Smetannik

Smetannik is a Soviet-era layer cake, one of the most popular homemade birthday cakes in Russia alongside Napoleon. It is built on smetana, the Russian sour cream that is the backbone of the national kitchen. Thin sponge layers are baked, stacked, and bound with a frosting of sweetened whipped sour cream. The sour cream gives the frosting a characteristic tang that distinguishes it from the pure-sweetness of buttercream or custard. The cake is chilled for several hours before cutting, during which the frosting softens the sponge layers, turning the separate discs into a unified, moist, sliceable cake. Every Russian household has a recipe, and the cake is simple enough to be a child's first baking project.

Moist, tender sponge layers bound by a tangy, creamy sour cream frosting, each forkful soft and slightly sour-sweet, the cake melting rather than resisting. Better the second day, when the layers have merged.

The technique is a simple sponge layered with sour cream frosting. The sponge is a basic egg-sugar-flour batter, divided into 3 or 4 thin layers, baked at 180 degrees C for 10 to 12 minutes each. The frosting is smetana (full-fat sour cream) whipped with sugar and vanilla until thick; unlike buttercream, it is not cooked and relies entirely on the thickness of the sour cream for body. The layers are stacked with frosting between, the whole cake frosted outside, and chilled at least 4 hours. During chilling, the moisture from the sour cream soaks into the sponge, softening it and binding the layers. The frosting's tang is what distinguishes the cake, the lactic acid of the sour cream cutting the sugar.