Smetannik is a Russian cake that has multiple thin and fluffy cake layers with a tangy and sweet sour cream frosting. The cake is so tender and delicate, it just melts in your mouth. 
This classic Russian cake has been in our family and on our holiday tables since before I was born. The tender and delicate layer cake is an ideal accompaniment to an evening of tea with friends or a family birthday party. The cake absolutely melts in your mouth and is not overpowering or cloyingly sweet.
The numerous layers make it beautiful and intricate but preparing it is so simple, I remember making it when I was ten. You can also add poppy seeds to the batter and it will become a poppy seed layer cake. The tangy sour cream frosting seeps into fluffy, thin cake layers and that's what makes it so magically moist, slightly tart, with the sweetness of the honey cake layers.
Ingredients:
Cake:
9 eggs
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons honey
1 ½ Tablespoons oil (vegetable, canola, grapeseed, etc.)
1 Tablespoon baking soda dissolved in ¾ Tablespoon distilled white vinegar
3 cups all-purpose flour
Sour Cream Frosting:
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
1 can sweetened condensed milk
½ - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 (16 oz) containers sour cream
8 oz heavy cream or Cool Whip
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper and spray the top and bottom with oil. (I do 2 baking pans at one time.)
Using a standing mixer with a whisk attachment or a large bowl and a hand mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar until they are pale yellow and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Dissolve the baking soda in the vinegar and add to the batter. 
Add the honey and oil. Mix to combine. 
Add the flour and mix just until the flour is incorporated and the batter is smooth. 
Spread 1/9 of the batter evenly on the baking pan. (If you want, you can use a scale and it is approximately 5 oz of the batter for each layer.) The cake layers should be very thin, the batter just covering the bottom of the baking pan. 
You should have 8-9 cake layers. (I set one of the cake layers aside to use for crumbs and the cake is 8 layers tall.)
Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden brown. 
Repeat with the rest of the batter. The cake layers will peel off the parchment paper very easily. Cool the cake layers completely.
Meanwhile, make the sour cream frosting. 
In a standing mixer with a paddle attachment or in a large bowl and a hand mixer, cream the cream cheese and condensed milk until they are an even consistency.
Add the sour cream and vanilla until they are incorporated too. Mix the sour cream only until combined, don't overmix, or it will become too runny. 
Pour in the chilled heavy cream and whip on high speed until the frosting thickens. However, if the frosting is really thin, (it depends on the sour cream, some brands of sour cream become very thin when mixed) whip the heavy cream separately and then fold in gently into the sour cream mixture. You can also use the same amount of Cool Whip instead of the heavy cream.
Place one of the cake layers in a food processor and pulse it a few times until you have crumbs and set them aside. The crumbs will be used as a decoration for the sides of the cake.
Spread the sour cream frosting on each of the remaining 8 cake layers. 
Since the sour cream frosting is on the thin side, the cake layers may slip around on me. That is ok. Sometimes I use a springform pan to put around the sides of the cake to keep it all together better, place it in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. The sour cream frosting will soak into the cake layers and firm up, so the cake will be perfect at that point. This is what makes this cake so magically soft, fluffy and tender. You may have a small amount of frosting left over.
Take the springform pan from around the cake, spread some of the frosting on the sides of the cake, just to even up the sides and then press the crumbs onto the sides of the cake. Grate some chocolate on top of the cake. If you want, you can also pipe a border around the top of the cake from buttercream frosting. (butter, powdered sugar and a splash of milk.) Store the cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Delicate and Tender Layer Cake - Smetannik
Smetannik is a Russian cake that has multiple thin and fluffy cake layers with a tangy and sweet sour cream frosting. The cake is so tender and delicate, it just melts in your mouth.
- Total Time: 2880 minutes
- Yield: 1 cake 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
Cake:
- 9 eggs
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons honey
- 1 ½ Tablespoons oil (vegetable, canola, grapeseed, etc.)
- 1 Tablespoon baking soda dissolved in ¾ Tablespoon distilled white vinegar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
Sour Cream Frosting:
- 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
- ½ - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 (16 oz) containers sour cream (32 total ((32 oz total))
- 8 oz heavy cream or Cool Whip
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper and spray the top and bottom with oil. (I do 2 baking pan at one time.) You will need to do this for every cake layer.
- Using a standing mixer with a whisk attachment or a large bowl and a hand mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar until they are pale yellow and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Dissolve the baking soda in the vinegar and add to the batter. Add the honey and oil. Mix to combine.
- Add the flour and mix just until the flour is incorporated and the batter is smooth.
- Spread 1/9 of the batter evenly in the baking pan. (If you want, you can use a scale and it is approximately 5 oz of the batter for each layer.) The cake layers should be very thin, the batter just covering the bottom of the baking pan. You should have 8-9 cake layers. (I set one of the cake layers aside to use for crumbs and the cake is 8 layers tall.)
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Repeat with the rest of the batter. The cake layers will peel off the parchment paper very easily. Cool the cake layers completely.
- Meanwhile, make the sour cream frosting. In a standing mixer with a paddle attachment or in a large bowl and a hand mixer, mix the cream cheese and condensed milk until they are an even consistency.
- Add the sour cream and vanilla until they are incorporated too. Mix the sour cream only until combined, don't overmix, or it will become too runny.
- Pour in the chilled heavy cream and whip on high speed until the frosting thickens. However, if the frosting is really thin, (it depends on the sour cream, some brands of sour cream become very thin when mixewhip the heavy cream separately and then fold in gently into the sour cream mixture. You can also use the same amount of Cool Whip instead of the heavy cream.
- Place one of the cake layers in a food processor and pulse it a few times until you have crumbs and set them aside. The crumbs will be used as a decoration for the sides of the cake.
- Spread the sour cream frosting on each of the remaining 8 cake layers.
- Since the sour cream frosting is on the thin side, the cake layers may slip around on me. That is ok. Sometimes I use a springform pan to put around the sides of the cake to keep it all together better, place it in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. The sour cream frosting will soak into the cake layers and firm up, so the cake will be perfect at that point. This is what makes this cake so magically soft, fluffy and tender.
- Take the springform pan off from around the cake, spread some of the frosting on the sides of the cake, just to even up the sides and then press the crumbs onto the sides of the cake.
- Grate some chocolate on top of the cake. If you want, you can also pipe a border around the top of the cake from buttercream frosting. (butter, powdered sugar and a splash of milk.) Store the cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Such a yummy cake! Whole family loved it! ❤
Thank you for an amazing recipe Olga! I made this cake for my mother in law’s birthday and everyone loved it!
I'm so happy you enjoyed it, Diana. Thank you for taking the time to write.
This cake was so much easier to make than I expected. Thank you! I was wondering, can freeze this cake?
I have to say, i tried this cake, with one exception: added 2 table spoons of rum extract to the frosting! It really gives it the taste exactky like the one you buy at the store in Moldova! Great recipe but add rum! Finally got the recipe that works! Thank you Olga! I missed this cake in USA
I'm so happy you enjoyed the cake, Ana! Thank you for taking the time to write.
No matter how many times I’ve made this cake my frosting always turns out super running:( to the point that you can’t frost a cake with it. It’s like a thick soup. I follow directions and keep everything cold. Still without fail it’s runny. So I’m forced to chill everything in the fridge then add MORE heavy whipping cream to it on high speed in the mixer to get it to thicken up at least a little bit. And this is my favorite cake to make on Birthdays. I must be doing something wrong??
Hi Vica.
The frosting is not supposed to be thick, like buttercream. It is supposed to be on the thinner side, so that it can really soak into the cake layers and make them tender. If the frosting is too thick, it will not soak into the cake the way it should and the cake will be on the dry side.
The original recipe for this cake only has 2 ingredients for the frosting - sour cream and sugar. You can imagine that it's even more thin than my version.
If it's too thin for you, you can add less whipped cream, or even omit it. You can also try using more cream cheese and less sour cream. If you add more heavy cream, it will be thinner, since the whipped cream will eventually deflate. Some people use Cool Whip, instead of heavy whipping cream, which does help the frosting have a thicker consistency, since the Cool Whip has stabilizers in it.
In my opinion, the best results for the cake are when you use the frosting recipe that I shared. I have tried many different variations over the years and this is my favorite, but it is completely up to you.
The cake is also supposed to chill in the refrigerator for a few hours and overnight is best, so that the frosting and the cake layers meld together and become very tender and delicate.
I hope that helps. Feel free to adjust the recipe to your own liking.
Hi Olga! I'm about to give a try for this cake.. and wondering what kind of cream used for decor. Is it the same one as cream frosting? What cream works the best to make such cream decorations?
Hi Emma,
I used buttercream to pipe around the edges of the cake.
I don't use a recipe, I just mix butter with powdered sugar and then add a splash of milk until I get the consistency that I want. It is purely for decorative purposes. Personally, I don't even like how it tastes, so I just scrape it off the cake when I eat it:).
Thank you for your quick response! I will definitely try it! I don't like buttercream so I'm pretty sure I will scrape it off as well 🙂
Hi I was wanting to make the long rectangle smettanik but when I went to find the recipe on your website I couldn’t find it. Did you erase that one? Is it the same ingredients? I remember baking like 4 different layers on a huge baking sheets instead of nine 8 inch ones. Is there any way you could give me that old recipe? Thank you.
Hi Vica.
I never had a rectangular version of this cake. It was actually a square. It was baked on a rectangular baking sheet and then I cut it to make a square shape. The actual recipe is exactly the same. You can make whatever shape that you like.
Hello! I just made this (sort of - my layers turned out thicker, so it doesn’t look as pretty!), but I have TONS of frosting leftover. What could I do with it? Make a cheesecake or tiramisu? Would the frosting freeze well to use at another time?
Hi Olga!
I'd love to know if you're able to make thicker layers? I only have one spring pan and I feel like it would be very time consuming to make 8 layers. Will the taste or anything be greatly altered say if I made two filled pans and then cut the layers by hand?
I wouldn't recommend it. The thick cake layers will not rise as much and will be more dense, not tender like they are when they are baked in thin layers.
Olga thank you so much for this recipe! I have been looking for a good honey cake recipe for a while and this one is just Perfect! it's a hit every time I make it. The sour cream frosting makes it not overly sweet , but super good!
Thanks again 🙂
I'm so glad you enjoyed this cake, Katie. Thank you for taking the time to write.
Hi Olga,
I'm trying to make a cake with a frosting from just cream cheese, cool whip, & sour cream (or maybe even without sour cream). But I'm trying to decide which cake, this one or the fluffy honey cake will taste better? I know both prob won't be as yummy as with your frosting with condensed milk, but what would you suggest?
Thank you so much!!
This cake is so good, making it again this weekend, just want to varify how much sour cream to use, is it 16oz total or 2 16oz containers (32oz total)? I ended up with alot of left over frosting the first time.
Thanks
Hi Viktoriya.
The total sour cream would be 32 oz. I like this cake to be very tender, so I use very generous portions of frosting on each layer. If you prefer less frosting, you can use only 1 (16 oz) container of sour cream; it's totally up to you.
The recipe requires vanilla. Nowhere in the recipe does it say how much needed. Is it to taste or specific amount?
Sorry about that, Anya. I never measure vanilla, so I sometimes forget to add it to the recipe. I'll fix it.
Olga, how much whipping cream should be added? I don't see it in the recipe. Thank you!
indeed i am also not seeing how much of whipping cream should be used.
Beautiful cake! I want to try making it, do u think I can use cream cheese instead of sour cream?
Thank you!