Do not flatter yourself: grandmother’s “Medovik” may still be hiding under the ultra-modern mastic.
Cake is the real king of the meal, a kind of Philip Kirkorov among other dishes. Both for us now, and for our mothers and grandmothers, the cake was a symbol of the holiday, abundance, prosperity. True, today’s cakes are significantly different from those that were baked 20, 30 and 40 years ago by mothers of families. How has homemade cake changed over the years?
The history of the cake in Russia began, perhaps, almost from the very times when people learned to grow and process wheat. The first Russian cake was called a loaf and, like a modern dessert, was prepared for a special occasion. The main sweetness in Russia was honey, so the first sweet pies were exactly honey.
Before the revolution, French chefs and pastry chefs set the tone for culinary delights in Russia. Only fruit preserves, some varieties of protein marshmallow and all kinds of gingerbread were originally Russians. Cream cakes with intricate decorations, which, for example, surprised buyers with the title of supplier to the court of His Majesty, the confectionery concern “Apricots and Sons”, were made according to foreign recipes.
By and large, all the confectionery secrets that had to be collected and restored bit by bit after social upheavals formed the basis of the recipes of Soviet chefs.
And the most delicate airy cakes that our grandmothers pampered us with are the same echoes of pre-revolutionary luxury from Abrikosov, Einem, Siu and other famous pastry chefs of bygone Russia.
By the way, why did grandmothers, as a rule, get the most delicious cakes? Because they, by virtue of their wise years, have long understood that everything that brings pleasure is somehow harmful, but because of this, they cannot refuse pleasure. They didn’t count calories, but lavishly whipped butter with powdered sugar, vanilla and cream. Over the years spent in the kitchen, the grandmothers adapted to the whims of their ovens and learned to “negotiate” with the dough. They had enough time and patience to conjure over the biscuit according to all the rules, separating the whites from the yolks. It is a great happiness for us that these recipes were later picked up by our mothers, and later by ourselves.
Let’s remember the most popular homemade cakes of the Soviet era
“Smetannik”
As soon as after the wars and revolutions in the country, the cards were canceled and it became more or less freer with food, the time for delicacies came. The simplest and most affordable cake cream is fatty sour cream, whipped with sugar. Combined with sweet pastry, it’s just a dream. For Smetannik, our grandmothers and mothers kneaded a dough of eggs, sugar, flour, soda and a glass of sour cream, and left the second glass of sour cream for the cream.
“Bear in the north”
Favorite and popular cake of the Soviet era: a lot of yolks, a lot of butter, sugar and necessarily walnuts for sprinkling and cocoa “Golden Label” for making chocolate fondant. The cakes were rolled out and baked in different colors – dark, with cocoa, and light. The result was an unusually tender and very “New Year’s” cake.
“Zebra”
In the 70s, butter, sugar, eggs, and cocoa powder were sold freely. The hostesses invented an original life hack: prepare two portions of dough – white and chocolate. If you alternate small portions of the dough, pouring it into a baking dish, you get a “striped” sponge cake.
“Anthill”
One of the most popular cakes in the 80s. The hostesses liked this cake because it never failed. No “biscuit rose” for you. Everything is very simple: knead a tough dough, turn it through a meat grinder, form curly curls with a slide, bake in the oven and saturate with cream – a can of condensed milk plus butter. To resemble an anthill, poppy seeds were added and the finished product was sprinkled with chocolate chips.
By the way, the closest relative of the Anthill cake is the Tatar chak-chak. Researchers of culinary traditions believe that the Soviet hit traces its roots to the American dessert Fanel Cake. There are similar cakes in Austria (Strauben), Finland (Tippaleipya), India (Jalebi) and many other countries.
“Medovik”
Orange, slightly “fluffy” from the sprinkling, unusually delicate inside “Medovik” was also a recognized Soviet hit. A lot of honey is added to the dough, after which it is heated in a water bath and darkens, acquiring a reddish color. The custard made from milk and yolks will perfectly reflect on the taste. Some people whip butter with condensed milk and claim that they see this cake only with such cream. But, perhaps, sour cream with sugar is the most authentic option.
“Bird’s milk”
Anyone who has caught the Soviet era and tasted the real Moscow cake “Bird’s Milk” is undoubtedly lucky. This delicate, exquisite dessert was invented for six months by a whole staff of culinary specialists and technologists under the guidance of the famous Vladimir Guralnik, pastry chef of the Prague restaurant.
Inventive Soviet housewives immediately began to try to repeat the miracle cake at home, and their enthusiasm was actively encouraged by the culinary columns of the women’s magazines Rabotnitsa and Krestyanka.
For some time, the version of homemade “Bird’s milk” with a cream of very sweet semolina, whipped with butter, had a great success. Authentic bird’s milk cake cream was prepared like this: the whipped protein was combined with agar-agar, then butter and condensed milk were added.
“Prague”
Many tried to repeat at home the signature cake of the restaurant of the same name. But it was extremely difficult: the “Prague” cakes were layered with four types of butter cream, to which cognac, rum and two liqueurs – “Chartreuse” and “Benedictine” were added. Therefore, the hostesses simply added a shock dose of cocoa and a layer of homemade apricot jam to homemade desserts.
Cakes with mastic
The widespread availability of sugar mastic, food coloring and all kinds of tools for rolling and cutting mastic revolutionized the world of cakes. Now you can order a cake from a craftswoman or in a pastry shop in the form of … anything. Handbags, hats, bouquets, women’s breasts, a barrel of caviar, baby booties, a wad of money, a saucepan with an ear – the list of what a mastic cake can be in the shape of is endless.
At the dawn of this fashion, inventive hostesses made mastic for homemade cakes from marshmallows, heated them, then rolled and covered the cake with them.
New opportunities bring new trends: at some point, cakes based on favorite chocolate bars – “Bounty”, “Snickers”, “Nuts”, gained popularity. In the middle of the cake, intended for a children’s party, they began to hide a huge handful of colored M & M’s. At the same time, the biscuit itself can be bright rainbow – thanks for this new generation food coloring.
The Internet has expanded the boundaries of the world: Russian housewives have the opportunity to order any ingredients and tools, and therefore the usual types of cakes have replaced overseas recipes. For example, the American Red Velvet cake has become popular, which is made from bright scarlet biscuit cakes and contains cheese cream.
More fantasy
The favorite dessert continues to change: nowadays cake-pops are served at celebrations – cakes in the form of chupa-chups, so-called “naked cakes” have become popular (no mastic, the borders of cream and cakes are visible, and the cake is decorated with natural fruits and berries), “golden” and “silver” cakes covered with metallized glaze, turrets of macaroon cakes, cakes with ruffles and frills, with a color transition using the ombre technique.
A very beautiful new trend – shining like wet candy, the brightest, glossy mousse cakes. More and more, the favorite dessert takes on either an “alien” look or the image of a glamorous accessory.
Carpet cakes from American pastry chef Alana Jones-Mann have become another novelty in the world of culinary. At first, it is impossible to believe that this colored fluffy miracle can be eaten. But a little more time will pass, and we will cease to be surprised at this. And sooner or later, a new generation of Russian grandmothers will master both glossy and carpet cakes in their own kitchens.