This cake is pure awesomeness! Really! You can make the cake layers up to a week early. I love that; especially when you are cooking up a storm for an event. Wouldn’t it be pure awesomeness (I already said that) if your dessert was already done and it gets better with age, just like a good cheese; except it should sit closer to 10 hours, not 10 months or it may grow a mowhawk.
This recipe is brought to you by my Mama; the woman whose taste in food I inherited. Mom uses 3 springform pans so she is working on a layer while the other two are baking; efficiency! Theoretically, you could use a dinner plate to cut-out a circle of the dough and then place it on a non-stick floured cookie sheet to bake. Please don’t panic over the pictures; my mom doubles all of the ingredients and turns out 3 cakes in one evening (superwoman). So, the photos show double all of the ingredients.
This recipe can make 2 shorter cakes, or 1 tall cake. You end up with about 10 layers if they are 9 inches in diameter. If making 2 cakes, each would have 4-5 layers (5 if you use graham crackers for crumbs), or one tall cake with 8-9 layers (with one layer for crumbs mixed with graham crackers). Mom always likes to add at least a couple crushed graham crackers to the crumb mix. It makes the whole cake tastier and pahuchye (fragrant). Enjoy it!
Servings: 12-15
Cost to Make: $10-$12
What you will need: preferably 2 springform pans and a cookie cutter
Ingredients for Spartak Cake:
1 egg
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened at room temp
6 tbsp (1/3 cup) milk, warmed to room temp
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
2-3 graham crackers (optional)
Ingredients for Spartak Cream:
2 sticks (16 tbsp) butter, softened at room temp
1 can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz package cream cheese, softened at room temp
8 oz tub cool whip, fully thawed (or make your own by beating 1 cup of whipping cream with 1.5 tbsp powdered sugar)
How to Make Spartak Cake Layers:
1. Beat together 1 egg and 1 cup sugar (whisk attachment, medium speed, 6 minutes). I know the photo shows two eggs, but its because we were doubling the recipe when we made it. So, yes it is just 1 egg. 
2. Add softened butter, warm milk, and baking soda. Mix on medium speed 1 minute, until smooth.
2. Bring a medium/large pot of water to a boil. Place mixture in a glass bowl or medium sauce pan over boiling water for 10 minutes, stirring constantly (if making a double portion, do 20 minutes since it takes longer to heat up)
3. Remove from heat and immediately mix in 2 cups flour and mix well. (Don’t wait to add flour or you will single-handedly destroy the cake).
Preheat the Oven to 350 degrees F.
Let stand 20 minutes until it is just warm; it thickens as it cools: Note: It’s easier to roll out the dough while it’s still warm.
4. Dust flour over your non-stick surface (I wish I had my mom’s countertops!) Sprinkle flour over the dough as well so it wont’ stick to your rolling pin.
5. Roll out a heaping tablespoon of dough on a nonstick surface into about a 10-inch round. It should not be sticking to the surface.
6. Generously dust the base of the springform pan with flour.
7. Place the rolled out dough over the base of the springform pan, run a pizza cutter around it. It’s ready to bake.
8. Mix the scraps of dough with some fresh dough and roll it out again. Don’t waste those scraps!
9. Bake at 350 degrees F. until it turns golden (4-5 minutes). Don’t touch the top of the cake layer while its still hot, or you will indent it like I did – whoops!
Note: If one of your layers, is exceptionally oogly, don’t fret. Remember, you will take a rolling pin to one of them and make crumbs.
Notes: do not try to trim your cake layers after they are baked; they will crack.
How to Make the cream/frosting:
1. Using whisk attachment, beat together 2 packages butter and 1 can sweetened condensed milk on medium speed for 7 minutes, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
2. Mix in the softened cream cheese 1 chunk at a time until smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary (2-3 minutes)
3. On low speed, mix in the cool whip (or whipped cream) until well blended.
Assembling the Cake:
1. Set one cake layer aside for crumbs (or use graham crackers) – or you can mix like we did.
Spread a thin layer of frosting over the first layer (enough to cover the surface) and go all the way to the edges.
2. Place the next layer on top. Frost and repeat this until you finish all the layers. Frost the sides and even out the frosting everywhere. Push down the layers in between so you don’t have gaps of air between your layers. 
3. Crush the cake layer you set aside as well as the optional graham cracker. 
4. Generously sprinkle the crumbs over the top.
5. Cup handfuls of crumbs and pat them onto the sides of the cake.
6. Transfer to a pretty serving dish and refrigerate overnight (it should sit at least 10 hours for the layers to soften).
Thank you Mama for being patient with me while I took a million pictures. I love you Mom!!
{ 99 comments… read them below or add one }
thank you so much for this detailed recipe, definitely on my list for new years.. do you think it’ll be ok if ill add some cocoa (unsweetened) to the dough to make it taste chocolaty?
Add 1 to 1.5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa after adding the flour for a chocolate spartak.
Hello,
We make this cake too but I also put cocoa powder in the layers to make them chocolate. So its chocolate layers and white cream. I also put a little bit of sour cream into the cream.
We also try to make the layers paper thin, as thin as possible.
I was wondering when you roll out your layers of dough do they rip?
Whenever I try to roll out the dough it is always a lot of work because the edges rip and when I roll it out a hole comes out in the side or middle. Did that happen to yours? your layers look perfect.
We didn’t have that problem. My mom explained to me that if you wait to mix in the flour, it will be difficult to roll out the dough. She made this mistake in the past and said the dough would crack, break and crumble.
Thank you so much Natasha!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks so much for posting this recipe! I had a recipe for a cake like this but the directions were not clear on where to bake the layers, but yours are very clear & detailed
thanks for recipe…looks good. For people who dont have springform pans (I do, but never used it for making layers)…i just roll out on parchment paper as thin as you want and use a plate upside down on top of layer and cut with knife to make perfect round shape. works great and been doing it for over 10 years.
That’s a great tip! I like the idea of using parchment paper. Do you just roll it out onto parchment paper without flouring it and then just leave it on the parchment to bake?
just a little flour to roll out the dough, but i just place it on rack to bake without a baking pan. works great with alum foil too.
Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Natasha if i make the layers a day ahead what do i do with them so they wont dry up before i cream them?
Just put them in a plastic bag and leave them on the counter. They will be dry like crackers but that’s how they are supposed to be until they are frosted.
Awesome Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isnt this called “medovik” russian honey cake except you didnt add honey cuz i know spartak has chocolste layers? or you dont like to add cocoa?:)
Medovik is a different cake. Spartak can either be made with chocolate layers (just add 1 to 1.5 tbsp cocoa after the flour) or the light colored layers (our family’s favorite!)
Thank you…and mama, this is an awesome recipe. All the best in the New Year!!
I passed your message on to my mom
You are very welcome.
Amazing!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks!:) Happy New years!
This cake is AMAZING!!!! it is my favourite cake of all times. My Mom’s friend use to make it all the time but would not give her recipe to nobody and now she has passed away.
Thank you so much for the detailed photo’s and recipe. Here where I live they call this cake “Napoleon”……I usually have to go to a Ukie store to buy it, but it doesn’t taste as good as home made. Thanks again……I’m going to make this for “Yкраїнського Різдва” on Jan. 7th.
……thank you again…Happy New Year and Merry Ukrainian Christmas”!!!!
Thank you Iryna! I hope it’s as good as you remember it
. Merry Christmas and happy new year to you as well!!
Natashenka,
I appreciate for the time and effort that you put in posting these really good recipes. Thanks so much for this spartak recipe. I made it for New Years and was not disappointed!
Keep up the good work
That’s wonderful!! Happy new years!
So good will try with chocolate next time! Thanks to u and ur mama! God bless!!!!!!!!!!
Is this the same as a “Napoleon”? Either way, it looks yummy! I need to start cooking Russian baked goods one of these days–this might be a good place to start
I don’t think so. Napoleon is also called “mille-feuille” which means a thousand sheets. Its usually made with a puff pastry. This is just spartak.
Oh wow!!! This cake was absolutely delicious! I made if for New Years and it was the best cake I’ve ever made. Everybody loved it. They said that they had at first expected an ordinary “layer” cake, but when they took a bite, they went like “mmmm, what is that?” It tasted absolutely wonderful, not too sweet but just yummy. It was not that difficult to make, but I did have a little problem rolling out the layers, they kept sticking to the counter. I used a lot of flower while rolling them, but maybe next time I’ll put more flour in the dough. It is definately going to be my “go-to” cake now. Thank you and your sweet Mom so much for the recipe!
Laura’s comment above has advice about rolling it out and baking it on a parchment paper. that may help. Mom’s counter is fantastic for rolling things out.
And, yes, I did thank her
She loves hearing all these success stories!
everyone ate this in a split second while gobbling down tea hehehe!
Beautifulness!!!!!!
Natasha fabulous recipe! I will be stealing this recipe and posting on my blog
I will definitely give you credit!
My aunt made this cake and I love it. Thanks for posting it. Im looking forward to making it myself.
Can you soften butter in microwave?
My mom did this time as a last resort, but it worked anyway! Slice the butter and put it on for 10 seconds, then check it; it melts pretty quickly. You don’t want it to melt, just soften. Hope that helps.
This looks a bit difficult. Is it?
I’d say yes, but once you do it once, you will be a pro! It’s more difficult than the biskvit cakes but it’s worth it.
So good and no leftovers:)
Do you gotta put that rounder around springform base or can you just bake the bottom?
You just need the base of the springform
This cake is my favorite ever! Do u know what else is my favorite? When I end up eating the whole thing and then go hide and cry because I’m such a fatty fat fat
Oh shush. You are my sister so I can go ahead and tell you to shush. Yes, I do love this cake too! Now you can make Mom’s cake anytime you want to. You will always have the recipe and so will your children and their children. Pretty sweet huh?
Hi Natasha, cake looks amazing. Love it. I make it witch chocolate layers, white cream and hazelnuts.
I will defiantly try yours.
I’d like to try the chocolate one some day. It was in my mom’s recipe book to add cocoa (optional), but I think she loves this one so much, she’s never tried the chocolate version.
Thank you for this wonderful receipe!! What a great cake! I made it for Sunday lunch at my in-laws and it was gone by the end of the evening! The kids and everyone else loved it! I enjoy your receipes and have tried many of them! Yum!! By the way, I tried a similar cake in the past and found an easier way to roll out the dough thin without it breaking. I cut out the shape of the cake with parchment paper. Then I sprinkle flour on the paper as well as on the dough. Its easier to roll it out without it breaking and no need to transport it after. I bake it with the parchment and the dough comes off perfect after its baked. Thanks again!
~Irina
Thank you Irina! I will try that when I make it at home next time since my counter tops are less than ideal.
Hello I made the chicken garlic pizza and everybody loved it..I am making this cake now and I was wondering how many layers does this come out to or how many cookies does it make? thanks
This recipe makes 10 layers (2 shorter cakes or 1 really tall one).
thank you soo much..i am very exited….i am half way done.yey
Let me know what you think.
So I made the spartak, katerinas tres leches cakes, and like i said the pizza as well..turned out perfect..i can’t wait to try the cakes tomorrow.
Wow!! You are on a roll!
Beautiful blog natasha! I am excited to make this cake today, been looking for a good recipe and came across yours,thank you
i was also wondering if you have a recipe of a cake with a hazelnut cream? i tried a simple biskvit cake at a wedding with an amazing gentle hazelnut cream(and im wondering if anyone knows what they use -syrup or actual hazelnuts added to cream?) if anyone knows please let me know! thank you
I don’t, but I’d like to know if you find out. I’ll be on the lookout for that recipe
I made a Hungarian hazelnut torte (from epicurious), if you like buttercream frostings then try it out, it does use 2 sticks of butter, and it has actual hazelnuts you mix in. I found the cake itself to be eh, but the buttercream might be better on a biskvit, if you soak the biskvit first in liqeuor or something.
mmm. Sounds nice
this was delicious and so easy! i’d love to make a chocolate version, if you know how, please do share. spasibo!
I’m glad you enjoyed the cake
Add 1 to 1.5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa to the dough after adding the flour for a chocolate spartak.
I made this cake yesterday , it was very good, thank you for the recipe.
I made this cake yesterday, and it turned out AMAZING! And pretty easy to make – probably took me a bit more than an hour. I rolled the layers on foil and baked them two at a time since they are pretty small. The cake came out really moist and light and not too sweet, so it’s my new favorite! Thank you so much Natasha!
That’s awesome! I’m glad you liked it. I’ll tell my Mom too; she’ll be happy to hear its your new fav
quick question. I was making this cake and noticed that your picture has 2 eggs with sugar, but the recipe says 1 egg…..so is it 1 or 2 eggs? I did 2 eggs, was following the picture.
Laura, I mentioned in the second paragraph that the photos are for double the recipe. So it’s just one egg. I’ll go back and put that in bold so people aren’t missing it. Thanks Laura.
I loved this cake and it will be my go-to to cake from now on! my uncle, who does not like sweets or dessert in general ate 2 slices! Thanx for a great post! Looking forward to more of your amazing cake recipes;);)
That’s awesome!! Thanks for sharing
I tried this cake with the cocoa this time and I loved the presentation of how it looks with the chocolate layers. It is definetly better the 3rd day or so!
Now I really really want to do a chocolate one!! I better go find a piece of chocolate to stick in my mouth. You’ve created a craving. Thanks alot!
Hi Natasha,
I discovered this cake on your website about 2 weeks ago… Since then, I have made it 4 times!!!
It is my favorite cake, now my dad’s favorite, and my brother’s favorite!! I also made this for a bake sale we had at work last night and oh my goodness, my co-workers were in love! Some even said this was the BEST dessert they ever had!! Thanks so much for your blog! I always look forward to your posts 
Oksana, that’s so awesome!! What a great success story. Thank you for sharing. My mom will love hearing that!
Hi Natasha,
I love your blog, everything tastes awesome, 1 question in Spartak cake, should condensed milk be cooked or just straight out of the can?
Thanks,
E
HI Elina, just use it straight out of the can.
Thank you for this recipe! My mom actually came over and we made it together! Can’t wait to try it! The crumbs were delicious, made me want to break up a layer and just eat it!
How fun! Let me know how it turned out.
Super delicious cake… just melts in your mouth. I did have some problems with dough being too sticky and ripping but at the end cake still turned out amazing. Everybody loved it, especially my hubby
Natasha can i put cocoa into hot mixture instead after flour cuz its harder since the dough gets stiffened?
Emma, you may add 1 to 1.5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa to the dough right before or with the flour for a chocolate spartak. Just make sure you stir everything in immediately after taking it off the heat or it will get too stiff to mix.
I’m excited to bake this for my family for this weekend celebration…
Kind of nervous because it will be my first time making this cake! I hope I don’t mess up!
Let me know how it goes. You’ll do great!
so i made this cake, it is absolutely delicious! and i made it twice already actually
the first time i made it by this recipe and decorated with nutella and hazelnuts and the second time i just added 3tbspns of cocoa powder to the dough and made a chocolate version with a chocolate glaze over the whole thing, pal’chiki oblizhish! 
thank you thank you thank you! p.s. this is the best recipe to make this cake by cuz the second time i made it by a diff recipe, where you make the whole thing over heat and it asked for more butter, the whole thing was so hard to work with and was soooo sticky, me no like, but it did turn out basically the same so from now on, i will always use this one 
Kristina, thank you! I’m so glad you liked my mother’s recipe
Do you have a good chocolate glaze recipe? I’ve been looking for one and the one you are describing sounds wonderful! .
the one i used was very simple but i think its missing something. you just melt 1/2 cup chocolate morsels, 1/4 stick butter and 1 tbsp heavy cream. it got the job done but it was a little too sweet for me and it was kinda stiff
Thank you darlin’!
Natashinka,
and that meant a lot to me.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I was looking for a new cake to make for my Daddy’s birthday and I found you by Google(ing) for Russian/Ukrainian cakes. I made this cake yesterday and it was a huge hit with the family. My husband, who has been doing the low/healthier carb diet, couldn’t resist and had three slices too
Sounds like we also have a lot in common – food, family, husbands being youth leaders, and I’ve been a nurse for over 4 years. May God continue to bless you. Again thank you for your amazing recipe. I will definitely be trying others.
I guess you could just blame me for messing up his diet
I’m so glad your family really enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know! God bless you as well! Wow, we do have alot in common! What area of nursing are you in?
I always thought that I wanted to be a L&D nurse or mother-baby. But I have been doing Oncology nursing now for over 4 years and absolutely love it. I really feel like this is what God has called me to do.
That’s so awesome! I always thought I wanted to be an L&D nurse until my rotation there. I just wasn’t drawn to it either. I’ve applied for a few different position and am trusting in God to send me to the right spot! Did you start in Oncology?
Pretty much. The floor I work on is split into North and South ends (respiratory and oncology). I was hired on to work the respiratory unit. But I think it was God’s doing that they accidentally hired too many for that side and I ended up in Oncology. We get to “float” to other units when census is low or staffing is high, but I just don’t seem to enjoy the other areas as much. What did you have in mind? What rotations have you enjoyed?
My family loved this cake. So good, i really like that it’s not too sweet. Just what I like. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe of your mom’s.
Thank you Viktoriya! I’ll make sure to let my Mom know how much you liked it
hi i have a question? when im doubling the recipe can i just use one cup of sugar? because the cake is too sweet. or will this mess up the whole cake? thank you so much
Have you tried the cake with 1 cup before doubling it and you thought it was too sweet? I don’t think it would be the same if you cut the sugar in half. I’m not sure if it would work since I have never made it that way.
yeah i made it once with 2 cups with double portion and it was too sweet and thats what everyone said when i made it for the party. so when im doubling the recipe i should double all the ingredience right? because for some reason the dough was too thick when i added the 4 cups of flour.
Make sure you add flour right away while it’s still hot or it won’t be the same consistency. You can try using 1/2 cup less sugar for double the recipe if you felt it was too sweet. What kind of flour were you using?
im using regular all purpose flower. i think that this cake should always be made double recipe because the dough does not rise when baked so the cake is too short if not doubled. is that why you guys did the double recipe on the picture?
We doubled it because we wanted 2 cakes; but the results should be the same for 1 cake with the recipe that is posted. It’s not a very tall cake; but that is the way we have always served it. When we doubled the recipe, we ended up with two cakes and they were both the same size. It sounds like you are used to tall cakes. If you double the recipe, you can make one really tall cake. I bet it would be gorgeous!
another question i had is do you think i should let the cake sit outside the frigerator for few hours, because when i placed mine in the frigerator right away after making it, the cake never got very soft. it was a little on the hard side. or maybe i overbaked the cake? but i wanted the layers to be golden so it took me more then 5 min it was more like 8 min per layer.
Did your layers look darker than the photo? Also how long did you refrigerate? Was it at least 10 hours? It does get even softer if it sits longer.
That is a good idea; it would probably soften quicker if you let it sit on the counter for a 1-2 hours before refrigerating. I’m not sure I would do it longer for food Safety reasons. Thanks for the tip!
yes my layers looked about the same as on the phone maybe even a little lighter. and yes i refrigerated for 12 hrs. i think it might be too much flour. like i said it was very thick when i added the flour right away after taking the bowl off of the steam.
It sounds like a problem with too much flour. That is usually the case with Canadian flour, but i haven’t had that issue with all-purpose. Are you using a dry ingredients measuring cup and scraping off the top? I have found that using a liquid measuring cup doesn’t equate to the dry ingredients cup when measuring flour. Hope that helps! If you were doing all that, just add a couple tbsp less flour next time.