Chocolate Spartak (video)

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An eight layer chocolate cake worthy of any celebration! This chocolate spartak Russian cake recipe is bound to become a favorite! It’s made with 8 thin chocolate cake layers, frosted with a creamy whipped cream frosting and chocolate ganache. After a few days in the refrigerator, each layer is moist and tender and melt-in-your-mouth delicious! The chocolate Spartak cake is one of the most popular cakes in Russia and Eastern Europe. I can’t remember a wedding that didn’t serve some version of this cake! Once you try it, you’ll know why!

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How It’s Made!
The chocolate spartak cake starts with a chocolate cake ‘dough’. This Russian cake is made slightly different than your usual cake! The dough is rolled thin and baked, resulting in a soft, biscuit like layers. These layers are then sandwiched together with a creamy and easy whipped cream frosting made with butter, sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream. I garnish my cake with smooth chocolate ganache for extra chocolate flavor and toasted hazelnuts for a nutty flavor. I also love to add fresh raspberries or strawberries on the top. They add a little color and lots of fruity flavor.
Although this cake might look intimidating, it’s worth the effort. It takes a little bit of time to make and you will need to wait patiently for a day or two before enjoying but it will be a cake to remember! Just imagine cutting into this cake and the look on your guests faces when they see those layers!
layered russian chocolate cake with ganache and raspberries
The Whipped Cream Frosting

The whipped cream frosting for this cake is super easy to make and delicious! I love to use this frosting for many of my recipes! Check out my in-depth video tutorial here to get it perfect every time! ‘Whipped Cream Frosting’

More Recipes!

Looking for more chocolate cake recipes or Russian cake recipes? Check out these other options that I have on my blog!

Enjoyed this recipe? Please share and save it to Pinterest!

Chocolate Spartak Cake Recipe with video - Russian Cake recipes

Share47
Pin286
333 Shares

Ingredients

  • For Chocolate Layers:
  • 1 cup (236ml) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 cup (118ml) milk
  • 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups (312g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup (30g) dark cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon (4g) baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • For Frosting:
  • 1 cup (236ml) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup (226g) butter, softened at room temperature
  • 12 ounces (340g) whipped cream cheese
  • 1 1/2 cups (354ml) heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
  • For Chocolate Ganache:
  • 1/2 cup (118ml) heavy cream
  • 1 cup (175g) dark chocolate melts or chips
  • toasted hazelnuts, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare 2 or 3 8-inch round cake pans, as well as 8-inch parchment paper rounds. Set aside.
  2. Prepare the chocolate cake dough. In a large bowl or measuring cup, combine the sweetened condensed milk, milk and vanilla extract. Heat in the microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes until very hot, or heat the mixture over a water bath. Meanwhile, measure all the dry ingredients into one bowl: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
  3. Gradually begin adding the dry ingredients into the warm milk mixture. Whisk the flour in at first, then as the batter comes together into dough, switch to a spatula. You should have a very soft and slightly sticky dough. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface. With well-floured hands, knead the dough gently until it's uniform and smooth.
  4. Using a sharp knife, divide the dough evenly into 8 pieces. Work with one piece of dough at a time. Place the dough onto a round of parchment paper. Then using a well-floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into a circle. Use your hands to press it to the edges evenly. Transfer the round into a cake pan. Use a fork to pierce the dough all over to prevent air bubbles while baking.
  5. Bake 2 to 3 cake rounds at a time for about 10 minutes. Remove the cake rounds from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Reuse the parchment paper for the remaining dough.
  6. Prepare the frosting. Make sure to have the butter and cream cheese at room temperature first. Place all of the ingredients into a mixer bowl: sweetened condensed milk, butter, cream cheese, heavy cream, vanilla and salt. Begin by whisking the ingredients on medium speed. Once the ingredients are mixed, turn mixer up to high speed and whisk until frosting is light and fluffy.
  7. Assemble the cake. Spread a generous amount of frosting between each cake layer. Use remaining frosting to frost the top and sides of cake, taking extra care to cover all of the cake layers. Smooth down top and sides with a flat spatula. Place cake into refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
  8. Garnish the cake. Heat the heavy cream until it's very hot but not boiling! Add the chocolate melts and stir until smooth ganache forms. Allow the ganache to cool slightly before transferring it into a large ziplock bag. Cut off the tip of the bag with kitchen scissors, then drizzle the chocolate down the sides of the cake and smooth over the top. Garnish the top of the cake with chopped toasted hazelnuts and fruit, if desired.
  9. Set cake into refrigerator to allow the ganache to set. This cake is best after setting for 2 days in the refrigerator. Remove the cake from the fridge about 1 hour prior to serving to allow the cake to thaw.
Chocolate 'Spartak' cake is one of the most popular cakes in Russia and Eastern Europe. It's made with 8 chocolate cake layers and frosted with a creamy whipped cream frosting. View Recipe Link

35 Responses to Chocolate Spartak (video)

  1. raha April 22, 2016 at 10:58 am #

    Hey your unique cooking.  I am verylove especially to desserts and cakes your.
    Good luck

    Raha

    Reply
  2. Alena April 27, 2016 at 1:42 pm #

    Thank you for recipe 👌🏻👍🏻

    Reply
  3. Ana April 28, 2016 at 4:52 am #

    Beautiful cake! I want to make it, but I want bigger, maybe 9 or 10 inch. Have I to double the amount of ingredients or will be fine like in 8 inch?

    Reply
    • tkorchemnaya April 30, 2016 at 12:42 pm #

      If you want a 10-inch cake, just double the recipe! 🙂

      Reply
      • Julie June 13, 2017 at 11:14 am #

        If making a 10inch, how long do you bake it for?

        Reply
        • tatyanaseverydayfood June 15, 2017 at 11:04 am #

          As long as the layers are about the same thickness, the timing won’t change.

          Reply
  4. agnes May 21, 2016 at 3:17 pm #

    Hi, not sur what I did wrong but my filling curled .. 🙁 Can you tell me what I did wrong? over mixing it maybe?

    Reply
    • tatyanaseverydayfood May 22, 2016 at 10:36 am #

      Oh no! Sorry about that! Make sure that the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature and very soft! I find that if they aren’t, the cream will separate and be clumpy…

      Reply
      • Agnes August 18, 2016 at 12:20 pm #

        Thank you. Made another batch and it was delicious!!! Thank you for sharing your recipes. This is my favorite page. Looking to make something else soon. Did the mirror glazing and it was delicious. Love condense milk.

        thanks again.. Love this page

        Reply
  5. Rimante June 15, 2016 at 4:03 pm #

    I try to figure out what stands for “heavy cream”? In the UK we have single cream, double cream which is thick and whipping cream which is 30% fat. Which one is the best to use?

    Reply
  6. Hade June 18, 2016 at 12:44 pm #

    I want you to ask about whipped cream cheese can i use just the cream cheese not whipped, if can not what can i substitute?

    Reply
    • tatyanaseverydayfood June 19, 2016 at 9:32 am #

      Yes, you can use regular cream cheese in this recipe, too! 🙂

      Reply
      • Hade June 20, 2016 at 4:10 am #

        Thank you very much for your response😊

        Reply
  7. OBL August 1, 2016 at 1:56 am #

    Hi

    would you be able to convert the measurement to grams/ml?

    Thanks

    Reply
  8. Lena August 31, 2016 at 9:32 pm #

    is it possible to over beat the cream? (how long do we need to beat it for?) what’s the difference between heavy whipping cream and whipping cream? thanks!!

    Reply
    • tatyanaseverydayfood September 1, 2016 at 8:42 am #

      Yes, if you over mix the cream, it will start to separate. Mix on medium speed until smooth and fluffy. Heavy whipping cream has more fat content (36%) than regular whipping cream (30-33%)

      Reply
  9. Alli December 22, 2016 at 12:40 am #

    Hi, so do I HAVE to put the cake in the fridge before covering it with that yummy chocolate glaze? Or I can do it right away.

    Reply
    • tatyanaseverydayfood December 22, 2016 at 10:07 am #

      I like to let the frosting set up a little bit first, then add the glaze. I think it sets better that way 🙂

      Reply
  10. Sonali February 6, 2017 at 4:31 am #

    Hi cake looks amazing.. I love ur recipes and videos.. Just wanted to know.. Can i bake 2-3 layers in same cake tray or separately?

    Reply
  11. Tanya January 23, 2018 at 5:13 pm #

    I did the cream exactly as you said (butter and cream cheese room temperature) but my cream curled when I started beating it 😟 I think I’ll beat the whipping cream separately next time maybe? And 2 1/2 cups of flour seemed too much, my korzhi were so rubbery😟

    Reply
    • tatyanaseverydayfood January 28, 2018 at 12:51 pm #

      I’m so sorry that the cream recipe didn’t work well for you! I need to add my updated version of this cream to this page! Now, I make sure to whisk it separately but even then, you need to be very careful not to overmix, that’s when it starts to separate!

      Reply
  12. Syndrella Rodriguez February 15, 2018 at 11:15 am #

    Hai!
    How does this cake tastes like. I havent made it yet but a bit curious about the taste. How many days will it be refrigerated??. Will it be dry if it sits in the room temperature or after cutting it??
    Thank you so much for your recipes…..i just luv it….😘😘

    Syndrella😊😊

    Reply
    • tatyanaseverydayfood February 15, 2018 at 10:24 pm #

      Hi! I would let it sit in the refrigerator for at least a day to allow the layers to soft a bit. It tastes like an amazing cookies and cream cake! 🙂 Once you cut, I would cover the cut part with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. It will be just fine at room temperature. I actually like to take mine out of the fridge for at least an hour before serving to allow the layers to soften and thaw

      Reply
  13. Nellie March 2, 2018 at 2:48 pm #

    Hi Tanya,
    I just baked the layers for this cake, and they all turned out very hard. I was expecting them to be more softer. Did I do something wrong? Or they’ll be softer once I put cream on.

    Reply
    • tatyanaseverydayfood March 3, 2018 at 10:40 am #

      Hi! They shouldn’t be too hard but I think you can still make it work. You can try soaking the layers with a bit of black tea using a pastry brush and the layers will also soften from the cream… Hope it works out!

      Reply
  14. Anna Rudenko April 19, 2018 at 11:39 am #

    My absolute favorite cake!!! Always so moist and tasty!! 😋😋😋😋❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

    Reply
  15. Amy October 17, 2018 at 1:24 pm #

    I made this recipe to celebrate 3 years that my daughter has been in our family after being adopted from Ukraine…unfortunately there were several issues with the way it turned out. 🙁 I should’ve stopped and started over when I was making the cake batter since it seemed drier than in the video. It was never whiskable. Then when I went to roll the layers out the dough was very tough and difficult to make the layers stretch to the 9 inch size. The frosting separated…If I were to make it again I would maybe whip the cream separately and then mix with the whipped butter and cream cheese. I think the cold whip cream lowered the temperature of the butter/cream cheese that I had made sure were soft and room temp at the beginning. I ended up googling ways to fix this issue and saw that adding melted chocolate can help emulsify it all…and it did! So I used up the chocolate for the ganache in the frosting but at least it tasted good. We waited a full 24 hours and the layers did look really impressive. However the cake was just too tough, it was hard to cut through even. The kids ate it but no one wanted any leftovers the next day.

    Reply
    • tatyanaseverydayfood October 23, 2018 at 2:51 pm #

      I’m so sorry that my recipe didn’t work well for you 🙁 I’m not sure what could have gone wrong, I’ve personally used this recipe many times. The cream can be a bit tricky to make. I have an updated version of the cream in my cookbook, for my double Chocolate Spartak 🙂

      Reply
  16. Svetlana Kiritchenko July 3, 2019 at 2:02 pm #

    Hello Tatyana.
    I was trying to make frosting and it was runny! My butter and cream cheese were room temperature. My whipping cream never whipped and everything was separated. What did I do wrong? It should not be this difficult.Can I fix it ?

    Reply

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