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You have to make this chocolate Spartak layer cake for the holidays! This cake is a close relative of the wildly popular original Spartak cake I posted last year. I made the chocolate Spartak cake on Sunday and took it over to my parent’s house for dinner. It was my first time baking the chocolate Spartak which is now a family favorite and extended family favorite. No crumb was left behind (I was half hoping to take a slice of heaven home with me).
The room was buzzing with happy cake eaters – and my family is open and honest; they level with me if something needs to be scrapped.
This cake takes some effort, but it’s oh-so worth it! Big Thank you to Laura, one of my readers who shared her suggestions on rolling out the dough and using parchment paper. I love learning from you all!
What you will need for Chocolate Spartak Cake:
2 large sheets of parchment paper
round plate or the base of a 9″ springform pan
Ingredients for Chocolate Spartak Cake:
1 egg
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup warm milk
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups minus 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
Ingredients for Chocolate Spartak Cream:
2 sticks (16 Tbsp) butter, softened at room temp
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (raw/un-cooked)
8 oz package cream cheese, soft at room temp
3/4 cup of very cold heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar
Watch How To Make Chocolate Spartak Cake:
How to Make Chocolate Spartak Cake Layers:
Preheat the Oven to 350 ° F at step 5 while your dough is standing 20 min.
1. Sift together 2 cups minus 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour with 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa.
2. Beat together 1 egg and 1 cup sugar with a whisk attachment of your stand mixer (medium speed, 6 min).
3. Add 4 Tbsp softened butter, warm milk, and baking soda. Mix on medium/high speed 3 min, until smooth (or mostly smooth).
4. Bring a medium/large pot of water to a boil. Place mixture in a glass bowl or medium sauce pan over the steam (not immersed in the water) for 10 min, stirring frequently.
5. Remove from heat and immediately stir in sifted flour & cocoa and mix well. (Add flour right away or you will ruin the dough and it may crack when you roll it out).Let stand 20 minutes; until dough is just warm; it thickens as it cools:
Note: It’s easier to roll out the dough while it’s still warm.
Preheat the Oven to 350 °F.
6. Place a heaping Tbsp over a large sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle flour over the dough (so it doesn’t stick to your rolling pin) and roll it out to a very thin 9″ circle. Place your round dish over the dough and use a pizza slicer to cut out the circle. Pull the scraps away from the circle or they will bake into it. I was able to get two circles on one large sheet of parchment paper and baked them together. Bake the parchment paper with dough directly on the middle oven rack at 350˚F for 4-5 minutes until the edges barely start to brown (no need for a baking sheet). Don’t touch the top of the cake layer while it’s hot, or you’ll leave finger indents.
7. Place the baked scraps to a separate bowl; you’ll need them for the top. Transfer cake layers to a clean, dry surface. They can be stacked once they are cooled to room temp. You can also make the layers several days in advance and store them in plastic wrap until ready to frost. I’m frugal so I re-used each sheet of parchment paper a couple times and then kept it for a temporary cake decorating surface.
How to Make the cream/frosting:
1. Using the whisk attachment on your stand mixer, beat together 2 packages softened butter and 1 can sweetened condensed milk on medium speed 7 min, scraping down the bowl as needed. Goodness this by itself might make a luscious cupcake frosting!!
2. Mix in the softened cream cheese a little bit at a time until smooth (2-3 min). It’s important that the cream cheese is really soft or you might get small chunks of cream cheese in the frosting. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
3. In a separate bowl, beat very cold heavy whipping cream and 1 1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar on high speed (about 2 min) or until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into the rest of the frosting until well blended.
Assembling Chocolate Spartak Cake:
1. Place your first layer over one of the sheets of parchment paper and spread enough frosting to cover the entire surface. Place the next layer on top and press it down with your hand so you don’t end up with air gaps. Repeat step one with all the layers. Finish by frosting the sides.
3. Use a rolling pin to crush the baked cake scraps you set aside (again, another good way to re-use that parchment paper!).
4. Generously sprinkle the crumbs over the top and sides. The sides are tough to put crumbs on. At one point I got frustrated and started throwing crumbs at the cake. Then I learned you can kind of toss the crumbs at the base up onto the cake by flicking the sides of the parchment paper; just do the best you can. Refrigerate overnight (it takes about 10 hours for the layers to soften).
It cleans up nice! 🙂
P.S. Do you know this cake as Spartak or Napoleon? It seems there are some differing opinions out there.
Chocolate Spartak Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for Cake Layers:
- 1 egg
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1/3 cup warm milk
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups minus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
Ingredients for Spartak Cream
- 2 sticks, 16 Tbsp butter, softened at room temp
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk, (397 grams) raw/un-cooked
- 8 oz package cream cheese, soft at room temp
- 3/4 cup of very cold heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar
Instructions
How to Make Spartak Cake Layers: Preheat the Oven to 350˚ F at step 5 while dough is cooling.
- Sift together 2 cups minus 1 tbsp flour with 1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa. Set aside.
- Beat together 1 egg and 1 cup sugar with whisk attachment on medium speed for 6 min.
- Add 4 Tbsp softened butter, warm milk, and baking soda. Mix on medium/high speed 3 min, until smooth.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place mixture in a glass bowl or medium sauce pan over the steam for 10 min, stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat and immediately add sifted flour and cocoa mixture.Stir until even consistency. (Add flour right away or you will ruin the dough). Let stand at room temp 20 min; until just warm. It thickens as it cools. It's easier to roll out dough if it's still warm. Preheat the Oven to 350˚ F.
- Place a heaping tbsp of dough over a large sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle flour over the dough (so it doesn't stick to your rolling pin) and roll it out to a very thin 9" circle. Place your round dish over the dough and use a pizza slicer to cut out the circle. Push the scraps away from the circle or they will bake into it. I was able to get two circles on one large sheet of parchment paper and baked them together. Bake the parchment paper with dough directly on the middle oven rack at 350 for 4-5 min until edges just start to brown. Don't touch the tops of the layers while hot; it will indent. Reserve the baked scraps.
- Transfer layers to a clean, dry surface. They can be stacked once cooled to room temp. You can also make the layers several days in advance and store them in plastic wrap until ready to frost. You can re-use the parchment papers to roll out and bake all the layers.
How to Make the cream/frosting:
- With the whisk attachment, beat together 2 packages softened butter and 1 can sweetened condensed milk on medium speed for 7 min, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Mix in the softened cream cheese a little bit at a time until smooth (2-3 min). It's important that the cream cheese is really soft or you might get small chunks of cream cheese in the frosting. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, beat very cold heavy whipping cream and 1 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar on high speed (about 2 min) or until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into the rest of the frosting until well blended.
Assembling the Cake:
- Place your first layer over one of the re-used sheets of parchment paper and spread enough frosting to cover the entire surface. Place the next layer on top and press it down with your hand so you don't have air gaps. Repeat step one with all the layers. Finish by frosting the sides.
- Over the second re-used sheet of parchment paper, use a rolling pin to crush the baked cake scraps.
- Generously sprinkle the crumbs over the top and sides. Refrigerate overnight (it takes about 10 hours for the layers to soften).
Hi Natasha!
I made this cake earlier this afternoon and it’s currently chilling in the fridge. I have a couple questions: In step #3, after I added the butter, warm milk, and baking soda, it says that after beating it on medium/high for 3 minutes, it will be smooth. However, my mixture wasn’t smooth at all, it became sort of “cottage cheese” consistency, kinda curdled up pieces. I got frustrated & figured I did something wrong (aka heated the milk too much?), so I threw it all out and re-mixed with barely-warm milk, but it became that same consistency again.
Well, this time I figured to go ahead and hold it over the boiling water… well, during those 10 minutes, the mixture smoothed out and became completely smooth and all those “curdled up pieces” were gone.
Is that supposed to be like that? I don’t know. But after that, everything was going really well. I got 6 layers. And I put the “scraps” into my mini-food processor and pulsed and the crumbs were perfect. My husband can’t wait to eat the cake. Thank you!
I’m so glad you re-tried it. I hope you and your hubby both loved it! Mine kinda looked like a very liquidy cottage cheese too. Did your’s look like what is in the picture just before step #4?
Yes, that picture is the one that motivated me to not quit LOL. Because while the mixture looks smooth, I can see the sides of the bowl are kinda curdled up, so I figured yours must have been that way too (maybe?) haha. I can’t wait to try it tonight!
Let me know how it turns out :).
Natasha, it’s fantastic! I actually accidentally forgot the 1.5 tbsp of powdered sugar, but it’s okay without it. Love love it! Great cake! Thank you 🙂
You know it’s good when you leave out an ingredient and it still turns out good 🙂 I’m so glad you loved it!
Hello hatasha I made this chocolate spartak three times and everything turns out except when I mix the flour into the liquid i mix and then u say it has to stand for 20 min for it to cool and the dough gets harden well after 20 min its still running so i have to add more flour and then it’s not running any more any advice what I am doing wrong
Kristina, what kind of flour are you using? You might just need a little more flour.
Made the cake last weekend and it turned out great, everyone loved it! I used silicon baking mats (DeMarle Silpat) instead of parchment paper to reduce waste. Thanks very much for the recipe!
I think I need I invest in a good set if silicone mats. Thanks for the tip!
Made this cake last night and it was delicious! Thank you so much for the recipie:)
Fantastic! I’m so happy you enjoyed it.
I tried to make it but my dough turned out really sticky. I added flower still too sticky
What kind of flour did you use? Was it Canadian or all purpose flour?
Oh my goodness gracious! This cake should be classified in the criminal section! It’s turned out SOOOO good I can NOT even begin to explain. But let me tell you one thing, me and my husband devoured the whole thing in a matter of 3 days. I know, I know, we have no self control what so ever and you are partly to blame for this problem. I would ask you to stop posting such amazing recipes but that would be like asking for the sun to stop shining! We LOVE YOU! Keep doing whatever it is that you do, you are amazing!
Wow that has to be the best review I’ve ever received on a recipe. It made me laugh. Thanks so much for your feedback! 🙂 That’s alot of cake in 3 days. lol. I’m sure I could do the same thing if I made it for my husband and I. I’m always taking my cakes somewhere after making them for that very reason. ha ha. I’m so happy you loved the cake 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I was wondering if I can make the cake layers a week in advance? And if yes, should I store in an airtight container?
Yes, airtight container at room temperature. It doesn’t even have to be airtight. It could be a plastic bag. Just make sure they are cooled completely before putting them in anything.
Tried this cake at a cell group and Totally Loooveeeeed it!!! THank u so much for ur recipes. Cant wait to make it now! 🙂
How awesome!! It is a good one isn’t it? Please thank the baker for me, for spreading the spartak cake love 😉
Hi Natasha! I have a question I just made spartak and my cream looks weird a little watery.. I did everything as it says in the recepie.. Do u happen to know why? Thank you!
The key is to beat it long enough. Did you beat it for the full 7 minutes? It stiffens up as you beat it longer.
which one should i try first to make this one or the original or your (moms) ? several girlfriends coming over and can’t choose which one to make.
honestly they are equally amazing! It depends on if you prefer the taste of chocolate 🙂 For friends, I’d make the chocolate one because it looks just slightly prettier with the contrasting colors, but truly they both taste equally good!
Thanks Natasha , my lil sis (well she’s 16 🙂 ) made it for my birthday and everyone absolutely loved it !! But making one is not an option for my little family my husband can eat half of the cake himself instead of having dinner . So question : if I double the recipe is it still 10 min for paravaya banya or should I increase time ?
Thank you,
Lilya
It might take 15-20 minutes even because a larger amount of dough will take longer to heat up. I’m so glad you enjoy the cake 🙂
Thank you , it turned out great .
Yes! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
the best tort ever, thank you soooo much Nataliya!!!!!!!
Hello Natasha,
First of all, thank you so much for sharing your lovely recipes with all of us! I have already tried some from the salad and dinner menu and they were great. Second of all, I would like to apologize in advance for such a lengthy email/post.
So here it goes. I decided to make the Spartak cake for my husband’s birthday barbecue. It seemed simple enough which is always a good thing with an 11 month old crawling at your feet. 🙂 Well, let me tell you, it didn’t go as well as the dinner and salad options went. haha!
I was so excited to make this and followed the recipe exactly. Everything was turning out great until I had to roll out the cake’s. First, the dough was so sticky there was no way I could have rolled it regardless of how much flour I used. Then, when I finally stretched them out using my, very floury, hands I baked them to the stated time. When they came out they were nearly impossible to get off, even if I let them cool. One actually was so ruined I just broke it up to use for potential crumbs. Well, if I’m honest, all of them are pretty much ruined. haha! I’m just cheep so I decided not to scrap them but see what I can do with them tomorrow morning…that will probably an adventure in itself 🙂
So I have two questions for you 🙂 What on earth did I do wrong?! (I measured everything perfectly, or so I thought. haha) Second, are the cakes suppose to be more crunchy or soft once cooled? I had both, haha (this tells you of how horrific this baking night was)
Anyway, I know this cake has a great tasting potential (I was able to try some of my ruined circle :)) but I really want to know what I could have done wrong before I attempt it again. I would really appreciate a response if you find a second. Thank you!
Warmly,
Lira
Hi Lira! Ok, lets trouble shoot this because this cake truly is delicious and I don’t want you to miss out on it! I’m sorry it didn’t go well for you tonight. First question: What kind of flour did you use? It will make a difference in proportions whether you used American All-purpose or Canadian flour. Any other ingredients you may have changed?
Next, step #5 is very important: “5. Remove from heat and immediately stir in sifted flour & cocoa and mix well. (Add flour right away or you will ruin the dough and it may crack when you roll it out).Let stand 20 minutes; until dough is just warm; it thickens as it cools: Note: It’s easier to roll out the dough while it’s still warm.” Did you follow that step exactly?
Did you use parchment paper (not wax paper)? Parchment paper is the best non-stick surface I can think of and it really shouldn’t stick to it. The layers should be soft on teh top when they first come out of the oven so be careful not to touch the tops or you will leave finger indentations. As they cool, they should be more like cookies.
I think I really need to do a video tutorial on this cake.
I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions. thanks for writing in!
-Natasha
Thank you for responding! I used and all-purpose flour (American) and I did EXACTLY as step 5 stated. It was probably just a bad baking night…I’m going to attempt it again today…I don’t give up (even though last night I was really feeling like throwing in the towel, haha)! thanks again for sharing and responding!
Blessings!
Lira
Hi Natasha, I was wondering if you think it would be okay to use spartak cream as frosting? I want to bake this cake for my daughter’s birthday and would like to decorate it as opposed to just sprinkling it with crushed scraps. Do you think I can use the cream for decorating or need a separate decorating frosting? Please advise. Thank you in advance.
You could use the frosting to decorate the cake. I hope you LOVE it as much as we do!
Okay, thanks! I will try doing so and hope it comes out good. Just need to think of how I want to decorate now 🙂 I would need to add some color to the frosting I think.
Although I had some trouble when making this cake, it is absolutely delicious! Thanks, Natasha, for the recipe! 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Which step did you struggle with?
So my dad has been on my case that I never bake anything for my family, well nothing “special”. So I needed a quick cool recipe to impress pops, and once I stumbled upon this recipe my mouth began to water cause I always remember eating it at weddings, so I was set on making this beautiful creation. SO GRATEFUL for your awesome directions and pictures, which helped me a lot! The cake turned out awesome, and my dad ended up taking half of it with him to work (he’s a truck driver). Called him the other day and he said it’s already demolished! haha sorry for this super long comment but thank you so much. 🙂
Awesome :D, I have a feeling that your dad would like you to bake for all of his trips. Great job Lisa.
thank you so much for the recipe..i did this cake and it turned out amaziiing!!:) loved it!
You’re welcome. This is one of our families favorites!
Hey Natasha do you think I can mix the chocolate spartak with the white layer spartak?? Or do you think it will taste funny? Because I think it would be a pretty cake on the inside.
Thanks
I think it would be beautiful to mix the two; a little more work, but it will be lovely and probably taste amazing!
Natasha. Is it ok not to use cocoa, and to have white spartak?
Absolutely! Here’s the white spartak recipe
I tried this recipe the other day for a dessert, after dinner for some friends. It turned out beautifully and just perfect the first time. One guy said it was the best cake he has ever eaten and wants to make it for his wife. Thank you so much, I will definitely have to do it again since I barely got a taste everyone gobbled it up 🙂
Oh that’s so awesome! Thanks for sharing that with me. 🙂