Russian Cherry Layer Cake Recipe

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My mother-in-law gave me the recipe for this Russian cherry layer cake over the phone and I made it for New Years. It’s the same basic biskvit recipe that I love so much.

I just can’t resist a moist cake! There’s a surprise layer in this cake: crumbled chocolate cake with cherries and cream. The frosting for this cake is only 2 ingredients. It’s easy and cool-whip free (for the cool whip haters – you know who you are!) I love how light the frosting tastes and it’s not overly sweet. This cake was a winner!

It’s 12:29 am and I need to go to bed. It’s never a good idea to post recipes this late, but Russian Christmas is coming up (January 7th) and I thought you just might like to try a new cake!

Ingredients for Russian cherry layer cake:

15 large eggs, whites and yolks separated, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 and 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour *measured correctly
3 Tbsp cocoa powder (I used dutch cocoa)

Ingredients for Syrup:

21 oz country cherry pie filling/ topping
1 3/4 cups cold water
1 Tbsp sugar

Ingredients for Frosting:

1 can sweetened condensed milk (boiled 4 hours in crock pot on high)
3 cups cold heavy whipping cream
Chocolate shavings and cordial cherries for decor, optional

Cake Layers How-To:

Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
Line 2 (13×9) non-stick rectangular baking pans with wax paper.
Line a round cake pan with wax paper.

1. Mix egg yolks with sugar until well blended. Add flour and mix until well blended.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed 2-3 minutes (i did 2 1/2 min) until fluffy and about 3 times in volume. Don’t beat till it’s stiff or it won’t blend well.

3. Us a spatula to fold the yolk mixture into the egg whites.

4. Place 1/3 of the mixture in a medium bowl and gently stir in the cocoa powder until evenly blended.

5. Pour chocolate cake batter into a round cake pan.

6. Divide remaining cake batter between the 2 lined baking pans.

7. Bake in the center of the oven for 23-25 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I put all three cakes in at once with the two racks in the center of the oven and rotated the cakes half-way through baking.

8. When cakes are finished baking, take them out of their pans and quickly run a sharp spatula under the cake to separate it from the wax paper. If you wait until the cakes cool, the wax paper will be harder to pry off. Let cakes cool to room temperature.

Syrup How-to:

1. Pour the can of cherries into a medium bowl and add 1 3/4 cups water. Mix well to thin the syrup.

2. Remove the cherries with a slotted spoon or colander  and squeeze out any excess juice from the cherries. You will mix these into the center of the cake.

3. Add 1 Tbsp sugar to the cherry juice. This is your syrup.

Frosting How-to:

1. Cook sweetened condensed milk ahead of time since it needs time to cool to room temperature. Click here for instructions on how to cook it with the crockpot method.

2. For best results with whipping cream, your cream should be very cold. Also, freeze the mixing bowl you plan to use for beating the cream along with the whisk attachment. I Put my kitchenaid and whisk attachment in the freezer 10-15 minutes.

3. Pour cold whipping cream into your cold mixing bowl and beat on high speed until stiff (sorry forgot to time it, I wanna say 3 min or so?)

4. Once cream is thick, reduce to the lowest speed and add your cooked sweetened condensed milk 1 Tbsp at a time until well blended. I blended it some more with a spatula.

5. Refrigerate frosting until ready to use.

Assembling the Cake How-to:

1. Place the first white cake layer face down on the dish you plan to serve the cake on.

2. Pour 1/2 of the syrup evenly over the cake layer. Let it soak in while you proceed to step three.

3. Crumble the chocolate cake in a medium bowl and add the strained cherries and 1/3 of the frosting. Use a spatula to cut into the mixture to stir it.

4. Spread the chocolate cherry mixture over the first cake layer.

5. Place the second cake layer face down on top of the cherry mixture and pour the remaining syrup evenly over the cake layer. Let it soak in for 10 minutes or so.

6. Trim the sides with a serrated knife if necessary and spread frosting over the top and sides.

7. Decorate to your hearts delight. I finely grated chocolate over the whole cake and used cordial cherries to make holly which was my brilliant sister, Tanya’s idea). Keep cake refrigerated until serving. It stays yummy in the fridge for at least 3 days.