You’re probably wondering about the name of the cake. It’s called Russian Hat Cake because ... [read more]]]>

You’re probably wondering about the name of the cake. It’s called Russian Hat Cake because these tiny cakes look something like furry Russian hats.

The little cakes have the best cream filling I’ve ever had, and they’re so rich and full of flavor that you really only need one to feel completely satisfied. Actually, last night I had half a cake and that was plenty.

Now, before getting started, make sure you have plenty of time set aside to make these because they will take an hour or two because of time needed to allow for cooling the cake and chilling the cream.

Note: You will need a shot glass to cut the circles for cakes. If you don’t have a shot glass, a very small juice glass might work. You don’t have to use paper cupcake liners to serve your Russian Hat cakes, but they do make for a nice presentation.

Russian Hat Cake

Ingredients for the cream filling:

• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 pkg. vanilla sugar (You can substitute 1 tbsp. vanilla and 1 tbsp of sugar if you don’t have vanilla sugar on hand)
• 2 sticks unsalted butter (I didn’t have unsalted butter so used salted butter and it turned out fine)
• 7 tbsp. flour

Ingredients for the cake:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 8 eggs, separated
• 3 tbsp. cocoa
• 9 tbsp. hot water
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
• 15 tbsp. all-purpose flour

Ingredients for the outside of the cake:

• unsweetened shredded coconut (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• vegetable oil (1 to 2 tbsp)

Step one: Making the cream filling

• Put your two sticks of butter on the counter top to soften up.
• Put the 7 tbsp. flour in a small bowl, and then pour 1/2 cup milk in a measuring cup. Add a little milk to the flour and beat it with a fork until there are no lumps. Then add a little more of the 1/2 cup of milk that’s left, beating it into the flour/milk mixture. Continue until you’ve added all of the 1/2 cup of milk to the flour, beating it by hand until there are no lumps.
• Put 1 1/2 cups milk, 1 cup of sugar, and vanilla sugar in a sauce pan and heat it on med. well heat until it boils, stirring constantly.
• After it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and then add the flour/milk mixture that you just whisked together, stirring it in with the warm milk/sugar very quickly.
• Keep stirring it on low heat until it has the consistency of a pudding.
• Put it aside on your counter top when it’s done and let it cool there for about 15 minutes.
• Then refrigerate it and let it chill.
• After the cream cools and is nice and cold, take your mixer and beat 2 sticks of softened butter into the mixture.
• The cream is now done, and all you need to do is put it in the refrigerator to cool.

Here’s a picture of the cream filling after it’s done:

I want to make just a few comments about the filling. I have to tell you how much I totally love it!! It’s so rich and buttery that I will now use this cream filling recipe for most all of my cakes. Also, if you want a yummy pudding recipe, just make the cream filling without adding the butter. Kemal and I plan to make a rice pudding with this cream filling recipe, not adding the two sticks of butter of course.

Okay, now, let’s make the cake.

Step Two: Making the Cake

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease a very large baking pan (I used one that was 12″ x 17″). If you don’t have a large pan like this, use two regular 13″ x 9″ cake pans. Just make sure if you use two different pans that they’re the same size.
• Separate all the egg, setting aside the yolks for a few minutes.
• Beat the all the egg whites by hand for a minute or so, and then add mix in 1 1/2 cups of sugar…1/2 cup at a time.
• Add the egg yolks to the egg whites/sugar mixture, mixing well.
• Now add the 15 tbsp. flour to the egg/sugar mixture, beating in 5 tbsp. at a time.
• Finally, add the 9 tbsp of hot water and 3 tbsp. cocoa to mixture, stirring well.
• If you want to add chocolate chips to your cake, stir in 1/2 cup of them.
• Pour the batter into your cake pan(s) and bake until golden brown.

Note: This cake is not supposed to rise up and get high and fluffy like most cakes. It’s not real airy like most cakes; it’s actually more dense. I thought it tasted really good that way.

• To test the cake to see if it’s done, stick a toothpick in the cake. If it comes out clean it’s done.
• Set the cake aside to cool.

Step Three: Cutting out the Circles and Making Your Little Russian Hat Cakes

• After the cake is cool, take your shot glass and use it to cut circles out of your cake. Here’s a picture that Kemal took of me cutting out the circles. You can see here how thin the cake is.

• Cut out your circles very close together so you end up with as many circles as possible.
• Keep cutting out the circles and place them on a cutting board or another surface until you’re done cutting out the entire cake. Here’s a picture of all my circles after I cut them out:

• Pour about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the unsweetened shredded coconut on a plate and set it aside.
• Now it’s time to put the pieces together and make the “hats” so you will need to take your cream filling out of the refrigerator.
• Spread some cream filling on one of the circles. Since my fingers were all sticky, Kemal took for me so you can see about how much cream we put on the circle (base of the hat).

• The next thing you do is take another circle and place it on top of the cream. It’s kind of like making a sandwich. I was busy assembling these, so Kemal took another photo to show you how they look at this stage:

• Now, you want to spread some cream around the sides of these “sandwiches.” Here’s another picture Kemal took to show you how it looks after you do this part:

• After putting cream around the sides, pick up your little cake and roll the sides of the cake in the coconut. Here’s another picture Kemal took for you to show you how it will look at this point:

• Now put your little cake in a paper cupcake liner. (If you don’t have any on hand, you can just put them on a serving dish.) I was still busy putting these hats together, so here’s Kemal’s photo of the hat in the cupcake liner:

Step Three: Making the Chocolate Topping

• Take 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and put them in a small saucepan.
• Cover the chips with some vegetable oil (about 1 to 2 tbsp)
• Melt the chocolate and oil on medium heat, stirring constantly until melted and well mixed.
• When the chocolate is melted, take it off the heat.
• Take a spoon and pour/drizzle some chocolate on the top of your little Russian hat cake. My hands were finally clean and I had time to take a picture of how the little cakes looked after I poured some chocolate on the top of them:

• The last step is to refrigerate the little cakes until the chocolate cools and hardens.

I saved all my extra filling, cake scraps, and coconut, and had some for dessert this evening. There’s no way I’m going to throw it away! Since I have so much filling left over, I may make a carrot cake tomorrow tonight and use that cream filling instead of cream cheese frosting for the cake. Sounds delicious!!!

I hope you enjoyed making and eating your little cakes as much as I did, and I’m sure your friends and family are going to love them! Thank you so much, Vesna, for the recipe and for teaching me how to make these yummy cakes! ]]> http://kemalandsheila.com/2009/10/russian-hat-cake/feed/ 0