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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 have two questions-
1. What type of milk should I use? Whole, skim, 1%?
2. How sweet does the cake/icing come out? I much prefer subtle sweetness than the extremely sugary cakes made typically from grocery stores.
Thanks so much!
Either whole milk or 2% would work fine. Also, this cake is not overly sugary. I don’t think any of my cakes are nearly as sweet as grocery store ones. I completely agree with you about them being way too sweet 😉 We prefer cakes that are not too sweet.
Oh my Goodness Natasha! This cake is AMAZING! Definitely recommend this cake to bakers who want to challenge themselves. It was so fun to make and it is just perfect. Has the subtle sweetness I crave without being overpowering. Can’t wait to try even more of your recipes!
Alyssa, I’m so glad you like the cake! Thank you for such a nice review 😁.
Hello Natasha! I made this cake and added an extra cup of milk so instead of 1/3c of milk I did 1&1/3. I then added 3/4 cup of milk after steaming the batter, and whisk it. This is the only way it works out for me, when I followed the recipe the dough turned very hard and my layers became very thick and not so pretty. This way the batter is very liquidy and I spread it over a parchment paper (cut out to the size that I need) I make it rectangle so that it is easier. This is a very tasty recipe and my husband and family loved it!!!! I don’t think that the milk changes the flavor, only the consistency. I am also curious how long you think that the cake will last in the refrigerator. If I made it Wednesday night and it soften by Thursday morning, is it safe to eat it on Sunday or is that too long?
Katrina, yes it will be safe to eat. Just keep it refrigerated 😀.
Hi Natasha.. Thanks for sharing all this yummy recipes.. I made this Spartak cake and comes out really good .. I wanted to ask you if we can’t find cream cheese can we use the yoghurt to make the cream ?
You could try the cream from this honey cake. It is also very good! 🙂
This recipe does not work. I’m pretty mad about it. I tried to make it two times and each time the dough was impossible to roll and make like it’s shown in the video. Pretty mad about all the ingredients I wasted and timean
Hi Anna, it’s really difficult to say what went wrong without being there with you but I am always happy to help troubleshoot. At what point in your process did your dough look different from mine (in the photos or video)? Also, did you try rolling your dough while it is still warm? If you let it cool down, it becomes more difficult to roll out.
Thank u. I would like to give an update and let u know that I tried this recipe with my sister-in-law and it worked perfectly I still don’t know what I did wrong and I am going to try to make it again on my own. There is a reason why I keep wanting to make this recipe perfect because this cake is so delicious. Had my mom over for some Worth ittea with my aunt and they absolutely love this cake. It’s hard to make but it’s amazing definitely Worth it
Is it possible that your sister in law used a different flour, for example, Canadian flour needs a different measurement than US All-purpose flour. I’m so happy you liked the cake! 🙂
i have to agree with you, ive tried other recipes and this is thee worst. impossible to roll out. and air bubbles when you bake them.
Hi Yelena, some bubbling is normal – you can see in the photo where I have them stacked that they aren’t perfectly stacked since there are bubbles in some layers. I wonder if your trouble with rolling out the dough might be due to adding too much or too little flour? Or are you using a different kind of flour? Did you have a chance to watch the video recipe to see if your batter looks the same as mine?
Hello Natasha. Thanks for all wonderful recipes me and my family enjoy them. I love this cake and turns out that this is my husbands favorite now. I have made this before for his birthday and about to make it again for his birthday tomorrow. I have a question do you think if I’ll reduce the sugar in recipe will it affect the cake dough? Also if I want to double the recipe should I do two separate or all together will work fine?!
Thank you again and my God bless you and your family!
Hi Nina, thank you so much for your kind words :). I’m so happy to hear your family enjoys my recipes! It’s really hard to say since baking is so much of a baking experiment. It would work to make a double batch for the cake – my Mom always doubles it, but keep in mind it will take longer on the steam bath – almost double the amount of time.
Thank you!
I made this for my Serbian bf & he LOVED it! I also made it for my sister’s baby’s baptism & my Mexican family LOVED it! Without a doubt this cake is the all time favorite. This cake is boundaries or borders ❤️ Thank you!!
A++++++++++++
Araceli, I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
My Spartak is basically done. It is in a cold garage resting for overnight. I read comments and didn’t find the thing that bothers me – like nobody has it – the frosting has such a distinctive evidence of cream cheese. It is just like the main ingredient.
I don’t know. Hopefully tomorrow, when it is served this taste and smell will disappear.
The cream cheese is actually 1/4 of the frosting so maybe you’re just sensitive to it? Not everyone likes cream cheese in frosting. I’ve never thought of it as too cream cheesy even before it has had time to set. Let me know what you think tomorrow.
Hi Natasha, I was wrong – cream cheese wasn’t recognizable after all. I love your recipes and usually am able to make whatever I put my eye on.
Your recipes are wonderful! Thank you!
Now I need to change my previously given 4 stars to 5.
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks Lana 🙂
Have mine currently in the refrigerator from yesterday. Should this cake be brought to room temp before serving or served straight from refrigerator? Христос Воскресе!
Hi Pavel, you could serve it either way – straight out of the refrigerator or at room temperature (He is Risen indeed!!) Hope you had a wonderful Easter!
Just made this cake yesterday for Easter! Thank you so much for this recipe, everyone loved it! 😊
Vika, I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us 😀.
I am making this for Easter and am wondering if I doubled the recipe that it Won’t be too tall? Thank you so much
I think it would be ok twice as tall. It would be stunning!! Just make sure you give it the proper amount of time to soften or it may slide apart when you cut into it.
Thank you! This cake is awesome. Always comes out right.
Thank you so much for that seriously fantastic review. 🙂
Natasha,
I finally made this cake over the weekend and WOW! It was beyond delicious. My husband loved it and said every time we have guests over I MUST make this cake! Thank you once again for the recipe it was so good, I cant wait to make it again.
That’s so great Tina! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
When I watched your video tutorial, I hadn’t read the ingredients on your website, and was watching as I went. In the video, you have two sugars (1 cup and then 1/3 cup) and no milk listed other than the condensed milk. So, when you said to “add the warm milk,” I thought you were referring to the condensed milk at room temperature, and kept wondering when the 1/3 cup of extra sugar was going to come into play. Obvious to me now, that 1/3 cup of sugar you mention in the video is supposed to be milk. Since I used my only can of condensed milk in the cake batter, I couldn’t use it for the frosting, so I added the 1/3 cup of sugar and a bit more half and half. The cake is in the fridge, also knowing only after I made it that it would need to refrigerate overnight (poor hubby won’t get dessert for Valentine’s this year)..I am wondering just how it will taste after my lack of baking skills were put to the test tonight. It sure looks pretty enough! I hope with the extra work it took to get it done, as I usually bake from a box, it tastes half as good as it looks!
Hi Jennifer! I realized soon after I posted that video that I had said 1/3 cup sugar so I added an annotation on the screen when I said to to 1/3 cup milk. Once the video gets published there’s no fixing it except for that note. Sorry!! I can totally see how it could be missed if you look away or are just listening. I’m so glad it still worked out. I hope you both enjoy it! 🙂
I love allll your recipes. Anytime I make one of your cakes they turn out perfectly 🙂 your step by step directions and videos are so good, I don’t ever look for recipes else where. So I just wanted to say thank you for the hard work you put into your website, and for this yummy cake I made tonight for valentine’s day 🙂
Thank you so much Yana. Your thoughtful review really means alot to my husband and I. 🙂 Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hi Natasha,
When you put the dough in the oven can you please specify if you put it on the Parchment paper or do you put it on the round pan? Do I have to put cooking spray (Pam) so that it does not stick?
Hi Tina, If you haven’t watched the video, I think you’ll find it REALLY helpful :). https://natashaskitchen.com/2014/10/14/chocolate-spartak-cake-video-tutorial/ In step 6, I wrote “Bake the parchment paper with dough directly on the middle oven rack at 350˚F.” Yes, you do bake on the parchment paper and you don’t need a round pan, just transfer the parchment paper to the oven and bake.
Thank You!! I think I skipped over that step. I cant wait to make this on Friday! Thanks again 🙂
No problem :). Enjoy! 🙂
Hey Natasha I don’t know if my comment got posted cause I don’t see it so I’ll post again. I made this cake today and I want to put chocolate ganache and strawberries on top. I want the ganache to be pretty soft when we eat it. So how many hours before eating can I add ganache and strawberries on top
Hi, Sorry I couldn’t reply sooner. You can put it on a day before. The ganache I have posted never gets too hard to slice through so I wouldn’t worry too much about that. You can leave it at room temperature for 1 hour before serving if you want it to be slightly softer. Decorating with strawberries will be fine a day ahead also. Just keep in mind if you slice strawberries, it’s a good idea to brush them with some kind of glaze so they don’t look limp by day 2.
Thank you for answering. I took the cake to my moms house today and everyone loved it so much. It was gone fast. My mom now wants the recipe. I didn’t bake a cake in like 3 years so i thought it will be difficult and won’t come out good. But it came out so delicious 🙂 I usually cook but don’t bake cause my hubby doesn’t care much about sweets but he sure loves this cake. Thank you for the recipe. I love your recipes.
Hi Liliya, thank you so much for sharing that with me. Your comment gives me all kinds of fuzzy feelings. 🙂 You’re awesome!
I was wondering if I would ruin the layers if i use half and half instead of milk. Just realized I don’t have milk and I’m in the middle of the recipe.
Allie, I haven’t tried using half and half but it should still work. Let me know what you end up doing.
I mixed half and half with water down the middle. And when i added the flour to the liquid mixer, it wasn’t sticky! I was surprised. Not sure if half and half had to do with that or not. (I had trouble with the frosting though, it was like it was melty towards the end, not sure if I’m describing it right, not stiff basically, like I thought it should be. Don’t know what happened there.)
That’s interesting – I wonder if half and half had anything to do with that. Did the layers turn out fine? As far as the frosting goes, were all of the ingredients the same temperature as listed in the recipe (i.e. butter softened, not melted). In the end, as long as you can spread it between the layers of the cake and over the top and sides, it’s fine. The frosting is very forgiving as the cake layers absorb some of the frosting and soften and once it’s covered with the crumbs, you won’t be able to tell.
I have some leftover cream from this cake, how long do you think it will last?
Julie, it will last several days in the fridge.
I made this cake twice now – the result has been amazing, everyone loved it! So Natasha many thanks for putting this online. I’m a huge fan of your blog!
One question: I followed all details of the recipe, but the dough remained extremely sticky even after cooling and when putting enormous amounts of flour on top (which doesn’t seem to have impacted the flavor). I have a non-stick rolling pin and it was all covered with the dough.
Now I live in Europe and have to convert your cup measurements into grams. So I was thinking that my butter/flour ratio is completely off because of this. If it isn’t a lot of work to find out, could you tell me the weight of a cup of flour? And the same for the butter? Your help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Zach! Without weighing it out, I can’t really tell you. I’ll try to remember to get that done next time I’m baking :). I wonder also if your flour is any different than ours. For example, Canadian flour has more gluten than US flour and therefore the measurements can vary in baking.
The first time I made this cake I accidentally simmered the dough over water instead of the steam and it also turned out sticky and I had to put a bunch of flour on top to stop it sticking. Perhaps this is the reason but I would have to try that again to make sure! ( I live in California)
Hi Galina, what kind of flour did you use? I’d just like to also rule out that it wasn’t something different like Canadian flour? Was it sticky before or after it cooled 20 min? Did you have an opportunity to watch the video recipe for this cake? If not, that would probably be a big help: https://natashaskitchen.com/2014/10/14/chocolate-spartak-cake-video-tutorial/
I made this cake earlier this week, it was AMAZING!!! everyone loved it! thank you for the recipe
Thank you so much for the awesome review! 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I just tried making this cake and when I was making the dough when I added the baking soda butter and milk mine turned out way to watery then yours on your video! What did I do wrong? I thought maybe to much milk but I did 1/3
As long as you followed the measurements exactly, it should be fine. It is supposed to be watery before adding the flour. My guess is that your milk was warmer and melted the butter so maybe yours just looks smoother while mine looks more grainy from the butter. I hope that helps! 🙂