One of the most known Ukrainian cakes is Kiev cake, the specialty of Kiev, Ukraine.

But what’s inside? It has layers of very dense meringues between extremely rich butter cream and layers of soft sponge cake. The whole thing is spongy, creamy, buttery and crunchy at the same time!!!


Servings: 12-16
Ingredients for sponge cake:
8 eggs
¾ cup of sugar
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
Ingredients for Meringue:
6 egg whites at room temperature
1 1/3 cups of sugar
Cooking spray and wax paper
 
Ingredients for Cream Frosting:
¾ can of condensed milk (standard 14 oz)
2 sticks of butter at room temperature
¾ of package of cream cheese
8 oz whipped cream
 
Ingredients for Syrup
15 oz can of apricot halves in light syrup (keep the syrup)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
 
Directions for sponge cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Separate the whites and the yokes. On high speed beat the whites with sugar for 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
Beat the yokes, add the flour and the vanilla extract.
Fold the yokes with the whites, go slowly so the whites stay fluffy.
Spray a baking dish ( I used 13 in by 9 in) with cooking spray. Transfer the batter into the baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes. Check if  the cake is ready with a tooth pick, if nothing sticks to it, it is done.
 
Directions for Meringue:
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F
Beat the whites with the sugar on high speed. Make sure you put the sugar in small amounts. Beat until soft peaks form when you lift the mixer, 5-6 minutes.
Use the same baking dish for baking the meringue as you would for the sponge cake. Place wax paper in the dish and spray it with cooking spray, or butter it with a cooking brush.
Bake for 4 hours and 10 minutes. This is a long time, so I tend to forget that it is in the oven, so now I used the auto timer, set the time and forget about it until it is done.
When it is done, peal the wax paper while the meringue is still warm. Because it take a long time to bake, you can do this part the day before and just let it sit on the table on a clean kitchen towel.
Directions for cream frosting:
On medium to high speed beat the condensed milk with the butter. It will thicken and it might look like frosting.
Next add the cream cheese one spoonful at a time, so there are no lumps in the cream. Once the cheese cream is blended in, slow down the mixer and stir in the whipped cream. Use immediately or refrigerate.
Directions for syrup:
Put all of the ingredients into the blender and puree the apricots with its juice, lemon juice, and sugar.
Assembling the cake:
Cut the sponge cake in half.  Pour half of the syrup on the bottom half. Spread all over evenly.
Next take the cream and spread ¼ of it on top of the syrup.
Then take the meringue and place it on top of the creamed half of the cake. Cut edges if necessary, so the meringue fits with the sponge cake. Save the crumbles.
Now spread 1/3 of the cream on the meringue.  Take the second half of the sponge cake and pour the remaining syrup on it.
Gently transfer the syrupy sponge cake on the creamed meringue.
Use the rest of the cream to coat the top and all four sides of the cake.  Once it is creamed, use the meringue crumbs  and crush them so they are like powder. Sprinkle the meringue on top and the sides of the cake.

Serve with tea!

Enjoy!!!