This traditional Slavic spartak cake features chocolatey cake layers alternated with a sweet custard cake cream. Festive, delicious, and so decadent!

In Eastern Europe, layer cakes are super popular. You’ll find them in so many different shapes, varieties, and styles. This chocolate spartak cake is amongst one of the most beloved, often popping up at everything from birthday parties to holiday celebrations.
A Little Background on Slavic Spartak Cake
For those that grew up in a Slavic community or have close Slavic friends, the spartak cake has likely graced your table on more than once occasion. In this recipe, we stick to the most traditional style of this classic cake, which features thin chocolate cake layers alternated with custard-infused cake cream.
Making a Spartak Cake from Scratch
Making this spartak cake requires a bit of patience and a handful of simple ingredients.
- Make the Cake Batter: Over a water bath, combine the sugar, egg, butter, honey, and milk in a bowl. Whisk until the mixture doubles in volume. Next, stir in the cocoa powder and baking soda. Remove the batter from the steam bath and add in the flour slowly.
- Portion the Dough: Divide the dough into 11 equal balls. Roll a piece of dough into a thin layer with a rolling pin on a floured surface, using a plate to “measure” it and create a consistent size (don’t worry about being perfect – you will trim them once they’re baked).
- Bake the Cake Layers: Next, bake the cake layers at 350°F on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for about 5-8 minutes each. Remove the cake layer from the oven and place the plate you measured it with on top, using it as a guide to cut a perfect circle. Place the cake layer on a wire rack to cool and repeat until all the cake layers are baked and trimmed.
- Make the Custard: Whisk the eggs with flour until all the lumps are gone. Next, pour the milk into a heavy saucepan and add in the egg mixture, vanilla extract, and sugar. Cook on medium-low, stirring constantly until it thickens to a texture similar to sweetened condensed milk. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool at room temperature.
- Make the Cake Cream: Next, use an electric mixer to whisk the room temperature butter until smooth. Slowly, add in the cooked custard and whisk until well-combined.
- Assemble the Cake: Distribute the cream across the cake layers, leaving a bit left over to decorate the outside of the cake. Stack the cake layers on top of one another, one by one. Frost the outside of the cake and decorate it as you wish. Enjoy!






Chocolate Ganache Frosting
Make a quick chocolate ganache to decorate the top of the cake by boiling 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and pouring it over 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Let it sit for a few minutes until the chocolate melts and stir until smooth.
Make a quick chocolate ganache to decorate the top of the cake by boiling 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and pouring it over 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Let it sit for a few minutes until the chocolate melts and stir until smooth.
Make a quick chocolate ganache to decorate the top of the cake by boiling 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and pouring it over 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Let it sit for a few minutes until the chocolate melts and stir until smooth. For more tips on making and using ganache, follow this guide. Cool to room temperature and frost the cake as you wish!

3 Handy Tips & Tricks
A couple of handy tips & tricks will help you nail this spartak cake recipe.
- Split the dough into 11-13 pieces for an 11-inch cake. If you’d like a shorter and wider cake, divide the cake dough into 11-13 pieces. This is also a great route to take if you want to spend less time rolling out the dough and baking the layers!
- Cut the recipe in half or divide the dough into 15-17 pieces for a 6-inch cake. If you’d prefer a taller, skinnier cake, divide the batter into 15-17 pieces.
- Save the leftover cake crumbs for decorating. Save the cake scraps, blend them up in a food processor, and use them to garnish the top and sides of the cake.

Make-Ahead & Storage Best Practices
Spartak cake is great for prepping a few days in advance. Here you’ll find all the tips you need to prep it ahead of time and store it.
- Make-Ahead: Prepare the spartak cake up to 3 days in advance. The longer it sets, the more the flavors will develop and the better the cake structure will be.
- Storage: Keep the cake stored in an airtight cake container in the fridge to protect it from damage and prevent it from soaking up any smells in your refrigerator. When stored properly, leftovers will stay fresh for up to a week.
FAQ
Do you add the flour to the cake batter before or after you take it off the steam bath?
You add the flour after you take it off the steam bath to help thicken it.
Do you need to add vinegar to the baking soda to prevent the cake from being bitter?
No, the bitterness of the baking soda will disappear as the cake bakes.
Why did my eggs scramble in the steam bath?
To prevent the eggs from cooking in the steam bath, make sure you whisk them constantly until the custard is smooth and doubles in volume.
Should you use melted or room temperature butter?
Use room temperature butter for the cake cream, not melted butter. This will help yield the best consistency.
More Tasty Cake Recipes
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- Chocolate Strawberry Cake (Extra Easy) – Chocolate cake with fresh strawberries
- Zebra Cake Recipe (The Classic) – Marble cake with sweet cream frosting
- Angel Fruit Dessert Recipe – Angel fruit cake, whipped cream, and strawberries
Recipe
Ingredients
Cake Layers
- 2 egg
- 6 tbsp milk
- 2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 6 tbsp honey
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 tbsp cacao
- 2 cups flour
Spartak Cake Cream
- 5 eggs
- 5 tbsp flour
- 3 cup milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups unsalted butter softened
Instructions
Spartak Cake Layers
- Make a steam bath by boiling water and placing a bowl on the top. Combine the sugar, egg, butter, honey, and milk in the bowl. Whisk the mixture until the ingredients double in volume.
- Stir in the cacao slowly, followed by the baking soda.
- Remove the batter from the steam batch. In small parts, add the flour to the mixture. At first, use a whisk to stir the flour in. Once it begins to thicken, switch over to a spatula. As it cools, the batter will begin to thicken.
- Divide the dough into 11 equal balls, they should come out to make 11 inch cake.
- On a floured surface, roll out each dough portion into a thin, circular layer. Measure it using a plate to ensure they are consistent in size.
- Bake at 350°F for about 5-8 minutes, depending on your oven. Remove the cake layer from the oven and place the plate you measured it with on top. Trim off the excess edges of the dough by tracing a knife alongside the edges of the plate. Remove it form the baking sheet and place it onto a cooling rack. Repeat until all the layers are baked and trimmed.
Spartak Cake Cream
- Whisk the eggs with flour together until all the lumps are gone.
- Pour the milk into a heavy saucepan and add in the egg mixture, vanilla, and sugar. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring/whisking consistently until the mixture resembles the consistency of sweetened condensed milk. Remove the cream from heat and let it cool completely at room temperature.
- Using an electric mixer, whisk the room temperature butter until it's smooth in texture. In small parts, add in the cooked cream. Continue whisking until well-combined.
Assemble the Cake
- Distribute around 80% of the cake cream across the cake layers. Spread it evenly and stack the layers on top of one another. Use the remaining cake cream to decorate the outside of the cake.
- Decorate the outside of the cake as you wish or leave it as-is. Chill it in the fridge before serving and enjoy!
Hi! Can i premake the sheets ahead of time? and how long can the sheets hold?
Hi Diana, You can make the sheets ahead of time and keep them in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thank you for reaching out! Enjoy!
Definitely needs more flour, the dough with 2 cups of flour per recipe doesn’t bake properly. It turns out like brownies to be exact. I had to add lots more flour to the dough for it to get ok. I got 10 layers of 10 inch in diameter cake. Also, I used sour cream and cool whip frosting instead. I have been baking cakes for more than 22 years so it was easy for me to adjust and figure out what’s wrong. I guess weighting flour in this recipe is the key.
Thanks for your feedback Alka! Appreciate you bringing your baking expertise to the table. The type of flour you use is definitely important and can cause you to need more or less. We are also huge fans of using a scale to weigh out ingredients for baked goods. Hope you have a great weekend!
Hi Natasha! I made this cake and it tasted wonderful. I had a lot of compliments. But I had to add so much more flour to each piece of dough (at least 2-3 tablespoons for each), otherwise they were not cooking through in the 5-8 minute time frame. Once I added more flour they were better. Any tips? Do you use a special brand of flour? I used Bobs Red Mill.. thanks! Otherwise great tasting cake! We really enjoyed it!
Hi Natasha, I always have to generously flour the surface when I am working with them but never had to add so much to each slice. The dough does harden as you work with it. Do you think it's too warm and it feels like it would need more flour? I am so happy that the cake still turned out amazing.
Is this a tiny 6 inch cake? Thats what i could get out of mine. Too small for my efforts so gave up. Would have been delicious though.
Our cake was at least 9 inches.
I made the cake filling and for some reason it’s much more yellow than yours (yours looks white) is there a way I can fix the problem? Yours is also much thicker then mine. Could it be that I melted the butter in the microwave instead of leaving it to become room temperature?
Hey Nelli, butter shouldn't be fully melted, it was supposed to be softened butter at room temperature. Your egg yolks could have been more yellow so the cream would come out more yellow as well.
My step 2 didn’t double in volume. About how long do you steam bath. I’m at high altitude.
I would say about 10-15 minutes. You do want a higher volume because you need enough liquids.
I followed the recipe exactly but for some reason while I am on step two, I am noticing cooked little egg whites/yolks. Was I supposed to beat the eggs first? My bowl is in a steam bath and the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. I kept mixing the whole time. What did I do wrong?
You would whisk as the ingredients cook on the steam bath. The steam bath cooks the ingredients and they grow in volume as you whisk them.
Hi Natasha! I remember making something similar long time ago and the cake melt in your mouth. Then I tried to make it again recently (different recipe) and layers never got soft enough even after a couple of days. If this cake need to stay at room temp for a few hours or it gets soft in fridge anyway. It looks amazing by the way. 🙂
Hey Elina, the layers are very thin in this cake so they soften in a fridge. Keep in mind, this cake is pretty short in height so you can double up the recipe if you want a larger cake.
Do I need to add vinegar to the soda to prevent the cake from being bitter?
No, not in this case because you are cooking it.
I think you could've divided the ingredients to the layers and the Creeme a little better. I couldn't tell what went where
Hey!!
I had the same problem until I figured to look at the instructions on the bottom with pics and then I saw where the other half of ingredients are going to-(cream)
Natasha, please do divide the the top ingredients with the bottom ingredients by saying what are layered ingredients and what are cream.
Because it is confusing!!
Thanks!! 😉
I would love to do that but until we change platform where our recipes are posted I can't make that change. I place them in order so it would be pretty simple as long as you follow step by step photos. I apologize. Thanks for feedback, it's something we are working on.
I couldn't get the layers rolled out as large as those pictured (i.e., mine are salad plate-sized, rather than dinner plate-sized). Is that a double recipe pictured?
No, not doubled the recipe. We're layers still very thin?
The layers of the cake are delicious but the filling is way too buttery...!! I would use a different filling for this cake!!
Oh wow Mila, you must not like butter creams? I love buttery cream 😉 Sorry it wasn't perfect.
No worries at all! I love your recipes!! It's just this particular cake filling...:) I do like fillings with some butter included in them, but the taste of this filling is literally pure butter... I had family over and they all said the same thing, so it wasn't just me:(
That's so interesting. I wonder if that's the brand of butter you used, it may be extra flavorful. I made this cake for a huge bday party and ppl haven't mention it to me. Thanks for sharing feedback, it will definitely help others too:)
Natalia great recipe. Can't wait to try it out. I just have one question, when you start adding flout to mixture, do you still keep bowl on steam bath or remove and start adding flour.? Thank you?
Add flour after you remove the bowl from the steam. I will add this to the recipe notes. Thanks for pointing this out!
This is one of my favorite cakes, Natasha. Everyone in our family loves it. This one looks amazing. You always make cake making looks so doable.
Olga, such a sweet compliment coming from you. This is a fun cake, agh all those layers.
Hey Natalya! How did you make the ganache for the top of the cake?
Hey Liza, in this recipe I shared details of ganache http://momsdish.com/recipe/600