Russian Oven: Stolichny raisin cake, a delicate taste of Soviet times

Simple yet stylish: Stolichny cake is a great homey pastry tinged with Soviet nostalgia.

Soft, sweet and incredibly delicious: Stolichny cake is the perfect choice for a cozy coffee break. This raisin cake dates back to the Soviet times, when it was a vital part of the product mix of a typical grocery or canteen. But this pastry, named after Moscow ("Stolichny" means “capital city”), always tasted much better if prepared at home. So why not revive the recipe from the old times?

You will need

  • 4 eggs
  • 220g (1 cup) butter
  • 300g (2.4 cups) flour 
  • 210g (1 cup) sugar
  • 220g (1,5 cup) brown raisins
  • 10g (0,1 cup) vanilla sugar
  • one teaspoon baking powder
  • 0,2 teaspoon salt

Here we go!

  • Whip the eggs.
  • Mix the flour, baking powder and salt, sift the blend.
  • Warm the butter and whip it with sugar and vanilla sugar. Add the whipped eggs and continue whipping.
  • Gradually add the flour mix into the blend. Continue whipping till the mixture is smooth and consistent.
  • Add raisins to the dough, stir thoroughly. 
  • Take a baking pan (ideally long and narrow) and oil it with butter. Sprinkle on a bit of flour.
  • Spread the dough into the pan.
  • Make a lengthways indentation along the top of the dough.
  • Bake at 160 C for 90 minutes. 
  • If desired, decorate the cake with icing or powdered sugar. 

Enjoy!

Russian Oven is a video series devoted to Russian pastries, featuring traditional age-old pies and cakes, inventive cookies and tarts of recent years, plus Soviet classics and much more. Stay tuned!

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