Chocolate Spartak Cake (Video Tutorial)
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This chocolate spartak cake is probably the most requested video tutorial on my blog. It also happens to be my favorite cake – and my son’s favorite! I learned from the best; Mama :). Actually Mom’s classic version is vanilla. A couple tiny tweaks and it became chocolate.
This is a soft 7-layer cake (it’s known to some as napoleon cake) and it’s always a favorite at parties; definitely a holiday worthy dessert! I hope you enjoy watching this video as much as I enjoyed making it. I also hope you feel inspired to make it yourself.
Watch How To Make Chocolate Spartak Cake:
CLICK HERE TO PRINT the recipe. 🙂
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Loads of Love (and cake),
-Natasha
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
One of the best recipes I’ve tried!
To get even thinner cake layers, right after getting them out of the oven I rolled over them a few times with a rolling pin
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Can I make this cake 3 days in advance and just let it be in my fridge?
Hi Nicole, I haven’t maxed out the timing, but it should be ok to leave the layers along at room temperature for 3-5 days in a low humidity area. If you want to make the full cake ahead, I imagine it will be great 24-48 hours out, but I haven’t tried keeping it for longer than that. I hope this helps.
Can you use a hand mixer? Seems a silly question but I am not one for the kitchen 😁
Hi Sarina, that may work. If you experiment, I would love to know how you like that.
Hi Natasha, how many layers do you get from this amount of the dough? Did I count 7?
Hi Maryna, Here is the full recipe for that post. I was able to get 7 layers
I made this cake (2 of them) for my son’s birthday party. The cake was divine. Everyone, most importantly my boy enjoyed it very much. Definitely making this cake again and again. Thank you for sharing all your delicious recipes.
That’s so great! Isn’t it the best when kids eat what we parents make! Thank you for sharing that with me.
Natasha, thank you SO much! I am married to a Ukrainian man who is constantly asking for Napoleon cake…. his mama makes “the best” of course…he’s a good son!!
But I always wondered why a person couldn’t do it in chocolate…Now you’ve given the recipe for it! Next time I have time, I’m going to surprise him!!!
Stay well and blessed!!!
I’m so happy you discovered our blog and the recipe for that! I hope you all enjoy this cake!
Hey Natasha, could you keep the layers in plastic wrap (in a cool room)? And for how long?
Hi Darina, I haven’t maxed out the timing but it should be ok at room temperature for 3-5 days in a low humidity area.
Thank you so much! This helps a lot!😘
You’re so welcome, Julie!
Hello Natasha! Have you frozen the unfrosted cake sheets of this cake? If so what are the tips? Thanks so much!
Hi Julie. I haven’t tried this myself but here is what one of our readers says about storing the cake layers “I put paper towels between each layer and then plastic wrapped the whole stack. These went into the freezer. Later (3 weeks), I let them come to room temp and then iced them with the cream. This cake is wonderful!”
Natasha,
I never knew this recipe before and when I tried yours it became my “if you want to impress” go to cake! I can’t thank you enough for this recipe! The most delish cake of all. <3
PS. Lots of your other recipes are also super yummy!
Ryna
Wow! I’m so inspired reading your review. Thank you, Ryna!
So, I am in the process of rolling out my first circle, I have been working on it for awhile. I am going crazy with the flour and the dough is still sticking to my wooden roller. Do you think there is an error when I made the dough? Should I let it sit longer? Please let me know what you recommend to overcome this. Thank you. I love your recipes and videos!
Hi Alyssa. You can add more flour to help the process. What kind of flour did you use? Also, when you measured flour, did you use a dry ingredients measuring cup rather than a liquid one? That can alter your flour measure. You can still add small amounts of flour and then generously dust the parchment paper and top of the dough before rolling so it doesn’t stick to the pin. If it starts sticking, you can sprinkle with more flour. I wish I had seen your comment a little sooner. I hope everything worked out
Hello- I’ve made this cake in the past and it was amazing!! My first time didn’t turn out- the dough was soooo sticky and I was thinking I probably mixed too hard when adding the flour (it looked like in the video that you more folded in the flour mixture rather than mixed) so I tried that and it came out perfect!
So this time I was like oh I know what I’m doing. But the dough came out super sticky again! I literally cannot roll it- no matter the amount of flour I coat it in.. the only thing I can think of that I did wrong is that I doubled the recipe, but didn’t keep the wet ingredients over the steam bath more than 10 mins- do you think maybe that’s what caused this? (And yes I mixed the flour mixture in right away) I’m so sad- I love this cake and really wanted it for easter :((( do you have any tips for if this happens in the future? What I can do with the dough? I hope it doesn’t happen again though!
Hi Ulyana, when I double the recipe, I keep it over the steam twice as long since it takes quite a bit longer for it to reach the proper temperature over steam. I hope that helps for the future and happy Easter!! 🙂
Hi Natasha,
Years ago (about 30)I was a Chef in my families restaurant (trained by Mama and Nona) being of Italian descent that’s what we focused on with some American staples for breakfast and lunch. Since retiring from my job as I started cooking more and I really wanted to try my hand at other types of foods and You have been a Godsend of knowledge. Food has certainly changed massively in that time and I felt like a fish out of water now with your help I am finding it wonderfully exciting with each new recipe I conquer. Thank You so much for your instructions they are clear and and well written I have yet to have a failure when pick anything from your Blog to tackle
You’re welcome Sandra! I’m glad to hear how helpful the recipes are for you. Thanks for following and sharing your thoughtful review!
Hi Natasha,
Is it okay to use Puff pastry sheet for this kind of cake.
Appreciate your reply.
-mai
Hi Mai, I have never tried this particular cake with puff pastry so I’m just not sure how or if it would work.
Hi Natasha….can I skip egg in this recipe?
Hi Chhavi, I have never tried omitting the egg but I do think it is important for the dough to form and bake properly.
Natasha, Thank you so much for your delicious recipes! I honestly do not know how my cooking skills would be if I did not use your recipes all the time. You do not get enough credit for how much you have helped young married ladies 🙂 My friends/family always discuss your delicious recipes and how awesome you are in our get togethers. Thank you for a perfect no fail spartak cake that everyone always compliments me on! God bless you!
Irina, thank you for such a sweet review and compliments 😬. I’m so glad to hear that our site is a blessing to you and your family.
Dear Natasha! Thank you so much for your recepies, I have you channel in my bookmarks in the browser!!! I really want to cook this cake for my husbands birthday, but I live in Sweden and need all measurements in grams or milliliters? Can you message that to me, because I really do not want to screw up with converting cups to grams and so on? Thank you again!!!
Hi Mariya, unfortunately without re-making this cake and weighing all of the ingredients, I can’t give you those exact amounts. I would recommend checking conversion resources online. Sorry, I know that’s not super helpful.
thanks! I will try to do that(
Hi Natasha. I am in the process of making this fabulous cake ( made korzhi tonight). I was wondering if I add more cream cheese (double) to the frosting, will it ruin it? (i tried your mom’s classic spartak, and wished the krem had a little more kislinka to it…
Thank you for your wonderful blog. i look forward to each new recipe you post.
Hi Katya, I would probably start by using 1 1/2 times the amount of cream cheese (1 1/2 packages or 12 oz) to be on the safe side. Thank you for your sweet and encouraging comment 🙂
Natasha do you have a recipe of crepes (nalisniki)?
Yes, I have several :). You can see them here: https://natashaskitchen.com/?s=nalesniki. The most popular ones are these: https://natashaskitchen.com/2009/12/27/nalesniki-with-cheese-and-raisins/
What brand unsweetened cocoa powder did you use?
I use either Hershey’s or this Saco one: http://amzn.to/1KJJjDq. I love the dutch process cocoa or dark but any cocoa will work really. 🙂
Cake was so good! I messed up dough preparation and had a hard time rolling out layers but it was entirely my fault. Frosting was delicious. I made half of the frosting recipe and did not frost the sides. It still looked very pretty and was gone in a day!
I’m so glad it worked out. Thanks Dasha 🙂
how much milk did u add?
Hi Alina! 1/3 cup warm milk. Here is the full print-friendly recipe with all of the detailed measurements and instructions 🙂
I want to marry you Natasha!
Hold the phone! lol. My husband already has that covered.
Hi, Natasha! What baking flour do you use? Which store do you buy?
Hi Olga, we have enjoyed the organic all-purpose flour at Costco. King Arthur is another brand that we think is very good.
Absolutely LOVE how your smile after you finish each sentence. 🙂 Thank you
Thank you Vera for the sweet comment :D.
This cake was a lot of work and on initial taste test I was slightly disappointed. We had it for a birthday dinner about 20 hrs after making. However, the next day it was fabulous! I would highly recommend waiting at least 30+ hrs and then it’s worth the effort!
It’s definitely important to let it sit overnight for the cream to soften the layers. Sometimes it will set faster if you leave it at room temp for awhile before refrigerating.
Natasha thank you for this receipe, this cake is my family favorit. It’s so yammy.
I’m so happy to hear that. It’s our family favorite too 🙂
I DID IT!!!!!!! I have been thinking about this cake since you posted it. You may wonder why it took me so long?:) I hated doing very thin layered cake since I was a teenager. But I decided that I have to overcome my dislikes and …oh my, it turned out so very DELICIOUS!!! It worth our time and efforts. YUMMY!!! (P.S Dont count calories:))
Awesome!!! I’m totally excited with you :). Ha ha, definitely don’t count calories ;).
Made this cake for my husband’s Birthday, tasted great!
Counted calories in frosting alone 4,770 , whole tort all together about 6,000 calories…ouch
That’s why I don’t add nutrition facts for desserts – it would ruin dessert for me :). Everything in moderation :). Happy Birthday to your husband!
I want to start with saying that at first I was a little hesitant to make this cake, but after watching this video tutorial, you made me feel like I could do it. 🙂 So when I started to roll out my dough, it wasn’t so pretty and I was thinking ” uh-oh, this is not going to work”, but I kept at it and each cookie came out better than the previous one. I also only had 10″ round, which was too big, so I used an 8″ plate instead. At the end I still had 7 layers and it looks great! Can’t wait to try it tomorrow at the event I’m taking it to 🙂
Big thanks to your mom for this recipe, and thank you Natasha for describing the process so well!
I’m so happy you kept at it! 🙂 I hope you and all of your event guests absolutely love it!
Natasha that cake looks delicious! i definately want to try it!!! but I just wanted to tell you that you look so beautiful when pregnant!! Wow!! so never be afraid to gain a couple pounds! 🙂 you look gorgeous like that!! 🙂
Inna you’re so sweet 🙂 Thank you so much! 🙂
Made this today Delicious! It was super tall I had 9 layers. Loved it!
Wow! You got 9 layers?! Way to go! 🙂
Hi. Loved the video. I do have a question about your nice large cutting board you’re using. Where can I get one of those?
Thank you Oksana. My cutting board is by John Boos and you can get it right here :).
Thanks for the great video. I made a double batch of your mother’s version and they turned out great. Instead of cutting out circles, I ended up putting a lump of dough onto parchment paper and rolling it out into a 13 x 18 square (the size of a regular baking sheet). I then slipped the baking sheet upside down and pulled the rolled dough with the parchment onto the bottom of the sheet. I baked it accordingly. After pulling the parchment + baked layer onto a cooling rack, I let it cool slightly and sliced it into 2 even parts with a pizza slicer. I then then removed the parchment to reuse the other side. I got 10 layers measuring 13 x 9 inches. (I’m sure I could have gotten more but I didn’t roll them extremely thin.) I put paper towels between each layer and then plastic wrapped the whole stack. These went into the freezer. Later (3 weeks), I let them come to room temp and then iced them with the cream. This cake is wonderful!
-Thought I would share that freezing works great and also my lazy version since the rectangular cake tastes just as great as the circular versions!! 🙂
Thank you so much for the great tips! I love that you were able to make it a rectangular cake. It must have been faster to bake it that way. It’s also great to know that the layers are freezer friendly. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks so much for the amazing recipe! I and the bump loved it! Just wanted to point out that when you were introducing the ingredients, you were pointing at the 1/3 cup of milk and calling it the sugar. Lol, I almost put more sugar until I realized that there’s already a cup in there. Just a little error 🙂
Oh goodness me. Thank you!! I made a little note in the video to fix my blooper :).
This spartak cake reminds me of a cake my Russian grandmother used to make. I definitely am inspired to try out the recipe.. not only does it look delicious but I can imagine it tastes even better!
It sure does and thank you Thalia! 🙂 I love that it reminds you of your Russian grandma 🙂 That’s so sweet.
I love your white cake stand. Can you please share where it is from? Made the cake today for the first time, can’t wait to try it out. Thanks for the step by step video instructions 🙂
I hope you LOVE it!! Thank you Allie 🙂 The cake stand is from Cost Plus World Market.
Natasha thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Made it last night for family get together and it was disappearing in a blink of an eye lol.
For the frosting part it turned out Curdy and I’ve seen that happened before when my mom started using butter and condensed milk kremi so we figured a trick then first you beat softened butter for few minutes and then slowly add condensed milk and it turns out a nice texture. So I redid mine that way I was sure that its gonna be nice and not ruin the cake. :))))
Thank You soo much 🙂 and ur right abt those cravings once I looked at ur video I was like I guess my baby wants a spartak cake too lol.
Congrats on your pregnancy Katie! I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake. I’ll have to try your tip about slowly adding the condensed milk. Thanks so much for sharing! I noticed its smoother when you use cool whip, but I’m not a huge fan of cool whip and in the end the cake gets covered with crumbs so it’s not the end of the world if it isn’t perfectly smooth. I hope you’re having a nice pregnancy! God bless you dear 🙂
Natasha-
Thank you for yet another delicious recipe!!! I did do mine a bit different instead of regular milk I used dry milk since I didn’t realize i didn’t have any at home and didn’t want to run to the grocery store bc I just put my son to sleep.. When I reached the milk I knew I had a problem.. Luckily I had the dry milk and it still turned out ahh-mazing!!
That’s awesome to know that it works with dry milk! Thanks so much for sharing that and I’m so excited that you enjoyed the cake! 🙂
I have made the dough, but it is not hardening enough for it to be rolled out. At this point is it pretty much cooled (not warm to the touch anymore), but still too runny to roll. Should I add more flour? It is pretty much ruined at this point?
Thanks! Mariana
You can add more flour. What kind of flour did you use? Also, when you measured flour, did you use a dry ingredients measuring cup rather than a liquid one? That can alter your flour measure. You can still add small amounts of flour and then generously dust the parchment paper and top of the dough before rolling so it doesn’t stick to the pin. If it starts sticking, you can sprinkle with more flour. I wish I had seen your comment a little sooner. I hope everything worked out!
I made the layers and cream but I haven’t assembled the cake yet– because the cream was way too sweet for my taste buds. So I might use another recipe for the cream. Natasha, did your cream look a bit curdy? I can’t seethat in the video but I’m just not sure if it’s normal. The layers turned out great and I got eight layers plus scraps so I am happy about that.
It wasn’t curdy but it wasn’t smooth like whipped cream either. It’s a little smoother if you use cool whip instead of whipped cream but it really doesn’t matter in this recipe since you cover the cake with crumbs. Did you give the frosting a try in the cake? It doesn’t taste too sweet once the layers have had a chance to absorb some of the cream and soften. Since the frosting is sweetened primarily with 1 can of condensed milk, I suppose you could just use a little less condensed milk. I hope you love the end result! 🙂
Wow that was a fast response! Thank you dear for responding. I was writing you and my computer had a glitch so I’m not sure if you got my second text. Anyhow my dear husband just got back from the store with more ingredients for the cream. I just could not give up! I put way to much time into this. I did heat up the cream cheese in the microwave but it wasn’t hot so maybe that made a weird reaction once I added the wipped cream. I am telling you… Baking is science!! Will try the cream again in the morning. This time with 1/2 the condensed milk and I will let the cream cheese thaw at room temperature. This is what I get for cheating. Thank you dear for all you do. Goodnight!
That is so true that this is kids favorite cake. After watching your video I was so ready to have a piece with you! 😉
That would have been so fun to share a slice with you! 🙂
Natasha, first of, thank you for sharing with all of your recipes. Awesome jobs on the photography, if your the one taking them, you are one talented girl 🙂
My only question to you, in america we always use Baking Powder, I know multiple of your dessert receipe you called for Baking Soda, do you really use the actual baking soda? doesn’t it give it a weird soda taste in your cakes? do you (gasish with vinegar or no?
Thanks.
Thank you and yes I take the majority of the pictures on the blog and my husband is our photo editor; he does a wonderful job! In some cakes I do add vinegar to activate the baking soda but this one does not require it. I will always say if baking soda needs to be activated with vinegar (sometimes another ingredient will activate it such as buttermilk). This cake has no baking soda taste to it. It’s my understanding that baking powder should be used in cakes that are baked right away, which this is not one of those cakes. It does cause the dough to rise slightly in the oven – actually the paper thin layers grow at least double in thickness with the help of the baking soda. I use both baking soda and powder in different recipes. It seems like soda is more commonly used in Russian/Ukrainian baking.
I love love LOOOOVE this recipe! Incredible!!
Thank you Kate :), it was the first dessert to disappear at the party.
Oh! That looks sooooo yummy! That’s what I’m baking next week:).
Natasha thank you so much for a great recipe.
I’ve tried a lot of recipes from your site, and love them;)
Thank you so much for your great feedback; it’s so encouraging! I’m so happy to hear that you’re enjoying the blog 🙂
Ah. This is my favorite cake too. Enjoyed the video. You look gorgeous!! Do you mind if I ask where you got that cute purple lace tee? 😉
I purchased it at Nordstrom rack a couple years ago on a trip to Sacramento :). I bought a white one too because I liked it so much. Thankfully its really really long so it works well as a maternity shirt. 🙂 Thanks Ana!
I watched this video in the middle of the night while feeding my son, and it made me want to head into the kitchen right away. 😉 Thanks for doing a video–I look forward to making this!..and your baby bump is adorable! <3
Thanks so much Olviya 🙂 I remember those days of getting up at night. I’m getting myself right back into that soon! 🙂
Natasha- You are the best!!!
Awww thanks, so are you Nadia 🙂
Natasha, this looks so good! Like everything you do! The only problem is that I’d like to read your recipes all day long!!!! And then do them, of course… 😉 Thank you
That is a dilema! 🙂 Thanks so much Ruti 🙂
Natasha, you are so cute! 🙂 Thanks for this wonderful video, I’ve always wanted to try this cake but never quite made time for it. Your video is an inspiration, though! I will definitely be making it either this weekend or next. Thanks!
I’m so happy I’ve inspired you 🙂 Thanks Luba for your feedback. It means alot to me 🙂
This has become *our* family favorite cake as well. My kids eat it like there’s no tomorrow! I’ve made it 3-4 times already 😀 You & your mom are wonderful for sharing this fantastic recipe with the rest of us, it’s THE cake!!
I’m so happy to hear that it’s become a favorite in your home :). Seriously, I’m all smiles. 🙂 Thanks Julia for such a sweet review.
Natasha thank you for the video, I’ve always wanted to make this cake.
Hi Elza! I hope you absolutely love it 🙂