russian sponge slices with butter cream here below in the box recipe.

For the sponge dough, as always, you need eggs, sugar, flour, some vanilla and a pinch of salt. First, beat the eggs with the sugar, vanilla and salt until fluffy, then fold in the flour and bake the sponge in a square baking pan. Then let it cool and cut it lengthwise into two cake layers. Soak both cake layers with the sugar syrup, which you boil briefly beforehand with water and sugar and flavor with rum or cognac.

For the cream you need soft butter, milk, sugar, cornstarch and for the flavoring vanilla and rum or cognac. Dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of milk, boil the rest of the milk with sugar, add cornstarch in a thin stream and boil for a few minutes so that the mixture thickens. Then stir in vanilla and let the cornstarch syrup cool. Now whip soft butter for a few minutes, add the cornstarch syrup in small amounts and whip to a homogeneous cream, adding alcohol last.

Now spread the cream on the two cake layers, stack them on top of each other and let the cake set in the refrigerator for a while. Then cut the cake into slices and decorate them as you like. Done!

Sponge mini cakes with butter cream recipe

How to make sponge slices with butter cream: tips and tricks

  • Use room warm eggs for the sponge cake. This allows the sugar to dissolve more quickly when whipped.
  • As vanilla for the sponge cake and the cream go among other things vanilla sugar, vanilla powder, vanilla extract or vanilla bean scraped out.
  • It’s best to add flour to the egg-sugar mixture through a sieve so that no lumps form in the batter and you don’t have to stir it too long.
  • To bake the sponge cake, you’ll need an approx. 24 cm x 24 cm square springform pan.
  • To check if the sponge is baked, use a toothpick. Insert it briefly into the center of the sponge and see if it comes out clean. Alternatively, you can use a finger to gently press briefly on the surface of the sponge about halfway down. If it springs back after you press it, and no marks remain, it’s done.
  • Be sure to simmer the cornstarch syrup for the cream for a few minutes so that the cream doesn’t taste like cornstarch later.
  • Both butter and the cornstarch syrup and alcohol need to be room warm and all about the same temperature when whipped together to make the cream, so they can combine well.
  • You can omit the alcohol for the cream and the sugar syrup or use something else for flavoring, such as a lemon peel.
  • Store the sponge slices with butter cream in the refrigerator. They will keep for about 3 days.

Slices with sponge cake and cream

Did you make the Russian sponge slices with butter cream according to this recipe? I’m looking forward to your result, your star rating and your comment below, how you liked the mini cakes.

Got an appetite for more delicious mini cakes and slices? Also try:

Russian sponge slices with butter cream

Russian sponge slices with butter cream

Fluffy, moist, soft, creamy, tender – these Russian sponge slices with butter cream, which were very popular in the Soviet Union, taste heavenly delicious. Classically decorated with flowers and leaves in pastel colors, they are a sweet eye-catcher that looks good enough to eat. According to this recipe, you can make the mini cakes yourself. It's easy, and you only need common ingredients for it, which you may already have at home.
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 20 minutes
Cooling time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Russian
Servings 8 slices

Equipment

  • 24 cm x 24 cm square springform pan
  • piping bag

Ingredients
  

for the dough

  • 5 eggs (room temperature)
  • 150 g sugar
  • 150 g flour
  • vanilla
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • butter to grease the baking pan

for the cream

  • 130 ml milk
  • 130 g sugar
  • 300 g butter (room temperature)
  • 20 g cornstarch
  • vanilla
  • 1 tbsp rum or cognac (room temperature)

for the sugar syrup

  • 90 ml water
  • 70 g sugar
  • 1 tbsp rum or cognac

for decorating

  • pink food coloring
  • green food coloring

Instructions
 

Preparation of the dough

  • Line the bottom of the square springform pan with baking paper and grease the sides with butter.
  • Beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt until you have a fluffy white mixture.
  • Fold in flour to make a fluffy, thick batter.
  • Pour the sponge mixture into the baking pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C top and bottom heat for about 20 minutes. Allow the sponge cake to cool and then store in an airtight container overnight.

Preparation of the sugar syrup

  • Put sugar and water in a small saucepan, bring to a boil while stirring constantly so that the sugar dissolves before it boils, take it off the heat and let the sugar syrup cool.
  • Add rum or cognac and stir it.

Preparation of the cream

  • Dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of milk.
  • Put the remaining milk and sugar in a small, thick-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
  • Once the mixture boils, add the cornstarch dissolved in milk in a thin stream, stirring constantly, and continue to cook over medium hint, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 3 minutes.
  • Take the cornstarch syrup off the heat, add vanilla and stir. Then let the syrup cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
  • Beat softened butter for about 5 minutes until fluffy and creamy white.
  • Add the cornstarch syrup in small batches, whipping each time to a homogeneous mass so that you end up with a fluffy cream.
  • Add rum or cognac and whip again briefly.

Preparation of the slices

  • Cut the cake lengthwise into two cake layers, soak them from the inside with the sugar syrup and let them dry for about 15 minutes.
  • Transfer about 1/3 of the cream into a clean bowl and refrigerate it until you need it for decorating.
  • Spread the remaining cream evenly over the two cake layers and stack them on top of each other. Make wavy lines on the surface of the cake with the teeth dough scraper and chill the cake for 1 hour to set the cream.
  • Cut off about 0.5 cm thick border from all sides of the cake (it doesn't look so pretty, but it tastes delicious, so you shouldn't throw it away) and cut the cake into 8 slices (in my case, each 10 cm x 5 cm in size).

Decorate the slices

  • Color about 2/3 of the chilled cream with pink and the rest with green food coloring.
  • Fill the cream into different piping bags with suitable nozzles and pipe flowers with the pink cream and leaves with the green cream onto the slices. Chill the sponge slices for about 30 minutes.

Notes

  • To check if the sponge cake is done baking, use a toothpick. Alternatively, you can press a finger on the surface of the sponge and see if it springs back afterwards.
  • Be sure to simmer the cornstarch syrup for the cream for a few minutes so that the cream does not taste like cornstarch later.
  • Both butter and the cornstarch syrup and alcohol need to be room warm and all about the same temperature when whipped together to make the cream, so they can combine well.
  • Alcohol for the cream and sugar syrup is alternative.
  • Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the Russian sponge slices with butter cream at the top of the post.
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