Chocolate Cake Recipe (Prague Cake)
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This is my first chocolate cake; hopefully the first of many. I’ve made this cake twice in two weeks; changing it up a little each time. Variety is the sauce of life; or is it “zest of life”? Sauce doesn’t sound that awesome unless you’re specifically referring to the tefteli sauce. If you’ve tried it, you’d agree. Anyway, I added a nice little twist to this recipe by including raspberries (inside and out). I always liked raspberries and chocolate. Sweet and tart. Oh and I love sweet tarts too. I can eat them till I can’t feel my tongue…
The base of this chocolate cake comes from Mom’s Dish. Thank you Natalya for this perfect and simple chocolate cake. It’s not as complicated as it seems; I just took way too many photos and liked them all. P.S. My sister just called me and said the slice I left her yesterday was even better after soaking in the raspberry stuff overnight in the fridge.
Ingredients for a 9”, 4 layer round chocolate cake:
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1 1/3 Tbsp Instant coffee
¾ cup warm water
8 Egg whites at room temperature
5 Egg yolks (RESERVE the 3 leftover yolks for the Frosting!)
1 cup + ¼ cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups bleached all purpose Flour *measured correctly
2 tsp Baking powder
¼ tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Salt
Raspberry Sauce:
1 cup fresh raspberries
¼ cup raspberry jam or raspberry preserves
Chocolate Frosting:
2 sticks of Butter or 1 cup (has to be room temperature)
1/3 cup Condensed milk
3 Egg yolks
¼ cup Water
2 oz. semi sweet Chocolate
Making the Chocolate Cake Layers:
1. Preheat Oven to 300˚F. A springform pan works best for this cake because it has lovely tall walls. Butter and flour the walls of the pan and line the bottom with parchment paper to prevent sticking to the bottom.
2. Mix cocoa, instant coffee and warm water. Stir to dissolve. Set aside your velvety syrup.
3. Divide the egg whites and yolks (see my egg separating youtube tutorial here). Note: It’s easiest to separate your eggs while they are cold and then just let your whites sit in a bowl while you prep everything else. Place yolks and whites into two large mixing bowls. Remember not to toss the 3 left over yolks; you’ll need them for the frosting.
4. Whisk 5 egg yolks with 1 cup sugar until smooth. Whisk in vegetable oil a few Tbsp at a time and stir until it’s an even consistency. Gradually whisk in the coffee/cocoa syrup. Set aside.
5. In a medium bowl, combine 1 ½ cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp baking soda. Gradually add the flour mixture into your chocolaty concoction and stir until well blended.
6. Add ¼ tsp salt to the bowl of egg whites. Tip: make sure your bowl for egg whites is clean and dry before beating or whites won’t rise well. Beat on medium speed for 1.5 minutes (I timed it on my iphone just for you). When they start to get foamy, add ¼ cup sugar and beat on high speed until soft peaks form (another 1.5 minutes). I like how Natalya puts it; if you were to flip the bowl upside-down, the whites would not fall out.
7. Gently fold your fluffy egg whites into the chocolaty batter until you have an even consistency and color in the bowl. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated 300˚F oven (about 1hr) or until a toothpick comes out almost clean (it should not be gooey). DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR, especially in the first 30 minutes of baking or your cake may fall. You’ll have a nice surprise when you test it around 55 minutes; it grows surprisingly tall!
8. Remove cake from oven, carefully take it out of the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. You want it to rest 5-6 hours. It’s a great idea to make this the day before, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter overnight. I sliced my cake into 4 layers after letting it rest.
Making the Chocolate Cake Frosting:
1. In a small sauce pan, whisk together 3 reserved egg yolks, ¼ cup water, and 1/3 cup condensed milk.
2. Start heating the pan over low heat and gradually increase the heat until it’s just letting off steam but not boiling. Continue whisking until your mixture is the consistency of raw condensed milk.
Remove the mixture form heat and immediately stir in 2oz chocolate, whisking until smooth. Let your mixture cool off to room temperature (I transferred it to another bowl to cool faster)
3. In a separate bowl using a electric hand mixer, beat butter on high speed for 5 minutes. Add chocolate mixture a few tablespoons at a time and continue to beat on high speed between each addition. Beat an extra 2 minutes when it’s all mixed in.
Making the Raspberry Sauce:
1. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup raspberries and ¼ cup preserves/jam. Gently mash raspberries with a fork just to break them up. You don’t want to break up the raspberries too much or it will get soupy
Assembling the Chocolate Cake:
(I bold-faced the layers to make it easier for ya):
Place your first layer on a pretty serving plate. Spread the top with ½ of the raspberry sauce, but don’t spread completely to the edge of the cake since you don’t want it to run down the sides.
Place the next layer on top and generously spread with about 1/3 of the chocolate cream. Top with the third cake layer and spread the next ½ of raspberry sauce. Top with the fourth layer and frost the whole cake and sides, using every bit of remaining frosting. Decorate with raspberries on top.
The first one I made was without the raspberries. I cut it into 3 layers and spread a thin layer of cream on each:I also got carried away with decorating the top. Except my wheat looks more like the creature from the Avengers movie. At least I admittedly stink at cake decor. And that’s ok.
Chocolate Cake Recipe (Prague Cake)
Ingredients
Ingredients for a 9”, 4 layer round cake:
- 1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
- 1 1/3 Tbsp Instant coffee
- ¾ cup warm water
- 8 large Egg whites , at room temperature
- 5 large Egg yolks, RESERVE the 3 leftover yolks for the Frosting!
- 1 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar, divided
- 1/2 cup Vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Raspberry Sauce:
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
- ¼ cup raspberry jam or raspberry preserves
Chocolate Frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 3 Egg yolks
- ¼ cup Water
- 2 oz. semi-sweet Chocolate chips
Instructions
How to Make Prague Cake:
- Preheat Oven to 300˚F. Butter and flour the walls of the pan and line the bottom with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
- Mix cocoa, instant coffee and warm water. Stir to dissolve and set aside.
- Separate the egg whites and yolks, than place in the two large bowls.
- Whisk 5 egg yolks with 1 cup sugar until smooth. Whisk in vegetable oil a few tbsp at a time and stir until it’s an even consistency. Gradually whisk in the coffee/cocoa syrup and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine 1 ½ cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp baking soda. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir until well blended.
- Add ¼ tsp salt to the bowl of egg whites. Tip: make sure your bowl for egg whites is clean and dry before beating or whites won't rise well. Beat on medium speed for 1.5 minutes. When they start to get foamy, add ¼ cup sugar and beat on high speed until soft peaks form for 1.5 minutes.
- Fold your fluffy egg whites into the chocolaty batter until even consistency and color in the bowl. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated 300˚F oven (about 1hr) or until a toothpick comes out almost clean. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR.
- Remove cake from oven, take it out of the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. Let it rest 5-6 hours then cut into four layers.
To make the chocolate frosting:
- In a small sauce pan, whisk together 3 reserved egg yolks, ¼ cup water, and 1/3 cup condensed milk.
- Start heating the pan over low heat and gradually increase the heat until it’s just letting off steam but not boiling. Continue whisking until your mixture is the consistency of raw condensed milk.
- Remove the mixture form heat and immediately stir in 2oz chocolate, whisking until smooth. Let your mixture cool off to room temperature.
- In a separate bowl, beat butter on high speed for 5 minutes. Add chocolate mixture, a few tablespoons at a time and continue to beat on high speed between each addition. Beat an extra 2 minutes when it’s all mixed in.
To make raspberry sauce:
- In a small bowl, combine 1 cup raspberries and ¼ cup preserves/jam. Gently mash raspberries with a fork just to break them up.
To assemble the cake:
- Place your first layer on a serving plate. Spread the top with ½ of the raspberry sauce, avoiding the edges. Place the next layer on top and generously spread with about 1/3 of the chocolate cream. Top with the third cake layer and spread the next ½ of raspberry sauce. Top with the fourth layer and frost the whole cake and sides, using remaining frosting. Decorate with raspberries on top.
Notes
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Can I use two 9-inch pans rather than one springform? Will it turn out as good?
Hi Evelyn, I’ve only made it as one tall cake but I think it would work. You may need to adjust the baking time though and without testing it as two separate layers, I can’t really give you an exact bake time.
I was wondering if you used sweetened coca in the recipe or unsweetened?
Hi Alina, we have a note on that in the recipe, but we used natural unsweetened 100% cocoa or “cacao.” I hope this helps!
Hi Natasha,
I would like to ask you one more question please. What size of the cup you are using to measure your ingredients please.
Hi Daniela, I added metric measurements to this recipe just now which should help with clarifying the measurements. If you click on “metric” in the recipe card, it will convert it for you and you can toggle back and forth.
Hi Good Evening, I am going to bake the cake first time and I live in the UK. I was wandering how many grams is in 1 stick of butter please?
Hi Daniela, 1 stick of butter = 113 grams.
Thank you Natasha, I baked cake over the weekend and came out very well. Shame I can not send a photo. Cake is so delicious. Next time I will use metrics measurements. Very good recipe. Definitely on my baking recipe book. Thank you.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
What if I don’t let it sit?
Hi Angelina, I got this recipe from a friend and that was her advice to wait that long before cutting into it. I think at the very minimum, you want to make sure the cake is fully at room temperature and not the least bit warm. It is a tall cake so it takes longer to cool down.
I keep having problems with the cooking of the cake. First time I tried it, it came out and then the other 2 times it didn’t bake throughly. What do I do? Why won’t it bake properly?
Hi Angelina, it is difficult to say without being there. Was there anything changed in the way you prepared it or baked it with your different tests? Did you use a different size or type of pan? Did you use the regular bake mode (not convection)? Is the baking powder and soda fresh and is it possible they were switched by mistake? Were the whites at room temperature and beaten adequately? Also make sure not to overmix the batter once the whites are folded in. I sure hope that helps to troubleshoot! 🙂
And one more question: egg whites and yolks in grams? I have cups of egg whites in the freezer (from another recipe of yours:-) ) so can’t separate 4 of them, need the grams.
Hi Gerry, 2 large egg whites are about 65 grams x 4 = 260 grams egg whites for 8 whites.
Hi Natasha,
Will this cake be good enough for a fondant covered cake or even for a two-tier fondant covered cake?
Thank you!
Gerry
Hi Gerry, I haven’t tried that but I do think this cake would be sturdy enough for fondant.
Natasha, I just made this cake for my son birthday today. It came out beautiful, moist, tangy raspberry flavor ( i used frozen raspberries)not too sweet. I also covered the top with chocolate ganache. But hubby and son didn’t like the crunchy of raspberries seed. Next time I should strained the seed for the raspberry sauce. Looking forward to make more cake from yours. Thank you Natasha!
You’re welcome Kim! Thank you for sharing your review!
Hi Natasha,
Can I make this cake without a Raspberry syrup? I just want to make a simple chocolate cake or do you have a different recipe for a simple chocolate cake?
Thanks
Hi Nomi, I think this cake would dry without a syrup to go with it. If you just want a plain layered cake, this one should work well 🙂
Natasha,
Is there anyway you could tell me by how much would I increase ingredients for 11 in round cake?
Thank you,
Veronica
Hi Veronica, I haven’t tested it so I can only guess. Is your 11-inch springform pan as tall as mine (about 3″ tall)? If so, I would increase everything by 25% and probably not more or you may overflow. You will have to bake a little longer but without testing it, I can’t say exactly how much longer.
Natasha,
if I don’t have this large pan, can I split into two pans (those that you used for your honey prune cake) ?
Yuliya, I haven’t tested it that way to give you the exact baking time. But it’s worth an experiment 😃.
Mmmmm yummy scrumptious would this cake work using apricot preserves and dried apricots and also does it call for alcohol if I want to add is it gonna make the cake dry or runny @ usual gurl soooooo spectacular
Hi! I don’t use alcohol in this one but yes you could experiment with apricot preserves and dried apricots. I think that would work well.
Oh ok so then maybe it’s best if I leave the alcohol out but gr8 that I can use dried apricots cuz raspberries aren’t so fresh in winter and I happen to love apricots they are so yummy healthy and delish btw I love your design on the cake u can design too gurl u have other hidden talents use em to your advantage art and cooking and baking go well together
Once again, excellent excellent recipe!! You never disappoint. This is my second time making this cake and it will remain on my list of go-to cake recipes in the future. 🙂
Side note: I felt as if 8 egg whites was a tad too much for the batter. Maybe it was due to the size of egg I was using? The second time around, I left some egg white mixture out as to not have too eggy of a taste.
Lana, did you use large eggs or XL eggs? Thank you for the great review 🙂 .
Awesome
Natasha, thank you so much for the lovely recipe. Made this for my twins 9th birthday party. It was a success. I cut the cake into three layers and creamed it they way you taught us for the strawberry layered cake. Came out so beautiful, moist and just the right amount of sweetness. How to share photo with you?
I’d love it if you shared a picture! You can share it on my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/natashaskitchenpage
or email it to me: natashaskitchen @ yahoo.com (no spaces)
Would it matter much if I don’t let the cake sit 5/6 hours, but do the cake right away?
I got this recipe from a friend and that was her advice to wait that long before cutting into it. I think at the very minimum, you want to make sure the cake is fully at room temperature and not the least bit warm. It is a tall cake so it takes longer to cool down.
Hi Natasha:) Happy Holidays to your beautiful family. Can I make this cake in 2 seperare 9inch pans? Instead of one tall.
I’ve only made it as one tall cake but I think it would work. You may need to adjust the baking time though and without testing it as two separate layers, I can’t really give you an exact bake time.
Здравствуйте,Наташа. Очень люблю ваши рецепты,всегда легко их готовить и получаются великолепно! Давно хотела испечь такой торт,только вот малину у меня муж совсем не любит. Если я смочу коржи сиропом из рома,чтоб он не получился сухим,я испорчу торт? Спасибо заранее.
Hi Inna, yes that would work fine to brush the layers with a rum syrup and leave out the raspberries. 🙂
Hello.:)
Does it affect the cake if using corn oil instead of vegetable? Just don’t have the vegetable in handy at this time. Thank You! 🙂
To be honest I haven’t tried it with corn oil but I think it should work. I’d recommend Canola oil, or Extra LIGHT olive oil (not extra virgin) if you have either of those.
Я испекла тортик , и хотя я не специалист в кулинарии,получись очень-очень вкусно и с первого раза. СПАСИБО ЗА РЕЦЕПТ. Успехов тебе во всем.Анна.
Thank you so much! I’m happy you enjoyed the cake and had great success with it 🙂
making this cake as we speak for our 11th anniversary :). I will let you know how it turned out.
Happy Anniversary!!
It looks so delicious. I just made the batter and I put in the oven. But I just realized I forgot the oil. (Oops!!) I’m wondering how it will turn out without the oil.
Oh no!! I haven’t done that before. I hope it still works out!
Natasha also what type of chocolate do you put for the cream please?
I chopped up a block of semi-sweet chocolate that I had. You can use chocolate chips or chocolate shavings.
Thank you so much!!! Cocoa powder is it unsweetened?
Meriam, I use unsweetened Cocoa powder.
Natasha, this cake is AMAZING. Totally loved it:)chocolate and raspberries are such a great combination. This is totally a keeper.
I’m so happy you loved it! Thanks Zory for the great review 🙂
I am sorry for the previous question about the raspberries because I already asked that. I wanted to know how much of frosting would you recommend without raspberries?
You could double the frosting; otherwise it would seem too dry. I hope you love the cake! 🙂
Hi Natasha what kind of coffee did you use?:)
I used Folgers Classic Roast.
Note: even the tiniest bit of fat in the bowl of egg whites will prevent your whites to rise when mixing!! I had prepared the batter already and transferred it to another bowl with a silicone spatula, cleaning the sides well (or so I thought). Then I stirred in my egg whites and began mixing and they would just NOT rise… Lesson learned!! Just hope my batter will be ok while I go buy some more eggs! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing that tip! Yes, you definitely want to use a clean bowl for the whites.
hi..
i tried the frosting, but may be becausethe butter is too warm, it loos shinny when i beat it.
was thinking if can mix with margarine instead.
If butter was at room temperature (not melted) it should have been fine. It’s more likely that the chocolate mixture wasn’t at room temp. If you don’t wait and add it still warm, it can melt the butter and it won’t whip up to the correct consistency. I’ve never tried with margarine so I couldn’t recommend it.
Hi Natasha!! Everything looks delicious. If you have time please do a video of the chocolate cake :)) Also, can we make it without raspberry ?
You can make it without raspberry, but you might increase the amount of frosting so it doesn’t end up dry.
Just made this cake with Canadian flour and it turned out perfect. You still get a nice fluffy cake. Not sure how true but I heard it is just better quality (more finely milled) than standard flour, nothing else.
It does seem more finely milled and for some recipes it just beats up American flour. lol. Like for rogaliki. I’ve tried all kinds of flour and the Canadian just works best. I try not to use it too much only because not everyone has access to it 🙂
hello!
do you think it would be good if i put drunken cherry instead of raspberry??
and is cake more like moist or dry?
thankyou!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think drunken cherry would be nice. It’s more dry and I think the moisture would be nice in this cake.
Hi Natasha, is there an easy way to convert this recipe into one for a 9 x 13 size cake? I would love to make it for a large group. I adore your website and have enjoyed many of your recipes. Thanks in advance,
I haven’t tried it as a 9×13 and it’s really hard to guess without testing. You could try making the recipe as it is and turn it into a 2 or 3 layer cake (since 4 layers would be too skinny).
Hi Natasha just wanted to say I love this cake, but what could be the reason that my cake didn’t rise as tall as yours I did just like ur instructions and still didn’t rise as tall and u had 4 peices and I got three it’s not raw in side baked all the way just didn’t rise as tall would u know y??
It helps if the eggs get to room temp. Did you let the egg whites get to room temp before beating them? Also, what kind of flour did you use? Was it all-purpose American flour? I haven’t tested it with Canadian or cake flour – did you use one of those possibly? Also, make sure when you mix the chocolatey batter with the egg whites that you gently fold them in and don’t over mix or you can deflate the cake batter more. I sure hope that helps! 🙂
I used Canadian flower maybe that’s y it didn’t rise and yes the egg whites were room temperature and I did gently fold the batter .
I haven’t tested it with Canadian but in my experience baking with both flours; they require slightly different proportions.
thanks for your awesome recipes!
how far in advance can I make this and the prune honey cakes and where do I store them – in the fridge?
what can I substitute for the condensed milk in this recipe to make it non-dairy?
If it’s very cold in the garage, you can store them in there. Otherwise, refrigerate them to be safe. 🙂 I haven’t tested any other alternatives to the condensed milk. Hmmmm…. Have you considered a vanilla frosting? Unfortunately this is the only chocolate frosting that I have posted (what gives? right?), that should change soon! The frosting on the drunken cherry cake would work well I think. Hope that isn’t too un-helpful 😉
thanks.
can you please link/post a vanilla frosting? it would also have to be good for frosting one of the layers…
would such frosting work?
2 1/2 cups unsalted butter (I used Earth Balance sticks), at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
3 Tbsps lukewarm water
it’s for 4 cups. do i need this much for one of the layers and just the top of the cake?
Alona it’s so hard to say without testing the recipe with the cake. If it is a good frosting that works well on other cakes, I think it’s worth a try with this one. 🙂
I’ve been thinking about making a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. I love the contrast of white to chocolate. I’ll see what I can do 🙂
Natasha! Love your recipes, made many of them, some multiple times! I’ve told about your site to many of my Russian friends 🙂
I will attempt to make this tort in a couple of days for my birthdays 🙂 Does it matter if the flour is unbleached?
Will be making Tiramisu as well, wish me luck!
You can use bleached flour (I just always like to share exactly which ingredients I used), but that is perfectly ok to use bleached versus unbleached in any recipe. 🙂 I think you’ll love the tiramisu too! 🙂
Thank you for a quick response!
Hi Natasha, quick question. When i wisk the egg yolks and sugar, should the sugar dissolve or is it still kinda “sugary” looking texture? Want to make this cake for xmas dinner, don’t want to screw it up…thanks in advance!
It will still have a little bit of a sugary texture. You’re just whisking it by hand at that step. 🙂
Hi Natasha, I am thinking to bake this cake for my son’s B-Day. Can I skip coffee or substitute it with something? Also, if I want the cake to be square instead of round, how will I do it ? Thank you in advance!
Hi Elena, here’s what one of our readers wrote making it without coffee ” I made this cake last week for my hubby’s birthday and it was out of this world!!! Except, I didn’t have any instant coffee so I skipped it. The cake still turned out delicious! Can’t wait to make it again Thank you Natasha for posting all of these awesome recipies! God bless you and your family” I hope that helps
Is the condensed milk sweetened in this recipe or un-sweetened.
Condensed milk is sweetened.
Is this a 9in cake?
Yes, it is a 9 inch cake. 🙂
This cake is alot of work for me, but its so worth it!! this is one of the best cakes i have ever tried. The combination of the raspberry sauce inside and the chocolate frosting is amazing:) Thankyou so much:)
I’m so glad you loved it and found it worthwhile. Most cakes take some effort, but it’s so rewarding especially when your loved ones are happily devouring it!
I agree with Victoriya about not usually liking butter based frosting. I feel like I can taste the fattiness of it. But this frosting was perfect. Light but still rich and chocolatey. I also tried it on cupcakes. All very good!
I bet this frosting would be great on red velvet cupcakes too. What kind did you make?
Basic chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. I made them once for a children’s party and the kids loved it! Red velvet sounds good, I’ll make those next. Thanks 🙂
Do share if you have a good recipe. I’ve been looking for a great red velvet cake base 🙂
This cake just blew me away. I have to say that I am not a fan of cake frosting/cream that is based on butter. I was very hesitant of making this cake for a long time… I gave it a try, and I have to say it was so light and yummy. Thank you
You’re welcome and thank you for the great review! 🙂
Made this cake twice now and both times it was absolute perfection! Except I didn’t have raspberries both times so I improvised with cherries in cherry glaze the first time and blackberries the second. Both was delicious. Although, I had to double the icing because I didn’t have enough for the sides. (Maybe because it was so good!) Thanks for the recipe!
I am wondering why do you let the cake for 5-6 hours? Will it be much of a difference if you just let it cool?
I asked the recipe author the same question. She said that cake needs to rest for 5-6 hours, otherwise it will be compressed when frosted.
I just made this! Love the step by step instructions. Thank you Natasha 🙂
You are so welcome Tina :).
Thanks so much for sharing these awesome recipes! This cake looks soo good. I’ve had experiences when i would compliment some russian women on their cakes/desserts and then ask for the recipe just to see them get all weird and hear “Oh uh eto secret.” or “i dont give my recipes out” lol. So thanks again 🙂
I laugh when I hear things like that. I don’t have secret recipes. I believe in sharing if you’ve got a good thing so others can be blessed by it. 😉 You’re so welcome and I’m glad you enjoy the blog 🙂
Thank you very much for step by step photos, cake turned out delicious. God bless.
You are welcome, I’m glad that you enjoyed it 🙂
Thanks so much! you’re awesome!
Hi Natasha! Just a quick question…i’m planning on making this cake, but I was just wondering if the layers of the cake come out moist enough since there is no need to “propitivat korzhi” (i was just wondering, since the korzhi are not that thin) thanks a bunch!!!
You can add a little juice or syrup (I’m thinking to try sprite next time), but don’t add too much or it will squish the cake 🙂
Thank you so much for the details, I love the detailed recipes. And I like your sence of humor as well!
How do you know all these Russian recipes if you are in USA since 4 years old? I lived there all my life and still don’t know all of them and haven’t tried to cook or bake them all! Way to go!
You are welcome Aida. I’m surrounded by parents, relatives and friends who are willing to share their best recipes with me to try and share with others :D.
Just had this cake at my niece’s birthday party, IT IS SO GOOD! Thanks for sharing the recipe, now I can’t wait to try it. 🙂
I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
This looks great! I love the combination or chocolate and raspberries. Thank you for another great recipie!
Can’t go wrong with those two 🙂
Beautiful pictures and great tutorial.
Thank you Tabitha 🙂
Hi Natasha.. Very delicious cake. Made it yesterday for my sister’s bday party which was today. Everyone loved it! I changed it up a bit since I did not have all ingredients. Instead of cocoa powder, I used hot chocolate. I also had no vegetable oil so I used regular butter but I melted it. For the sauce, I used canned cherries in syrup and used that only for the bottom layer. for the frosting, I used one stick butter, rest as is and added two ounces of cream cheese! Loved it.
Great improvising Lina. It’s hard to go wrong with chocolate 🙂
True that.. and another thing that I did that I forgot to mention is that I spread condensed milk between the middle layers. Yummy!!
Oh my gosh, stop! I shouldn’t want cake at night! 🙂 You’re a creative genius.
I know, that’s how I feel since I usually review recipes at night.. but gotta say the condensed milk made it super moist and so delicious!! will bake it again soon 🙂
I made this cake last week for my hubby’s birthday and it was out of this world!!! Except, I didn’t have any instant coffee so I skipped it. The cake still turned out delicious! Can’t wait to make it again 🙂 Thank you Natasha for posting all of these awesome recipies! 🙂 God bless you and your family
Thank you so much Vika for the great comment, may God bless you and your family as well 🙂
an amazing easy frosting topping you can try next time with this cake is cream cheese, condensed milk & cool whip cream. add coco for a darker color. 🙂
I can’t wait to try this recipe w my frosting. I usually cheat and buy the pre-made chocolate cake but always wanted to try make a cake from scratch.
Thank you for the tip Natasha. If you have time, please email me specifics for that frosting, I would like to try your version as well. 🙂
i made this cake today and it looks awesome… will be trying it later! the creme tastes really good!
Awesome :). Creme does taste delicious, my son was swiping his finger on the side of the cake, doing taste tests.
Does the cake rise after it sits for 5-6 hrs??
No it just rests for 5-6 hrs. It should be nice and tall when it comes out of the oven after one hour of baking, just make sure you don’t open the door to check on it before 50 minutes of baking or it won’t rise as well.
I ended up knocking on my neighbors door and trading half a cup of olive oil for vegetable oil :). It turned out divine and looks just like yours. Can’t wait to taste it tomorrow (I wanted it soak up overnight). I have been wanting to learn how to cook Russian/Ukrainian food for a long time and your blog is the perfect place for me. I have tried five of your desserts/dishes and loved them all. I am from Ukraine myself and came to USA in 1989 when I was 14 years old. So excited to cook more. THANK YOU!
Awesome Vera…its nice to have good neighbors that you can count on :). I came to USA in 1989 as well, being just 4 years old.
Just realized that I don’t have vegetable oil, can I use olive oil or apple sauce instead?
I would recommend to use canola oil, not olive oil or apple sauce.
Can’t wait to make it, just got all the ingredients and ready to bake tonight. I think that I might try dusting my pan with cocoa powder instead of flower. I absolutely love your blog and check it all the time. You make cooking fun and easy. Hope this blog doesn’t go away.
Thank you so much for the compliment, I’m not going anywhere else any time soon 🙂 so you are safe.
wow this looks delicious. i will definitely try it soon. never baked a cake… wish me luck.
You will do great Tonya 🙂
Natasha, can you use canola oil instead of vegetable oil? That’s the only thing I have around the house.
Yes you can, it’s nearly the same. Happy baking 🙂
Chocolate and raspberries… Yum!! Looks like a moist and delicious cake 🙂
Yes it is indeed 😀
Yumm!!! I am not a chocolate cake fan, but I do want to try this cake:) I like how you decorated your last cake-:¦:-
Thank you Lea, I still have long way to go 🙂
Privet Natash,
First of all i love your web,thank you! You know what i was thinking it would be cool if you did video of your great recipes!
Thank you for the compliment :). My goal is to do video recipes by the end of this year.
Can’t wait!!!!!!!!!!
I make a version of prazhskiy tort. The batter has only 5 ingredients – can of condensed milk, 3 eggs, 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda mixed with 2 tsp vinegar, and 3 tsp cocoa powder. It’s super easy to make, and definitely tastes better the next day after the frosting has time to soak in. Next time I will add instant coffee because I LOVE anything with the taste of coffee. Thanks for the inspiration:)
You are welcome Natasha and thank you for sharing your version of the tort 🙂
how long do you bake it for?
Bake the cake for 55 min to 1 hour.
Chocolate and raspberry is such an amazing combination. The cakes both look awesome! Great job.
Thank you Olga, my family devoured in one evening 😀
this is awesome, thanks Natasha.
I was hosting party of 150 ppl recently and ordered this chocolate rolls… They were chocolate with raspberries and chocolate cream filling, it became my favorite. great addition!
Oooh chocolate rolls sound fantastic!! And that is a crazy amount of people to cook for!!!
Its was appetizers and sweets but yeah biggest challenge so far 🙂
Thats why I made that order of rolls… I just need to make them already, they have been on the list for too long.
This cake looks so good will have to try it out soon!!!
I would love to hear your feedback 🙂