Spartacus Cake: A Classic Step-by-Step Recipe

Step 1 – knead the chocolate-honey dough.

Traditionally, we start with the custard base. Crack three large eggs (whites and yolks) into a saucepan, add a pinch of salt and 260 grams of sugar, and mix thoroughly with a hand whisk or mixer.

Add 60 grams of cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of liquid honey to the egg mixture. Mix the ingredients thoroughly until a smooth chocolate mixture is formed.

Add 120 grams of softened butter to the mixture and transfer to the stove to brew.

Heat the custard base for the cakes over low heat, stirring constantly. The sugar and butter should completely dissolve, and the mixture should become smooth and homogeneous. Continue heating until the first signs of boiling (the appearance of small bubbles), but do not boil.

Once the mixture is almost boiling, remove the saucepan from the heat. Add 1.5 teaspoons of baking soda to the hot custard base and stir until it reacts with the honey. The mixture should foam vigorously and increase in volume.

Let the custard base cool slightly and then gradually add the pre-sifted flour.

When it becomes difficult to mix the dough with a spatula, move to the work surface and finish preparing the dough by kneading it with your hands.

Form the prepared dough ball into a sausage shape and divide it into 6 equal parts, forming balls (as shown in the photo). Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour.

Step 2 – prepare the cream.

In a bowl, combine 1 egg (white and yolk), a pinch of salt, 230 grams of sugar, and 40 grams of starch. Whisk the ingredients until smooth.

If the mixture turns out to be too thick and difficult to mix, you can add a little cold milk from the total amount.

Heat the remaining milk (you will need 300 ml in total) almost to a boil (but do not boil) and add it to the prepared mixture in a thin stream, stirring vigorously with a whisk.

Pour the mixture into a saucepan, add 100 grams of sour cream and heat over low heat, stirring vigorously, until thickened.

The result should be a smooth, delicate cream, like the one in the photo.

Add butter to the custard base and mix with a spatula until smooth.

Transfer the prepared custard base to a container and cover with plastic wrap, not a lid, to prevent a skin from forming during storage. Let the mixture cool naturally.

The last component (whipped cream) can be added to the cream only after it has completely cooled, and it is best to do this immediately before the final assembly of the cake.

Step 3 – bake the cakes.

We take out the well-chilled dough and roll out the first ball into a cake with a diameter of more than 20 cm.

Using a ring with a diameter of 20 cm, cut out a round cake.

Prick the cake with a fork.

Repeat the procedure of rolling out and baking the cookies (steps 17-19) until the dough runs out.

You can also bake the cakes in advance. In this case, store the completely cooled cakes in the refrigerator, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

Step 4 – Assembling the Spartacus cake.

Before frosting the cake, finish preparing the cream. To do this, beat 250 grams of heavy cream with a mixer until stiff peaks form. Then, fold in the custard mixture and mix with a spatula until you have a very soft, airy, and smooth cream, ready to use.

Distribute the cream equally over all 8 cake layers, leaving a small amount to coat the sides.

We spread the crepe evenly over the surface of the cake layers, placing them on top of each other to form a traditional multi-layer cake.

By spreading the mixture and stacking all 8 layers step by step, we get this beautiful cake.

The next step is to smooth out the sides with the remaining cream.

We're demonstrating the simplest option. We create a spiral pattern on the surface of the cream, as shown in the photo.