The simple delicacy of school cake, which delighted generations of Soviet children, is now almost forgotten. And its taste is truly worthy of respect. So why not dig up an old recipe and pay tribute to the traditions of classic baking?

An undeservedly forgotten taste

Today, the selection of confectionery products is virtually limitless. You can buy a luxurious, custom-made cake at any specialty store. Supermarket shelves also delight the eye with mouth-watering desserts, and every cafe offers its own baked goods.

Such abundance wasn't always the case. But the older generation also had its own recipe for lifting their spirits: buying a simple treat between classes—a block of shortcrust pastry, glazed with fondant and layered with jam. This confection was called, just that: a school cake.

Unusual school cookies

It wasn't perishable and didn't require special storage conditions, making it a staple delicacy for Soviet children. Today, the recipe for this simple pastry is largely forgotten, but in vain: it's delicious. To help parents reminisce about the taste of childhood and introduce children to a previously unknown delicacy, bake this nostalgic school pastry (photo).

Classics of the Soviet period

The recipe for making a classic school treat requires the simplest ingredients:

  • flour – 2.5 cups (faceted);
  • margarine – 200 g;
  • powdered sugar – 2 cups (faceted);
  • egg – 1 piece;
  • baking powder – 1 packet;
  • a pinch of salt;
  • water – 3 tbsp;
  • lemon juice – 2 tbsp;
  • cocoa – 1 tsp;
  • any jam, preserves or marmalade (150 g).

Classic School Cookie Recipe

Step-by-step recipe:

  1. Cream room-temperature margarine with 1 cup powdered sugar, baking powder, egg, and salt. A mixer is a good way to do this.
  2. Add flour and knead the dough. You may need to add a little more flour until you reach the ideal (pliable and soft) consistency called for in the recipe.
  3. After this, divide the dough into two parts and roll them out into layers no thicker than 1 centimeter. For convenience, it's best to do this directly on parchment paper—it makes it easier to move the layers.
  4. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place the rolled-out flatbreads in the freezer for 15 minutes. This will allow the oven to reach the desired temperature. Baking the flatbreads themselves also takes 15 minutes.
  5. Remove the finished cake base from the oven, spread one layer with jam or preserves and place the second layer on top of it.
  6. Now it's time to make the glaze: combine the water, lemon juice, and remaining powdered sugar in a saucepan and heat, stirring, until a syrup forms. To test if the syrup is ready, drop a small amount onto a plate, pick it up with your fingers, and pull them apart. If the syrup forms a string, it's ready.
  7. Set aside about a third of the icing and mix it with cocoa powder for decoration. Spread the remaining icing on the top layer of the cake. Immediately, using a pastry bag, pipe chocolate patterns onto the white icing: stripes, waves, flowers—whatever you like (photo).
  8. If you don’t have the desire or experience to mess around with syrup, you can do it differently:

a) Option one: take a bar of any chocolate, melt it and pour the liquid chocolate over the cake;
b) Option two: mix a glass of powdered sugar with a couple of tablespoons of hot water and the same amount of lemon juice.

All that remains is to cut the glazed pastry into small rectangles using a sharp knife.

The classic school cake is ready to welcome its fans! It's time to invite your family to the table to enjoy this traditional pastry.

Video recipe for making school cake