Smetannik: Sour Cream Sponge Cake
Smetannik was probably one of the most popular desserts of my childhood. It’s a very simple cake, or pastry if you like, made from sponge. What makes it special is that sour cream goes into both the cake layers and the cream, hence the name. By and large it’s not much different from most cakes of this kind, and it’s easy to make: the layers are simply spread with cream.
Sponge with sour cream frosting was most likely so widespread because sour cream was cheap and easy to get. Buying good sour cream cost far less than buying butter and condensed milk. Adding sour cream, kefir or soured milk to dough for baking or frying is very common in cooking. For example, Caucasian khachapuri with cheese turn out great with fermented milk (matsoni) in the dough. And when we bake kefir manna cake, we use kefir at home.
We’re used to sour cream sponge made with two kinds of layers, with cocoa and without. The cake comes out striped when cut and is very tasty, like Red Velvet cake. Sour cream goes into all the layers when baking, and the cream is the same throughout and is spread between all the layers. After soaking, the cake turns juicy, and the cocoa flavor blends with the sour cream. Sometimes, if the layers are fairly thick, you can soak them with sweet water with a splash of brandy.
Very often the layers are made as thin as possible and the cake has up to ten of them. As a rule, that isn’t necessary. It’s enough to see two dark layers and two light ones, with thin layers of sour cream between them. By the way, you can lay very thin slices of fruit, such as strawberries, kiwi or mango, between the layers. For decoration you can simply use sponge crumbs, which stick to the cream beautifully. Or you can let your imagination run wild.
Of course, it has to be real sour cream, not an emulsion based on vegetable fats. For the dough it’s better to use low-fat sour cream, 10-15%. The cream should be made with full-fat sour cream, over 25%.
Smetannik is made in three stages: baking the layers, making the sour cream frosting, and assembling the cake and letting it soak in the cold. The layers and cream can be made at the same time. The light and dark batter can also be mixed together; just add cocoa powder to half of it. Whether to decorate the dessert is a matter of taste. The important point is that after assembly the cake needs a long time to soak, at least six hours, and better half a day or more.
Ingredients
10-12 servings
- Thick sour cream (25-30%) for the cream 350 ml
- Sour cream (10-15%) for the layers 600 ml
- Eggs 10
- Wheat flour 3 cups
(390 g) - Sugar 2 cups
(360 g) - Powdered sugar 50 g
- Cocoa powder 1-2 tbsp
(7–14 g) - Water for soaking 50 ml
- For soaking: brandy, sugar, lemon as needed
- Orange zest, baking powder, liquid vanilla to taste
Step-by-step recipe
Smetannik isn’t difficult to make. Prepare all the ingredients in advance. Sift the flour and divide it equally between two bowls. Add half a packet of baking powder to each bowl. Add 1-1.5 tbsp of cocoa (7–10 g) powder to one portion of the flour. Mix each mixture thoroughly. For the layers, take the eggs and low-fat sour cream out of the fridge half an hour before cooking so they’re at room temperature. Turn on the oven to preheat. The thick, fattier sour cream for the cream should be chilled so that it whips better.
Baking the cake layers
The light and dark layers can be baked in different pans at the same time or one after another. We baked them one at a time, so we made the liquid sponge batter in two rounds. In a mixer bowl, combine 5 chicken eggs and a cup of sugar (180 g). Beat the eggs long and thoroughly, at least 7 minutes (time it). You should get a thick foam and the volume should increase considerably.
Add 300 ml of low-fat sour cream, 1 tsp of finely grated orange zest (2 g) and liquid vanilla extract to taste. Fold the egg foam into the sour cream. The foam will settle a little, which is normal. Add a mixture of 1.5 cups of flour (195 g) and 1 tsp of baking powder (5 g), without cocoa, to the batter. This batter is for the light layers. Mix the egg foam with the flour using a spatula, or a mixer on low speed.
Line a metal springform pan with baking paper. Grease it with a little vegetable oil. Pour all the batter into the pan and put it in an oven preheated to 200°C. The sponge batter contains sour cream, so it’s better to bake it at a higher temperature. Usually we try to bake sponge at 180°C. The sponge bakes for 30-40 minutes, but check it with a toothpick; the layer must be baked through.
Meanwhile, prepare the batter for the chocolate sponge. Beat 5 eggs with one cup of sugar (180 g) into a foam in the same way. Add sour cream (300 ml), vanilla and zest. Then add 1.5 cups of flour (195 g) mixture with 1 tsp of baking powder (5 g) and cocoa. The cocoa powder doesn’t have to be the blackest kind, and you can use more or less, as you like. We added 1 tbsp of black cocoa (7 g). When the first sponge is done, pour the cocoa batter into the prepared pan and bake until done.
The baked sponges should cool to room temperature. We cut them in half, which gave us two light layers and two dark cocoa ones. Use a knife to trim a thin layer off the edge, which darkens during baking. You can also slice off the top of each sponge as thinly as possible; it will work for sprinkling over the top and sides of the smetannik.
Making the cream
So the finished cake isn’t soggy, the sour cream must be fairly fat and thick. The sour cream needs to be whipped, and for that it must be chilled. What’s more, it’s best to keep the mixer bowl in ice water while whipping. Whip the sour cream into a thick foam. By the way, that’s a good dessert in itself, a relative of whipped cream. Add the powdered sugar and whip again. And that’s it, the sour cream frosting is ready.
Spreading the layers with cream
Before spreading the smetannik with cream, there’s one thing to consider. If the sponge is thick, it can be a bit dry and dense. In that case it should be soaked a little. When my daughter and I made this cake, we decided to soak only the bottom layer, the base of the cake. For the soak we heated 50 ml of water with 3 tbsp of sugar (41 g), added 1 tbsp of lemon juice and 3 tbsp of brandy. After it cooled, we soaked the layer with it. You can soak another layer, or all of them, as you see fit. Pour out any leftover soak.
It’s convenient to frost a sour cream cake on a turntable. Cover it with a napkin and place the bottom layer on it. The color of the layer doesn’t matter; what matters is that the layers alternate. Mentally divide the cream into 5 parts; one is needed for the sides. Spread the first layer with cream and smooth it with a spatula.
Put a layer of the other color on top and press it down very lightly with your palms. Spread it with cream and add the next layer. Spread all the layers in turn like this. Cover the top layer generously with sour cream frosting. Also generously coat the whole side with cream using the spatula. Ideally the coating should be even and without folds.
The smetannik is now ready; you can leave it as it is or decorate it. We decided to use the sponge trimmings for sprinkling. We had leftover pieces from the sides and tops, light and dark. Dry the trimmings separately and grind them into crumbs in a blender. You can add 1 tsp of cocoa (2 g) powder to the dark crumbs to make them darker.
On the top of the smetannik you can sprinkle the light and dark crumbs in stripes or make a pattern. Cover the sides generously with crumbs. The cream holds crumbs perfectly; they stick well. Anything that falls off can be brushed away and sprinkled onto the bare spots. The cake is ready for its long soak.
Soaking the smetannik
Put the turntable with the cake in the fridge. The smetannik needs a long time to soak. If you make it in the evening, it will be perfect the next day. The cake is quite moist, not dry at all. The total weight of the cake is over 2 kg, enough for a large group. By the way, the cake keeps in the fridge for a couple of days.
Before serving, cut the cake carefully into portions. Don’t make them too large; thin ones are better. Smetannik goes well with tea or with tasty fresh juice.
Calories and macros
555 kcal
Serving ≈ 230 g
- Protein13 g10% of kcal
- Fat22 g37% of kcal
- Carbs74 g54% of kcal
100 g240 kcalProtein 5.8 gFat 9.7 gCarbs 31.9 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.
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