Baking College In-Dpeth: Kyiv Cake

Kyiv (alternatively spelled Kiev, and pronounced “keev”) Cake, or Kyivski tort, is a real Ukrainian traditional, originating from its capital, Kyiv. This masterpiece is comprised of layers of crisp, ethereal hazelnut meringue and a silky-smooth chocolate buttercream. The cake is often topped with chopped hazelnuts and left to relax earlier than serving so the buttercream develops a silky texture.

This cake was created in 1956 on the Karl Marx Confectionery Manufacturing unit in Kyiv. Initially, walnuts had been used, however after World Battle II, when the USSR established ties with India, walnuts had been changed in favor of cashews. Quickly, nevertheless, cashews grew to become too costly, they usually had been changed with hazelnuts. The cake grew to become highly regarded throughout the Soviet Union, and right now, it’s nonetheless one of the recognizable achievements of Soviet confectionery and has since turn into one of many symbols of Kyiv.

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INGREDIENT BREAKDOWN

Glorious recipes require fantastic components. Right here’s how our recipes’ components contribute to creating the perfect Kyiv Cake.

• EGGS: Eggs help in leavening the cake, improve richness with their yolks, and add construction to the cake. When making the Hazelnut Meringue, be certain there’s no presence of yolk in your egg whites and your bowl is pristinely clear, as fats inhibits
  the whites from reaching full quantity.
• GRANULATED SUGAR: Granulated sugar does greater than add sweetness to the cake and the Hazelnut Meringue. Sugar acts as a whipping help when stabilizing the egg whites. Additionally, sugar has hygroscopic properties, which means it will probably take in water from the encompassing setting. Due to this, the Kyiv Cake will retain moisture even after being baked and cooled, resulting in an extended shelf life.
• UNBLEACHED CAKE FLOUR: Cake flour makes a extra tender cake than all-purpose flour as a result of cake flour is produced from comfortable wheat. With a 5% to eight% protein content material, unbleached cake flour supplies a really perfect quantity of protein to offer our Kyiv Cake the right construction.
• CORNSTARCH: When utilized in cake batter, cornstarch reduces construction by serving to to melt the inflexible proteins of the flour, leading to a comfortable, tender cake. Cornstarch additionally helps stabilize the Hazelnut Meringue by absorbing moisture. When cornstarch absorbs moisture, it retains the meringue from weeping, which is tremendous useful should you stay in high-humidity areas.
• BAKING POWDER: Most baking powders are double-acting, which means the response happens twice, utilizing two totally different acids. The primary is a fast response when baking powder is mixed with a liquid within the batter. The second response is slower, occurring when the cake bakes.
• VANILLA EXTRACT: Vanilla extract is a magical ingredient that provides prompt depth of taste and complexity to this cake.
• KOSHER SALT: Kosher salt has a pure, clear taste as a result of it doesn’t include iodine or minerals. It’s flaked quite than granulated, permitting for extra even distribution when whipped into the cake batter and the meringue.
• DISTILLED WHITE VINEGAR: The acidity in white vinegar helps stabilize the egg whites when making the Hazelnut Meringue. Including acid helps whip up the egg whites faster, and it retains the meringue from collapsing as soon as it’s accomplished. You can even use lemon juice or cream of tarter because the acid when making meringue.
• HAZELNUTS: Hazelnuts complement the chocolate buttercream fantastically and add an total crunch and nuttiness to the recipe.
• UNSALTED BUTTER: As a result of butter is significant to the feel and richness of the cake and the chocolate buttercream, selecting a European-style butter with the next fats ratio than generic grocery retailer butter will yield the perfect outcomes. Salt content material can range throughout totally different butter manufacturers, so we use unsalted butter to manage the precise quantity of salt within the recipe.
• UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER: Additionally known as pure cocoa powder, unsweetened cocoa powder is produced from ground-roasted cocoa beans. It has a robust taste, and its naturally excessive acidity provides the cocoa a pointy, virtually citrusy taste, which is ideal in our chocolate buttercream.
• SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK: The sweetened condensed milk not solely provides sweetness and a divine milky taste but additionally provides the chocolate buttercream an irresistibly silky texture.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

We advocate this set of instruments for our method

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• STAND MIXER: As a valuable energy- and time-saver, a stand mixer will assist whip the eggs and sugar collectively till the combination reaches ribbon-consistency for the cake batter, whisk the egg whites with ease for the Hazelnut Meringue, and help in reaching the specified satiny texture for the Chocolate Condensed Milk Buttercream. (Pictured: KitchenAid® Artisan Stand Mixer, 5-Qt. and KitchenAid® Stand Mixer Clear Glass Bowl Attachment, 5-Qt.)
• SIEVE: We love this heavy-duty chrome steel strainer. It’s fitted with ergonomically formed handles that make it comfy to raise and maintain when sifting dry components for the cake layer. (Pictured: All-Clad 3-Piece Stainless-Metal Strainer Set.)
• ROUND CAKE PANS: Designed to bake evenly, these stunning, golden commercial-quality pans are crafted of aluminized metal for distinctive sturdiness, making them perfect for baking each the cake layers and the Hazelnut Meringue layer. (Pictured: Williams Sonoma Goldtouch® Professional Nonstick Spherical Cake Pans, 8-inch.)
• THERMOMETER: We use an instant-read thermometer to make sure the egg and sugar mixtures attain the right temperature when making the cake layers and the Hazelnut Meringue. (Pictured: OXO Thermocouple Thermometer.)
• RIMMED BAKING SHEET: A rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper is the right floor for piping and baking our Hazelnut Meringue kisses! (Pictured: Williams Sonoma Goldtouch® Professional Nonstick Non-Corrugated Half Sheet.)
• PIPING TIP: Utilizing a French star piping tip ends in sleek, easy Hazelnut Meringue kisses that may add a contact of class when adorning the Kyiv Cake. (Pictured: Ateco #864 Pastry Tip.)
• SAUCEPAN: You need a stainless-steel saucepan that may warmth effectively and evenly when making a double boiler for heating the eggs and the sugar collectively to start with phases of creating the cake batter and meringue. (Pictured: Williams Sonoma Signature Thermo-Clad™ Stainless-Metal Saucepan.)
• WHISK, SPATULAS, PARING KNIFE, GLASS BOWLS: You possibly can’t beat the fundamentals for all of your baking wants. A whisk is important when combining the eggs and sugar collectively over the double boiler for the cake batter and the meringue layer. An array of spatulas is ideal for easy stirring and folding the batter, meringue, and buttercream effortlessly. Utilizing a pointy paring knife across the edges of the cake pans ensures the layers aren’t sticking to the perimeters of the pans earlier than inverting. A small offset spatula provides you optimum management when spreading the batter and meringue evenly into the cake pans and the buttercream onto the cake. Glass bowls are the right vessels for measuring, prepping, and mixing all of your components. (Pictured: Williams Sonoma Olivewood Whisk, Williams Sonoma Final Silicone Spatula Set with Stainless-Metal Deal with, Zwilling Professional Paring Knife, Williams Sonoma Olivewood Offset Icing Spatula, 4”, and Glass Mixing Bowl 10-Piece Set.)

MAKING MERINGUE MAGIC

Our recipe makes use of the Swiss method for creating an extremely secure and majestic meringue

1. Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C). Line backside of an 8-inch spherical cake pan with parchment paper. Line sides of pan with a strip of parchment paper. (See Word.) Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Within the heatproof bowl of a stand mixer or in a medium heatproof bowl, whisk collectively sugar, egg whites, and salt by hand. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Prepare dinner, whisking gently and continuously, till sugar utterly dissolves and an instant-read thermometer registers 120°F (49°C) to 130°F (54°C).

WHIP IT INTO SHAPE

You realize you’ve received stiff peaks when you’ll be able to raise the whisk out of the meringue and the height stands upright when held the wrong way up

1. Fastidiously transfer to face mixer. Utilizing the whisk attachment, beat at medium-high pace till stiff peaks kind, 4 to five minutes. Watch the meringue because it climbs increased and better alongside the perimeters of the bowl. Cease whipping as quickly as you discover that it’s not rising. When the meringue is excellent, it would fill the bowl and maintain stiff peaks when examined. Simply be certain to not overwhip your meringue, which can start to deflate and turn into dense and look damaged.
2. In a small bowl, stir collectively cornstarch and vinegar. Add cornstarch combination to meringue, and beat at medium-high pace till included, about 30 seconds.

PERFECT PIPING

Even stress and a gentle hand are the keys to piping meringue kisses

1. Spoon ⅓ cup (25 grams) meringue right into a pastry bag fitted with a medium French star piping tip (Ateco #864). Holding tip perpendicular to parchment paper, pipe meringue kisses of assorted sizes at the least ½ inch aside on ready baking sheet. Put aside.

BAKE AND COOL

It’s time to bake off the gorgeous Hazelnut Meringue

1. Fold hazelnuts into remaining meringue. Spoon into ready cake pan, leveling with an offset spatula.
2. Bake spherical meringue layer by itself for half-hour. Place kisses in oven, and cut back oven temperature to 225°F (105°C). Proceed to bake each the spherical meringue layer and the kisses till dry to the contact, 40 to 55 minutes extra. Flip oven off; let meringues stand in oven with door closed for at the least 8 hours or as much as in a single day. Sudden temperature adjustments could cause your baked meringues to crack. The trick is to let it cool slowly, so preserving it the oven because it cools off permits the meringue to chill evenly and slowly. This additionally permits it to chill in a extra managed setting. The oven helps shield the meringues from humidity that may trigger stickiness and weeping.

MAKING THE CAKE LAYERS

Gentle and tender cake begins with the right batter

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Line bottoms of two (8-inch) spherical cake pans with parchment paper.
2. Within the heatproof bowl of a stand mixer or in a medium heatproof bowl, whisk collectively eggs and sugar. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Prepare dinner, whisking sometimes, till an instant-read thermometer registers 110°F (43°C).
3. Fastidiously transfer to face mixer. Utilizing the whisk attachment, beat at excessive pace till thick, tripled in quantity, and ribbon-consistency, 3 to 4 minutes. “Ribbon-consistency” is a standard time period used to explain the looks of a batter or combination. The batter, when falling from the whisk attachment, creates a luxuriously thick ribbon. Because the batter from the whisk settles on prime of the batter within the bowl, the sides of the “ribbon” ought to stay clearly outlined on the floor for a number of moments earlier than slowly disappearing. This ribbon stage tells us that we’ve got whipped sufficient air into the batter to leaven the cake and are prepared to maneuver on to the following step.
4. Gently sift collectively flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt over egg combination, and gently fold till mixed. Switch 1 cup (75 grams) batter to a small bowl, and stir in melted butter and vanilla till mixed. Fold butter combination into remaining batter simply till mixed. Divide between ready pans (about 3⅓ cups or 265 grams every). Sifting ensures all of the dry components will evenly distribute within the batter, and thoroughly folding within the flour combination, butter, and vanilla at this level is essential to a lovely, ethereal cake.
5. Bake till golden brown and cake springs again when frivolously pressed, 15 to twenty minutes. Let cool utterly in pans on wire racks.

MAKING THE VELVETY CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

Satiny-smooth and creamy, this Chocolate Condensed Milk Buttercream comes collectively effortlessly with the assistance of a stand mixer

1. Within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter and vanilla at low pace till {smooth}. Slowly improve mixer pace to medium-high, and beat till pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. With mixer on low pace, progressively add cocoa, beating till simply mixed and stopping to scrape sides of bowl. With mixer on low pace, add condensed milk in small increments. Improve mixer pace to medium, and beat till thick sufficient to carry stiff peaks, 2 to three minutes. (If buttercream is simply too unfastened to make use of, cowl and refrigerate for 20 minutes after which rewhip.) Use instantly. It is rather vital to relax your sweetened condensed milk earlier than including it to the buttercream. It retains the combination from changing into too unfastened so the ultimate buttercream is the precise texture and thickness to hold on the perimeters of a cake.

ASSEMBLING YOUR CAKE

The assembled Kyiv Cake is a textural expertise because of the contrasts of tender cake, crisp and ethereal meringue, and {smooth} buttercream

1. Run a thin-bladed knife alongside fringe of cake layers, and take away from pans. Place 1 cake layer on a serving plate, and unfold ¼ cup (53 grams) Chocolate Condensed Milk Buttercream on prime. High with Hazelnut Meringue spherical layer. Unfold ¼ cup (53 grams) buttercream on prime of remaining cake layer, and place, buttercream facet down, on prime of meringue layer. Unfold remaining buttercream on prime and sides of cake as desired. Refrigerate for at the least half-hour earlier than serving.
2. When able to serve, garnish with hazelnuts and Hazelnut Meringue kisses, if desired. Greatest served similar day.