Smetannik is a simple cake where all the flavour is in the sour cream. The common failures are a runny cream that leaks and a sour edge. The cause: watery, low-fat sour cream and too short a rest.
What it is made of
Top to bottom:
- Sour cream cream ×3 · 1.0 cm
The coating
- Vanilla sponge ×3 · 2.5 cm
Three sponges, three layers of cream.
The cream is only sour cream and sugar, with no fat besides the sour cream itself, which is why it is soft and slightly tangy. Sour cream cream is often reinforced with butter or condensed milk to hold its shape; that is not done here, so the cake is tender but less stable. The sponge is a vanilla one; in a traditional smetannik the layers are usually made with sour cream too. The difference: ours are lighter and airier.
Order of work
Cream (the day before): use sour cream with at least 20% fat, ideally 25 to 30%. Water is the enemy: thin sour cream makes thin cream. Hang the sour cream in cheesecloth for 6 to 12 hours in the fridge so the whey drains and it thickens. Sugar: fine, or icing sugar. Icing sugar contains starch and thickens it a little, but cannot rescue watery sour cream. Mix briefly, only until the sugar dissolves. Longer and the sour cream splits.
Sponges: beat the eggs and sugar to a thick foam and fold in the flour with a spatula. Fill the tin to two thirds. Bake at about 170 to 180 °C until a skewer is dry. 10 to 15 minutes in the tin, then a rack. Do not wrap warm. Chill 4 to 10 hours and slice with a wire.
Assembly:
- Sponge, then a layer of cream 5 to 10 mm thick (the cream is the soaking).
- Cover with the next sponge and so on.
- Coat the cake with cream and press on crumbs made from the trimmings.
Resting: 8 to 12 hours in the cold, better a full day. The cream soaks into the sponges and makes them soft.
What can go wrong
- Runny cream. The sour cream was under 20% fat, or the whey was not drained.
- Split cream. Over-mixed.
- Cake slides at the edges. Too little time in the cold; assemble in a ring.
- Sour taste. Too little sugar, or very sour sour cream.
The verdict
In smetannik the sour cream decides everything: fatty, drained and cold. The sponges just receive it.
