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My mother-in-law gave me the recipe for this Russian cherry layer cake over the phone and I made it for New Years. It’s the same basic biskvit recipe that I love so much.
I just can’t resist a moist cake! There’s a surprise layer in this cake: crumbled chocolate cake with cherries and cream. The frosting for this cake is only 2 ingredients. It’s easy and cool-whip free (for the cool whip haters – you know who you are!) I love how light the frosting tastes and it’s not overly sweet. This cake was a winner!
It’s 12:29 am and I need to go to bed. It’s never a good idea to post recipes this late, but Russian Christmas is coming up (January 7th) and I thought you just might like to try a new cake!
Ingredients for Russian cherry layer cake:
15 large eggs, whites and yolks separated, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 and 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour *measured correctly
3 Tbsp cocoa powder (I used dutch cocoa)
Ingredients for Syrup:
21 oz country cherry pie filling/ topping
1 3/4 cups cold water
1 Tbsp sugar
Ingredients for Frosting:
1 can sweetened condensed milk (boiled 4 hours in crock pot on high)
3 cups cold heavy whipping cream
Chocolate shavings and cordial cherries for decor, optional
Cake Layers How-To:
Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
Line 2 (13×9) non-stick rectangular baking pans with wax paper.
Line a round cake pan with wax paper.
1. Mix egg yolks with sugar until well blended. Add flour and mix until well blended.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed 2-3 minutes (i did 2 1/2 min) until fluffy and about 3 times in volume. Don’t beat till it’s stiff or it won’t blend well.
3. Us a spatula to fold the yolk mixture into the egg whites.
4. Place 1/3 of the mixture in a medium bowl and gently stir in the cocoa powder until evenly blended.
5. Pour chocolate cake batter into a round cake pan.
6. Divide remaining cake batter between the 2 lined baking pans.
7. Bake in the center of the oven for 23-25 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I put all three cakes in at once with the two racks in the center of the oven and rotated the cakes half-way through baking.
8. When cakes are finished baking, take them out of their pans and quickly run a sharp spatula under the cake to separate it from the wax paper. If you wait until the cakes cool, the wax paper will be harder to pry off. Let cakes cool to room temperature.
Syrup How-to:
1. Pour the can of cherries into a medium bowl and add 1 3/4 cups water. Mix well to thin the syrup.
2. Remove the cherries with a slotted spoon or colander and squeeze out any excess juice from the cherries. You will mix these into the center of the cake.
3. Add 1 Tbsp sugar to the cherry juice. This is your syrup.
Frosting How-to:
1. Cook sweetened condensed milk ahead of time since it needs time to cool to room temperature. Click here for instructions on how to cook it with the crockpot method.
2. For best results with whipping cream, your cream should be very cold. Also, freeze the mixing bowl you plan to use for beating the cream along with the whisk attachment. I Put my kitchenaid and whisk attachment in the freezer 10-15 minutes.
3. Pour cold whipping cream into your cold mixing bowl and beat on high speed until stiff (sorry forgot to time it, I wanna say 3 min or so?)
4. Once cream is thick, reduce to the lowest speed and add your cooked sweetened condensed milk 1 Tbsp at a time until well blended. I blended it some more with a spatula.
5. Refrigerate frosting until ready to use.
Assembling the Cake How-to:
1. Place the first white cake layer face down on the dish you plan to serve the cake on.
2. Pour 1/2 of the syrup evenly over the cake layer. Let it soak in while you proceed to step three.
3. Crumble the chocolate cake in a medium bowl and add the strained cherries and 1/3 of the frosting. Use a spatula to cut into the mixture to stir it.
4. Spread the chocolate cherry mixture over the first cake layer.
5. Place the second cake layer face down on top of the cherry mixture and pour the remaining syrup evenly over the cake layer. Let it soak in for 10 minutes or so.
6. Trim the sides with a serrated knife if necessary and spread frosting over the top and sides.
7. Decorate to your hearts delight. I finely grated chocolate over the whole cake and used cordial cherries to make holly which was my brilliant sister, Tanya’s idea). Keep cake refrigerated until serving. It stays yummy in the fridge for at least 3 days.
Russian Cherry Layer Cake
Ingredients
Ingredients for Russian cherry cake:
- 15 large eggs, whites and yolks separated, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 and 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
Ingredients for Syrup:
- 21 oz country cherry pie filling/ topping
- 1 3/4 cups cold water
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Ingredients for Frosting:
- 1 can cooked sweetened condensed milk, i.e. can dulche de leche
- 3 cups cold heavy whipping cream
- Chocolate shavings and cordial cherries for decor, optional
Instructions
How to Make Biskvit Cake Layers:
- Mix egg yolks with sugar until well blended. Add flour and mix until well blended.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed 2-3 minutes until fluffly and about 3 times in volume. Don't beat till it's stiff or it won't blend well. Use a spatula to fold the yolk mixture into the egg whites.
- Place 1/3 of the mixture in a medium bowl and gently stir in the cocoa powder until evenly blended. Pour chocolate cake batter into a round cake pan.
- Divide remaining cake batter between the 2 lined baking pans.
- Bake all three cakes in the center of the oven for 23-25 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. When finished baking, remove from their pans and quickly run a sharp spatula under the cake to separate it from the wax paper. If you wait until the cakes cool, the wax paper will be harder to pry off. Let cakes cool to room temperature.
Making the Cherries/Syrup and Frosting:
- Pour the can of cherries into a medium bowl and add 1 3/4 cups water. Mix well to thin the syrup. Remove the cherries with a slotted spoon or colander and squeeze out any excess juice from the cherries (reserve the juice). You will mix these into the center of the cake. Add 1 Tbsp sugar to the reserved cherry juice. This is your syrup.
- For best results with whipping cream, your cream should be very cold. Also, freeze the mixing bowl you plan to use for beating the cream along with the whisk attachment for 10 - 15 min. Pour cold whipping cream into your cold mixing bowl and beat on high speed until stiff, around 3 min. Once cream is thick, reduce to the lowest speed and add your cooked sweetened condensed milk 1 Tbsp at a time until well blended. Refrigerate frosting until ready to use.
Assembling the Cake:
- Place the first white cake layer face down on the dish you plan to serve the cake on. Pour 1/2 of the syrup evenly over the cake layer. Let it soak in.
- Crumble the chocolate cake in a medium bowl and add the strained cherries and 1/3 of the frosting. Use a spatula to cut into the mixture to stir it.
- Spread the chocolate cherry mixture over the first cake layer.
- Place the second cake layer face down on top of the cherry mixture and pour the remaining syrup evenly over the cake layer. Let it soak in for 10 minutes or so. Trim the sides with a serrated knife if necessary.
- Spread frosting over the top and sides. Decorate and keep cake refrigerated until serving. It stays yummy in the fridge for at least 3 days.
Hi Natasha,
I’m making this cake and I don’t really want to wait four hours for the condensed milk to cook. Can I just use the recipe for the cream with regular condensed milk, whip cream, and butter?
Yep! You sure can! 🙂
I really like your blog 🙂 me and my sisters did this cake for Easter, and it was really good! Thanks for the great recipe. Keep it up.
Thank you Antonina, comments like these are always appreciated :).
Can you specify cooking time for the condensed milk? On this recipe you say cooked for 2hrs on high and on the actual condensed milk recipe it states to cook 4hrs on high. I am getting the impression for this frosting to cook it only half way. Is that right? Thanks!
Thank you for noticing that Nelya, it should be 4 hours, I fixed it.
Hi, Instead of boiling or making my on cooked condensed milk ,I buy Dulce de Leche, I bought the San Ignacio brand and it’s great, not to sweet. you can find them in a Argentinian or peruvian store, the mexican brand is a bit more sweet, but still good.
I’ll probably try it one day. I’m so curious as to how they compare.
Thank you very much.
Hi Natasha,
I have one question for you. Have you heard of the special carving tool for chocolate, like a chocolate curler (it makes curly pieces of chocolate for decorations). The chocolate kind of looks like shaved, but nicer curlers. I was trying to find it, but couldn’t. Was wondering if you know of what I’m talking about.
BTW, I love your recipes.
This might be what you looking for. Click here.
Hi Natasha,
Just wanted to say that I love your blog. I was just wondering if you have the recipe for the cake “drova pod snegom”? Been searching several websites and no one seems to have it. It is one of my favorite cakes and I would love to make it.
I don’t have one but that would be perfect for the holidays. I’ll try to find a great recipe for it.
Thank you for your response! That’s a great idea. I should have thought of that.
I want to make this cake but I only have one 13 by 9 pan. My question is would the layers work out if I bake them one at a time? Or is this is the type of cake that the layers need to be baked as soon as whipped up.
You can make them together and cut the cake in half 🙂
Is there any way to make a smaller size of this cake? It would be too big for me and my husband. 🙂
Hi Lyuda, I haven’t tried making a half portion, but I don’t see why you couldn’t just cut all the ingredients in half, make one white cake layer and cut it in half. Or you can always make the full one, cut it in half before frosting and give away the other half to someone else, like me for example 😉
All your recipes are amazing. Thank YOU so much. You make mr look like a genius when I create these delicious cakes/food 😉 thank YOU so much!
You make me smile 😀
oooooo… this should be a very good Birthday cake!!!:)
I just make that cake and must say this is a genius idea! The middle layer taste so good… Thank you so much
Anna; thank you! Of course I can’t take the credit for that geniusness (is that a word?) it was my Mama-in-laws idea 🙂
Thank you it’s my first and he’s keeping me quite busy 🙂 I’ll let ya know. Thanks for quick reply!
I thought I had all ingredients for the cake but realized i have strawberry filling/topping not cherry. I just had a baby and can’t really go to the store right now to buy cherries but wanted to make the cake for tomorrow. Do you think strawberries will work? If not, I won’t bother making it. Thanks in advance.
It should still work. It will just be a strawberry layer cake. Let me know how it turns out. Congratulations on your little one! 🙂
yumm!!!!
Natasha plz make a recipe of a cake called Pyanaya vishnya or aka drunken cherry in english lol.
your recipes are incredible!
Thank-you Natasha I’ll have to make it again sometime later. It’s still taste good with a tea. Thanks you do a remarkable job!
Oh my! I was so exited of making this recipe, but my cake came out so dry. Because I didn’t use all of my juice it would’t go through even when I poked it with tooth pick. So I just didn’t bother and through that juice away. Now I looked at your cake looks like you turn your cake around when you put juice on. Do you think it might be the problem?
Margarita, I’m sorry I didn’t specify that 🙁 yes, it will make a big difference. This cake is supposed to be pretty moist. The juice is thicker so it takes a little longer to soak in, but it does soak in better when you flip the cake over. I added to put the cake layers face down in the directions.
The cake was delicious and easy to make. Thanks for the recipes you post and please keep them coming. I enjoy your website!
I made this cake for my mom’s birthday, everyone loved it! Thank you for the recipe :)))))
You’re welcome. So glad you all enjoyed it 🙂