Russian Cake “Muraveinik” (Anthill Cake)
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I struggled to accept this Russian Muraveinik cake into my life. I fought against it and gave my husband a hard time for pushing to make it. He remembered having it from childhood. Hopefully it will bring back memories for some of you as well.
The cake didn’t seem very cute and the concept of an “anthill cake” was strange to say the least. Then I tried it. My sister, Svetlana also tried it and I wish to quote her: “That cake is bomb. It’s like a delicious cookie, coffee cake, scone, and biscotti in one. The poppy seeds give it a nice toasted flavor!” I agreed with her.
This Muraveinik is perfect with your morning coffee or evening tea. Enjoy this oddity of a cake. It does taste wonderful and, when sliced, I have to admit it is a little glamorous.
Ingredients for Muraveinik:
3 cups Canadian flour, sifted *measured correctly
1 stick of butter
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp poppy seeds for decoration
Muraveinik Cream Ingredients:
3 sticks butter at room temperature
1 can cooked condensed milk (click on the link for the how-to)
1/2 cup toasted chopped hazelnuts
How To Make Cake Muraveinik (Муравейник):
1. Sift 3 cups of flour into a large bowl and mix in butter using hands or Kitchen Aid paddle attachment until combined and crumbly. Add a pinch of salt
2. Beat 1 egg and 1 cup sugar in a small bowl with a whisk until pale yellow and well combined. Add to the flour mixture and stir with paddle attachment or spatula until well combined. Mixture should still be crumbly.
3. Pour vinegar over baking soda in a small dish and give it a quick stir. Immediately mix with sour cream and let it sit for 2-5 minutes. Pour sour cream mix into the flour mixture. Add more flour if needed to make sure that dough is not runny. It should be the consistency of cookie dough.
4. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 1 hour to harden.
5. After 1 hour, break the dough into smaller pieces and feed it through the meat grinder using the large hole meat grinder attachment. Put dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Try to separate the strings of dough on the baking sheet. The more you spread it out on the dish, the easier it will be to break it into pieces later.
Note: if you don’t have a meat grinder attachment, divide dough into 4 parts, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze 1 hour, then grate your dough with a hand grater.
6. Place prepared dough in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 min at 350˚ F.
7. Remove from the oven, and let the cookies cool, then break them into small pieces. Place broken cookies in large mixing bowl and toss in chopped hazelnuts.
8. To make the cream, use an electric hand or stand mixer to beat softened butter until fluffy, then beat in cooked condensed milk until smooth. Pour cream over the cookie mixture. Mix everything together well.
9. This mixture makes one large or two small “anthills”. We made 2. Divide the dough in half. Form each mound or “ant hill” by firmly patting down the cake as you mold it. Sprinkle with poppy seeds, cover with plastic wrap and place the cake in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight before serving.
Serve cold with tea… or coffee and store it in refrigerator:D
Russian Cake "Muraveinik" (Anthill Cake)
Ingredients
- Ingredients for Muraveinik:
- 3 cups Canadian flour, sifted
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 egg
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 Tbsp poppy seeds for decoration
Cream Ingredients:
- 3 sticks butter at room temperature
- 1 can cooked condensed milk
- 1/2 cup toasted chopped hazelnuts
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl combine together 3 cups of sifted flour with 1 stick of butter until combined and crumbly. Add pinch of salt.
- Beat 1 egg and 1 cup sugar in a small bowl with a whisk until pale yellow and well combined. Add to the flour mixture and stir with paddle attachment or spatula until well combined. Mixture should still be crumbly.
- Pour vinegar over baking soda in a small dish and give it a quick stir. Immediately mix with sour cream and let it sit for 2-5 minutes. Pour sour cream mix into the flour mixture. Add more flour if needed to make sure that dough is not runny. It should be the consistency of cookie dough.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 1 hour to harden.
- After 1 hour, break the dough into smaller pieces and feed it through the meat grinder using the large hole meat grinder attachment. Put dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Try to separate the strings of dough on the baking sheet.
- Place prepared dough in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 min at 350° F.
- Remove from the oven, and let the cookies cool, then break them into small pieces. Place broken cookies in large mixing bowl and toss in chopped hazelnuts.
- To make the cream, use an electric hand or stand mixer to beat softened butter until fluffy, then beat in condensed milk until smooth. Pour cream over the cookie mixture. Mix everything together well.
- Divide the dough in half. Form each mound by firmly patting down the cake as you mold it. Sprinkle with poppy seeds, cover with plastic wrap and place the cake in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight before serving.
Serve cold with tea... or coffee and store it in refrigerator:D
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Ok so is this sort of like chocolate salami, and if so, could you not just roll it into a log and sliced it and then it would be less … disturbing in terms of presentation ?
Hi Maggie! I think that could work. I’ve seen similar recipes in log form from other cultures (like the salami) but haven’t tested it myself. Let us know how it turns out.
Hi Natasha. What is “toasted hazelnuts” mean? In stores i only see “roasted hazlenuts”.. is it the same thing? Also… can i just use raw walnuts instead?
Hi Irina, you would just toast the hazelnuts on a dry skillet over medium heat until they are lightly golden and fragrant, tossing frequently then let them cool and chop.
I should know better by now…looking for a great Russian cake recipe? Come straight to this page.
That’s just awesome, Mike! I’m so glad you found our blog & recipes!
What do you mean by a stick of Butter. How much is that ?
Hi Liz, When looking at a standard stick of butter: 1 stick or 1/2 cup butter is equal to 4 ounces, or 113 grams.
This cake is so delicious and very easy to make! I have divided the dough into 6 equal disks, wrapped in plastic wrap and into the freezer for at least an hour. It was very easy to shred on the grater, and way less cleaning up than with a mixer attachment. Another thing is next time I will tear up the baked cake into bigger pieces. My small pieces almost all dissolved in the frosting. And speaking of frosting, I did 2 cans of dulce de leche and 1 cube of butter. My family doesn’t like the taste of too much butter. But I feel like it was too sweet with 2 cans of dulce de leche so next time I will try less dulce de leche and a little bit of cream cheese. I also didn’t put any nuts in due to allergies. Nonetheless, it was very tasty and perfect with coffee/tea!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Does it has to be a Canadian flour?
Can I use regular? King’s flour?
Love all your recipes!
The all delicious!
Thank you!!!
Hi Irina, Canadian flour has more gluten than all-purpose flour. You’ll get a better cookie texture with Canadian flour, but it can work with all-purpose US flour, you just might need a little more to get the right dough consistency.
Thank you!
Natasha, if this cake stays over night does it becomes very soft or it still has some crunch to it? I’ll be making this for church event and I’m planing to make them in a mini cupcake paper cups, which it will be a bite size anthill. Thanks for the recipe
It doesn’t ever get very soft because the cookie portion doesn’t readily absorb the cream. It will still have some crunch to it, but it is less and less crunchy as it sits – still great but less crunchy.
This is the best dough for this type of cake! But I would like to put my 5 cents in: you don’t need vinegar when you have sour cream or buttermilk in the recipe! You add baking soda in sour cream, mix well and pour in flour mixture. Also the benefit of this is that baking soda and sour cream will foam up and will be easier to mix that sour cream in. But this is just a basic rule that I learned from my mom who baked all of her life. Thank you for this great recipe!!!
Good tip! Thank you for sharing!! 🙂
Awesome cake! I dont have a meat grinder so i grated it on cheese grater. I am entering it in the cake contest at my church tommorow:)
How exciting! I hope you win!! I’d love to see a photo of it if you posted it online! 🙂
Such a yummy cake!! It was definitely a hit 🙂 Since I don’t have a meat grinder I just broke up the dough into small pieces onto a cookie sheet and baked it (my sister’s recommendation) I also didn’t have much butter so for the cream I ended up using cooked condensed milk, a stick of salted butter, and a package of cream cheese. Turned out really good! Thank you for sharing this recipe, you never disappoint! 👍🏼
That’s so nice of you to say! Thank you Vika! I’m so happy to hear you are enjoying my recipes 🙂
Hi Natasha, bow long do you think this cake will sit well in the fridge? If I make it Friday for Sunday… Thanks!
Hi Oksana, that could should be ok to refrigerate that long.
Hi Natasha! I was wondering why kind of difference there is between all purpose flour and canadian flour? Do u think it would be fine if i just used all purpose flour?
Canadian flour has more gluten than all-purpose flour. You’ll get a better cookie texture with Canadian flour, but it can work with all-purpose US flour, you just might need a little more to get the right dough consistency.
Hello Natasha
Thinking of making this cake and I was wondering if I can use store bought cookies for this? If yes can you suggest what cookies can be used? Russian or American?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Yelena, it’s definitely worth experimenting but I haven’t tried any other store-bought cookies so I can’t really say exactly. If you test anything out, let me know how it goes! 🙂
Hello. I am hoping to make this for my husband’s birthday. Is a stick of butter 1/2 cup? Can I replace the cooked condensed milk with purchased dulce de leche? Thank you
1 stick is 1/2 cup. Yes you can replace it with store-bought dulce de leche. 🙂 Happy birthday to your Hubby!
Thanks for the quick reply!
This is one of my favorite cakes! I made it this weekend for my family and everyone loved it, esp my hubby. Thank you for posting this recipe, i added a little more cooked condensed milk and less butter so it doesnt taste so buttery :o)
I love that idea too! Thanks so much for sharing Elya 🙂
I love this cake and my family. My dad is always happy when I make this cake for him. This cake definitely brings a lot of memories from my childhood. I remember we had this big book “Дом и семья” where they had a lot of recepies and this cake was one of them that my mom use to make all the time.
Thank you Natasha!
You are welcome Zara :). I just love when food bring back happy memories from childhood.
Hi, Natasha! It’s my first time to comment here but I have made some of your recipes already, like the wedding salad and the the beet-carrot coleslaw thing (sorry I forgot the name!) and they all tasted super good!! I am from the Philippines and was unfamiliar with Russian recipes, but you have converted me to Russian food! Anyway, this cake looks like a fun one. At first, I thought it was named anthill cake because of the “tunnels” inside. But after you sprinkled the poppy seeds on top, it really did look like so many ants on an ant hill! I can’t wait to try this and your other cakes, too. Good luck with your baby and always take care. 🙂
Yeah it’s definitely a peculiar cake ;), but it does have a cute name; none-the-less. 🙂 I’m so happy you are enjoying my recipes 🙂 It’s always so nice to hear from my readers; so encouraging!
Natasha, does it have to be Canadian flour? Where would I be able to find that? Do you think it would be a good idea to put the dough in a piping bag with a small tip and sort of pipe out the cookie dough instead of using a meat grinder? Thank you!
I think it would be really difficult to squeeze this dough through a piping bag, but maybe it’s do-able with enough elbow grease ;). You’ll get a better cookie texture with Canadian flour, but it can work with all-purpose US flour, you just might need a little more to get the right dough consistency. It is sold in Winco and Cash & Carry.
Aanother way of doing it is to freeze the dough in about 2×2 (size balls and then shred them in a single layer directly to the baking sheet. That’s what I do and it comes out perfectly::)
Great tip! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
I just made this cake today but I used raisins and chopped walnuts. It’s also my husband’s favorite. Very yummy cake!
Mmmm your changes sound very nice! I’m so glad you liked it!
Natasha, back at home I was always adding black currant jam, not a very sweet one, 2-3 spoons. It added that necessary sourness of anthill.
How clever! I love that idea!
So I’ve never tried this cake…or heard of it until I read it on your blog. I had been meaning to make it for quite some time…and couple of days ago I decided I was going to bake a cake, not something I normally do, unless it’s a birthday party. I didn’t have the poppy seeds on hand, and couldn’t get to the store, so I omitted them, and only had half of the cooked condensed milk that was needed, so I made half. It didn’t last nearly as long as I thought it would! It was gone in like a split second! I love it! The hazelnuts add that amazing unique flavor and as a huge bonus, it’s super easy and yummy to make! I’m going to be making this a lot more often! (Like tonight 😉 ) Thanks for sharing this recipe, and all your recipes, I make something and people are always asking for the recipes, and of course I tell them “There’s this awesome blog I always go to….” You’re a lifesaver Natasha! Thanks for this blog and all the time that you put into it! Your blog is the #1 site that I visit for ideas for new recipes and when I have guests coming over!!!
Also, I substituted the shortening with 1 stick of butter, and it turned out amazing.
Great to know that works!! My husband has been asking me to make this and try it out with butter. Thanks so much Tanya! 🙂
You’re the best Tanya! Thanks so much for sharing my blog with the people in your life 🙂 I’m so glad you find the site useful. God bless you my dear 🙂
This cake is super amazing! I made it many times.
I’m so glad you like it 🙂 It’s been awhile since I’ve made it (that’s what happens when you always trying to make something new to impress the crowd ;)). Anyway, I’ve been meaning to try it with butter.
can i use reg flour?
Yes you can use regular flour.
does it have to be canadian flour? i dont know were to get it
It is sold in Winco and cash and carry.
Is there a way to make this cake without meat grinder
I would recommend freezing the dough and afterwards grading it on the large grader. Hope this helps :).
Hi and thanks for posting this! I studied abroad in Moscow and a friend made me this cake for my birthday and I LOVED it. It is great to find the recipe and I will try to replicate it – I think it would be a fun cake to make for Halloween for a kids party! 🙂
I would love to hear how it turns out once you make it :).
Just 1 stick of butter instead of shortening.
Thank you Valentina 🙂
Crisco is hydrogenated oil & should be avoided like the plague! If you’d set it in your garage, opened, not even bugs would want to eat it. It falls in the same unhealthy, deadly category as margarine & all the processed foods. BTW this cake is awesome, one of my favorites. I always use butter, organic as much as I can. Thanks for the recipe Natasha 🙂
I’m planning on remaking this recipe with butter, how much butter do you add exactly Valentina?
I have a similar recipe, but I use butter instead of crisco and without sour cream. Turns out really good. Going to try your recipe tonight 🙂
I’ve been wanting to try with butter instead of crisco (I’m not a big fan of crisco, but I wanted to follow the original recipe). It’s good to know that it works well with butter. Is everything else the same except without sour cream?
Thanks!
Thank you, getting ready to make one. One more question if I divide this into two anthills can I freeze one of them and bake it later like in 2 days or the quality won’t be as good?
I would recommend to make both and just keep them covered in the fridge. They stay refrigerated for a good while.
Natasha your link on how to cook condensed milk doesn’t work at this time. Can you tell comment on this step please? Thank you
Thank you for noticing that, just got it fixed. You can just click here.
we add 1/2 cup of poppy seeds in to the cake where you add the hazelnuts and mix everything together, it makes it look more appealing… 🙂
Thank you for the tip, I will do that next time :).
i have a question. do you just pour sour cream on top and let it cool in the fridge, or you mix sour cream together with dough?
I mix sour cream together with the dough, see step 3.
Do you use regular crisco or the butter flavored?
I use regular Crisco, I will be remaking this recipe using butter instead of Crisco.
Ohh, I totally missed the link in the steps. Thanks anyway! Because I always cook it for different times, I never remember. Hah last week I was asking my mom for how long and she said she thinks it’s 2 hours and my aunt said it was 4 so I just decided on 3 haha 🙂
How long do you cook your condensed milk for?
Hi Irene; here is the tutorial: https://natashaskitchen.com/2012/03/02/dulce-de-leche-cooked-sweetened-condensed-milk/
sounds like a fun cake to make. will be trying it this weekend for Nathans jungle birthday party. but i wanted to know what the correct amount of butter to substitute the crisco?
Nina wrote above that they make the cookies this way:
1 pack of butter (4 cubes)
4 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
5 cups of flour
Hi Natasha, I always used regular flour but I think Canadian might be better.
Thank you Nina!
I love Muraveinik made this cake few times in the past. Instead of poppy seeds i shredded chocolate over the hill
Chocolate is another great alternative to poppy seeds 🙂
1 stick of butter
I made this cake last night and had it with my morning coffee. Wow its sooo good! I did however ended up using walnuts because my kids ended up eating the hazelnuts while I was making the dough! I toasted them and put them through the meat grinder instead. It came out amazing. But next tine in gonna have to try the hazelnuts. Cause you can’t go wrong with those! Thank you for the recipe I will Def be making this more often and I’m not much of a Baker LOL.
I forgot I don’t use Crisco so I used butter instead and it came out great.
That’s what I’m planning to do next time. How much butter did you use?
You’re welcome Irina 🙂 that cake does go really well with coffee or tea.
so 1 stick of crisco is 1/2 a cup?
1 stick of Crisco is 1 cup.
we make this cake every holiday but our recipe is a little different. we never use Crisco. that stuff is the worst for the health. even margarine is not so great. we use butter which is much healthier and you can’t taste the difference.
We make cookies this way:
1 pack of butter (4 cubes)
4 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
5 cups of flour
The rest is pretty much the same. except never tried it with hazelnuts.
Natasha, tried couple of your recipes and loved them.
Nina, Thank you!!! I was truly hoping there was a butter substitute recipe out there. I will be trying your recipe and updating my recipe accordingly in the future. Thanks again, I can’t wait to try yours. I’m not a superfan of Crisco either. In fact, I hardly ever use it.
Natasha,
Would this recipe be an exact substitute in terms of amount? Four cubes of butter seems like a lot… doesn’t it?
Olga, what are you substituting in the recipe? Butter instead of Crisco? It’s kind of like a giant cookie and cookies require lots of butter. We have to test it out with butter instead of Crisco but some of my readers have had good success with sub-ing it.
Natasha, I just made this cake today. I had it once as a child in Russia and always remembered it. Thank you for posting this recipe! Do you know how to make this cake, I’ll try to describe it: Sour cream cake, once the cake is baked it is ripped apart then dipped in the cream and pieced back together to form a cake???
I think I saw something similar on Olga’s Flavor factory blog. I’ll have to post something like that soon. It looks and sounds delicious 🙂
Sounds like the cake “kucheryavii pareni” (кучерявый парень:) that’s one you break into pcs and coat with sour cream/sugar/cool whip cream… Then pour chocolate syrup over top:))
Russian/Ukrainian cake names are kind of hilarious, aren’t they? 😉 Boy oh boy that sounds good! Do you have a recipe for it?
Svetta – I have a recipe for the cake you are asking about. I can e-mail it to you if you want.
Luda, can you add me to your email list? 🙂 natashaskitchen@yahoo.com.
My mother in law puts raisins in her cake and uses walnuts and it’s so good:)
Raisins does sound really good. I wonder if craisins would work too?
This is the best cake ever. My aunt use to make when i was littla ed it. Thank you so much for the recipe. Cool idea thru meat grinde…
Thanks Oksana. I’m glad it brought back memories for you 🙂
I love this cake! But I dont make it in 1 heap. I just lay it out in a pan, refridgerate it, then cut it into 1-inch squares and place them into mini cupcake cups. It’s perfect for a party!
I think I like that even better! No cutting required. Thanks for the tip Nadia! 🙂
Oh my … I was looking for a recipe for this cake. Thanks for posting!!! I can not wait to make it too … it is very yummy!!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!
You’re so welcome. Since my husband had a hard time persuading me about this recipe, I know he is probably thinking “I told you so” reading your comment. 🙂
What’s crisco and where do you buy your hazelnuts? By the way, you wrote beet instead of beat and peaces instead of pieces ( step 2 and 5). 🙂
Fixed 🙂 Oh gosh I must have been editing that after a night shift! 🙂 I think our hazelnuts were from Winco. Crisco is a vegetable shortening that is commonly used in cookies and baking. I kinda wish there was a healthier alternative. If we discover something new, I’ll let you know. 😉
Do you think crisco may be substituted with margarine?
Thank you:)
Yes you can substitute it or do half crisco and half margarine
i remember this cake too, and if im not wrong, my mom used to use cookies instead of making dough…i cant wait to make it!
That’s an awesome idea! I love it and my husband thought so too. Maybe those vanilla wafer cookies would work well?
very lovely, never tried this one before, looks quite delicious!
wow, need to ask my wife to make this one, it looks really good!
🙂
wow, that is awesome looking, cant wait for you to make it again and let me try it! jk I need to get back into baking again, this gives me a little more motivation toward that direction! thanks looks delicious
I remember this cake from Ukraine, my mom used to make it all the time during holidays, brings back memories 🙂
Same story with my husband 🙂
lol my husband’s favorite too, he’s from Ukraine also 🙂
Natasha, what’s Crisco Vegetable shortening? And do your cookies come out hard or soft? cuz mine come out hard and thats what I don’t like about this cake, will try your recipe!
Thank You!
Crisco is a type of shortening, found in the baking section at the grocery stores. But next time I will use 1 stick of butter instead of Crisco. Butter is a healthier than Crisco :).
That’s one of my favorite cakes:) I like to add a little bit more hazelnuts, you can’t ruin this cake with extra hazelnuts!
Why didn’t you want to try it? Because of the name?
You definitely can’t go wrong with more hazelnuts :D. I did was reluctant to make the cake, because I never had it before and it did not had the “looks” :). But it makes it up in taste.
Is this similar in consistency to a chocolate kielbasa?
Yes, it is similar, just slightly softer, but I think it actually might work in that form. It doesn’t have any chocolate in it though.
It does look pretty glamorous. Your pictures are gorgeous. I would definitely like to eat what’s on that plate!
Thank you Julia; doesn’t it? It’s my husbands very first cake creation.
Beautiful cake. I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like it.
Thank you Dena! Me either! 😉
I like your website by the way. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! I appreciate you taking a look at my site. I am enjoying yours, too, and am now following your posts.