Delicious cake “Count Ruins” with sour cream, step-by-step recipe with photos

The recipe for the Count's Ruins cake with sour cream has been kept in my mother's culinary notebook for many years. True, there this cake is called “Curly-haired boy”. All my life I have liked this cake for its delicate taste and ease of preparation.

Much later, while walking around the Internet, I saw the same cake recipe, but under the beautiful name “Count’s Ruins.” The cake was immediately renamed in my family. Agree, it is much more pleasant to serve “Count’s Ruins” than “Curly-haired Boy”.

I have tested the recipe many times and the result is always “5+”! I love making this because it doesn't involve rolling out and baking a bunch of cake layers. You just need to knead and bake one sponge cake, cut it, fold it randomly, mix it with cream and voila! The cake is ready!

Classic recipe for the Count's Ruins cake

For beginners, a classic recipe with a harmonious combination of ingredients and a juicy structure is suitable. To bake the base, take:

• 2 eggs;
• 180 g granulated sugar;
• 240 g flour;
• Soda – 1 teaspoon with a small slide;
• 220 g thick sour cream;
• 30 g cocoa;
• A little butter;
• Sugar syrup.

For cream:

• 800 g sour cream with a fat content of 20%;
• 200 g powdered sugar;
• Vanilla.

For the glaze:

• 2 tbsp. spoons of cocoa and powdered sugar;
• 60 g butter;
• 40 g sour cream.

Preparation

1. Combine the glaze with sour cream.
2. Break the eggs. Using a mixer, make a strong foam.
3. Add sour cream and pre-quenched soda. Mix well.
4. Knead the dough. Begin gradually adding sifted flour. It is recommended to stir with careful movements from bottom to top.
5. Prepare 2 baking dishes. Line the bottom of both containers with baking paper. Grease the inner walls with a cube of butter to prevent burning. Sprinkle with wheat flour or fine breadcrumbs.
6. Divide the dough. Combine the sifted cocoa and sour cream in the same quantity - 1 tbsp each. spoon.
7. Fill the prepared metal molds with the prepared dough. Place both containers in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. The cooking time is determined by the characteristics of the oven. Therefore, it is recommended to regularly check the readiness of baked goods. Use a wooden toothpick. If after the puncture the tree remains dry, you can take out the cakes. Wait for it to cool down. Remove the forms.
8. Meanwhile, prepare the cream. Combine cold sour cream with powdered sugar. Add a little vanilla for flavor.

Assembling the cake

1. Finely chop the cake made with cocoa powder. Dip the cut pieces into sour cream.
2. If the white cake turns out lumpy, cut off the top with a knife. Finely chop the trimmings and add to the cream. Soak the white cake with sweet syrup. Spread cream on top. The result will be a kind of foundation for a collapsed castle.
3. Place brown cubes thickly soaked in sweet sour cream on the surface of the base. Make a slide out of the cubes that resembles a cone. It will become the ruins of a castle. Connect the cut cubes together. Place the almost finished cake in a cool place.
4. While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. Mix powdered sugar and pre-sifted cocoa powder. Place sour cream and soft butter in a bowl. Add bulk chocolate mixture. Stir well and start cooking over low heat. Stir constantly with a spoon to avoid sticking. You will get a homogeneous glaze. Instead of powder, you can use granulated sugar. However, cooking will take longer as the crystals must completely dissolve.
5. Wait for the glaze to cool. The chocolate mixture will thicken. Pour over the cold cake. You will get streaks that resemble snakes. If the glaze has thickened too much, heat the mixture in a steam bath or in the microwave. Drizzle over the cake.

Serve the finished delicacy on the table. It has been noticed that “Count’s ruins” become tastier after being in the refrigerator for a long time (about 1 day). The baked goods will be completely saturated with sour cream and will become whole.

Serving and decorating the cake

First you need to prepare the chocolate glaze. Ingredients:

• 6 heaped tablespoons of sugar;
• 5 tablespoons of milk;
• 50 grams of butter;
• 5 tablespoons cocoa powder.

Pour sugar, cocoa into a small saucepan, add milk and butter. Place on low heat and, continuously stirring with a whisk, achieve a uniform consistency of the glaze. You can't boil it! Then let the glaze cool to a slightly warm state and decorate our cake with it.

In this form, the “Count Ruins” cake with sour cream is already considered ready. But if desired, it can be decorated additionally. Nuts, fruits and berries are suitable for decoration. You can decorate the top of the cake with them as much as your imagination allows.

The finished cake should be allowed to soak for 6-8 hours in a cold place. I usually prepare it in the evening and put it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day the cake just melts in your mouth!

Cake "Count's ruins" with sour cream

The famous “Count's Ruins” cake can be made without baking if you use ready-made store-bought cake layers.
However, you can prepare the cakes yourself using a simple recipe - without adding soda. If you only have one collapsible pan, you will have to knead and bake the dough twice. Start cooking in advance - 1 day in advance. Then wrap the biscuits in cling film and refrigerate. You will only need to use sour cream to create a cream. The duration of preparation of the delicacy takes 30 minutes when using ready-made cakes. Cooling of the workpiece lasts about 2 hours. If you decide to make the dough yourself, be prepared to spend 55 minutes.

Take:

• 5 eggs;
• 225 g granulated sugar;
• 190 g sifted wheat flour;
• 1 package of vanilla;
• 20 g cocoa.

For cream:

• 0.5 liters of sour cream;
• 250 g whole condensed milk.

For the glaze:

• 50 g dark chocolate;
• 20 g butter.

Preparation

1. First make the brown sponge cake. Combine 3 chicken eggs and 135 g of granulated sugar. You will get a dense white foam. In a separate container, mix cocoa and 120 g of wheat flour. Add dry ingredients in small portions until fluffy. You will get a thick mass. Fill the collapsible mold with the prepared dough. Don't forget to line the bottom with baking parchment. Baking time: 20 minutes in a preheated oven. After removing the chocolate cake, use the mold to prepare the white cake.
2. Combine 2 eggs and the rest of the granulated sugar. Gradually add vanilla and sifted wheat flour. Mix well. Bake for about a quarter of an hour. It is impossible to name the exact duration of preparation of the cake - it is determined by the characteristics of the oven. Therefore, it is recommended to check the readiness yourself with a sharp wooden stick. If after the next immersion in the dough the skewer remains dry, then the baking is ready. Cool the cake at room temperature.
3. Divide the finished biscuits in half horizontally. Cut the top parts into small cubes.
4. While the baked goods are cooling, prepare the cream. Combine sour cream and condensed milk. Stir with a spoon.
5. Assemble the cake. Spread the chocolate cake with cream. Place the cake on top and cover with cream again. You will get a base.
6. Dip the biscuit cubes into the cream and place on the surface of the base. You should end up with a slide that resembles a cone. Lightly press the cubes together, otherwise the structure will fall apart. Place the Count's Ruins in the refrigerator to cool.
7. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. Melt the chocolate bar in a convenient way, for example, in a water bath. Add butter and stir. Oil can be replaced with 1 or 2 tbsp. spoons of milk. This is exactly how many products will be needed to obtain the glaze of the desired thickness. An inverted glass will help you check the thickness.
8. Cover the surface of the cake with the cooled glaze. The chocolate mixture should flow from top to bottom, forming streams. Place the finished cake in the refrigerator.

"Count's Ruins" with prunes

You can play up the taste of a familiar dessert in a new way with the help of ordinary prunes.

Ingredients:

• meringue - 500 g;
• prunes – 150 g;
• condensed milk – 200 ml;
• butter – 250 g;
• lemon – 2 pcs.;
• dark chocolate – 100 g.

More butter may be required, as the cream should be very dense. Otherwise, the meringue will soften and lose its characteristic taste.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the prunes into small pieces and grate the zest from the lemons.
2. For impregnation, beat condensed milk with butter until fluffy.
3. Layer the cake in layers, alternating meringue, cream, prunes and zest.
4. The final element is melted chocolate, which is poured on top of the product.

The dessert does not have to have a round shape; you can arrange the layers randomly. The main thing is that they visually resemble the ruins of a castle.

Recipe for the cake "Count's ruins" with kefir

Instead of sour cream, you can use another fermented milk product - kefir or natural yogurt. Only yogurt without additives is suitable. You will need:

• 200 g wheat flour;
• 150 ml kefir + 30 ml for the cake;
• 200 g sugar;
• 1 egg;
• 2 packs of vanillin;
• 10 g cocoa;
• 1 tbsp. a spoonful of baking powder or 1 teaspoon of soda;
• 100-200 g walnuts.

For cream:

• 250 g powdered sugar;
• 800 ml natural milk yoghurt.

For the glaze:

• 20 g butter;
• 65 g dark chocolate;
• 1 tbsp. spoon of milk.

Preparation

• Remove kefir from the refrigerator in advance. When the fermented milk product is slightly warm, add baking soda and mix well. The mixture should increase by about a quarter as a result of the reaction between the soda and acid.
• Combine sugar, vanilla and egg.
• Add kefir. Mix well.
• Without ceasing to stir, gradually add flour. The dough should resemble sour cream in thickness.
• The remaining steps are performed by analogy with the listed recipes. Divide the dough in half. Add cocoa powder and 2 tbsp to the first container. spoons of kefir.
• Fill 2 baking pans with dough. Preheat the oven and bake simultaneously for about 35 minutes. It is recommended to check the readiness yourself with a wooden skewer. If the stick remains dry after the next piercing of the dough, it means the baking is ready. Leave the cakes to cool on the counter.
• Meanwhile, prepare the cream. Combine natural yogurt and powdered sugar. Whisk. You will get a strong foam.

Assembling the cake

1. Cut the chocolate cake into small cubes.
2. Place the white crust on a plate. Spread with yoghurt cream and sprinkle with crushed nut kernels.
3. Dip the remaining biscuit cubes into the cream. Build a slide resembling a pyramid on the surface of the base.
4. Place the baked goods in the refrigerator for about two hours.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. Melt the pre-broken chocolate bar in a water bath. It is best to dissolve chocolate directly in milk. Instead of a water bath, you can use a microwave oven.
6. Wait for the glaze to cool. Pour it over the cooled cake. Sprinkle the treat with nut kernels on top. Walnuts are best. Place the dessert to steep in the refrigerator. After a few hours the cakes will be soaked.

The Count's Ruins cake, made with kefir, contains very few calories.

Cake recipe video

You can watch how the Count's Ruins cake is prepared in this video. The author of the video uses pieces of cake cut into small squares when shaping the cake. This option is quite possible. Choose what is most convenient for you.

How to decorate a cake

The appearance of the Count's Ruins cake is very textured in itself. It is decorated with an uncharacteristic pile of sponge cake pieces with a black and white creamy glaze coating, which is uncharacteristic for most cakes. However, if this is not enough for you and your soul asks for a holiday, the cake can additionally be decorated with fruits, pieces of crushed nuts, dried apricots, chocolate, candied cranberries and even pieces of bananas, you can make it with cherries or pineapple, this will add a pleasant sourness. Experiment - your loved ones will definitely appreciate your efforts! Cooking tips and tricks

The cream can be prepared faster if you replace the sugar with powdered sugar. To avoid cooking the glaze, you can melt a bar of dark chocolate in a water bath and mix it with butter. If you decide to decorate the cake with banana, arrange the banana pieces before serving. If you do this in advance, the banana may darken when exposed to air.

How to serve this cake correctly

Serve the Count's Ruins cake (sometimes called Roman) as a dessert. Take the cake out of the refrigerator in advance so that it warms up to room temperature - this will better reveal the taste of this wonderful cake.

Serve it with tea or coffee without sugar, since the cake itself is quite sweet. A sugar-free drink enhances its taste. Place the pieces of cake on plates and enjoy the taste and praise from the guests. For children, you can offer milk, classic yogurt or unsweetened compote (for example, from fresh apples) with the Count's Ruins cake.

Other cooking options and ingredients

—Count’s ruins cake is a classic recipe—with sour cream, this is one of my favorite cakes. Most often I add canned pitted cherries from compote to it. Cherries give the cake a refreshing sourness, which goes very harmoniously with sour cream. If you want to make a cake that will surprise your guests with its delicacy, the recipe for Count's Ruins Cake with meringue is exactly what you need. It will take a little more time to prepare it than to prepare the Count's Ruins cake recipe with sour cream, but the result is worth it. For those who want to diversify the taste of the Count's Ruins cake, but do not want to spend more time on preparation, I suggest preparing this cake with sour cream in cream and condensed milk. Pour a thin stream of liquid condensed milk over the intermediate layers of the “ruins”.

Write in the comments how you prepare the Count's Ruins cake. If this is your first time making this wonderful cake, please share with us how it turned out.

Enjoy reading!

Tips and secrets

• There is a disagreement between confectioners about which version of the cake is considered classic. Some decorate the dessert with meringue, others with sour cream. You can combine both options - the result is a delicious delicacy.
• “Count's ruins” are always covered with chocolate glaze. Never completely water the cake. There should be some free space with attractive chocolate drizzles.
• Cool the cake well before applying the glaze, otherwise the structure will become shapeless.
• You can prepare the glaze in several ways. Cocoa powder or a melted chocolate bar will do. The most delicious glaze is obtained by combining dark chocolate or butter.
• To prepare a thick cream, do not forget to weigh out the sour cream. Transfer the fermented milk product into a sieve covered with 2 layers of gauze. Place a container underneath to catch the water. Place the structure in the refrigerator overnight.
• If you want to prepare the cake faster, use liquid sour cream. Biscuit cakes will be soaked in cream much faster. To thin the sour cream, add regular or condensed milk.
• Making a classic cake does not involve the use of fruit. However, many home confectioners decorate the surface with bananas, cherries, and kiwis. The delicacy becomes much tastier. If you add cherries, be sure to remove the pits. Fresh, frozen and canned berries are suitable.
• To create an unusual taste, add nut kernels - peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts. The best option is walnuts, which go well with other products. The kernels are placed between biscuit cubes and added to the base of the cake. You can also add a handful of crushed nuts before baking the dough.
• It is better to break the dark cake with your hands than to cut it with a knife. The ruins will look much better.
• You can cut the dark cake into large cubes, coat it generously with cream and build a vertical slide resembling the walls of a castle. The cake will not need to be cut when serving. Guests will take the pieces themselves with a fork.

The considered options for preparing the “Count's Ruins” cake are distinguished by their simple implementation and remarkable taste. The finished dessert is combined with tea, cocoa and other hot drinks.

Recipe with meringue and custard cream

Count's Ruins is a cake whose classic recipe can also be prepared using meringue (instead of sponge cake).

The recipe follows.

What ingredients will you need?

The meringue-based Earl's Ruins consists of the following ingredients:

To prepare the meringue, you will need to prepare a cooking bag or syringe.

Step-by-step cooking process

The cake design process takes about 6 hours and consists of 3 stages.

Preparation of meringue:

• eggs need to be broken and using culinary pliers or a special spoon to separate the white from the yolk;

• turn on the oven at 110 degrees to warm up;
• The whites must be placed in a cold metal bowl and beaten (the process lasts at least 15 minutes). The cold will make the foam stronger. Then you need to gradually pour granulated sugar/powdered sugar (150 g) into the protein, while the mixer must operate at high speed, otherwise the protein will settle;
• grease the baking sheet with oil, and place the protein in a syringe/bag;
• squeeze the egg white onto a baking sheet to form small meringues with a diameter of about 2.5-3 cm;
• place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for at least 1.5 hours. It is impossible to open the oven during this period of time, this will lead to sedimentation of the protein;
• then the finished meringues should be left to cool in the oven for 1 hour. This will allow them to dry better from the inside.

Cream design:

• the remaining yolks need to be placed in a metal container with a volume of about 500 ml;
• Next, you need to add flour, granulated sugar/powdered sugar (300 g) and vanilla powder to the yolks. Grind the ingredients to distribute them evenly;
• then carefully pour 100 ml of milk into the yolk mass, stir until smooth;
• after that, pour in the remaining milk and mix using a mixer. There should be no lumps left in the workpiece;
• Next, the container with the contents must be placed on low heat and simmered (stirring constantly) until it boils;
• then the container must be removed from the heat;
• add 50 g of sugar/powder to the softened butter, mix thoroughly. Gently fold the sweet butter into the cream;
• Grind walnuts and almonds using a blender to a powder and carefully add them to the cream, making sure that no lumps form;
• After this, you need to let the cream cool.

Dessert assembly:

• You need to pour about 50 ml of custard into the dish for decorating the cake;
• then lay out the meringue in the form of a circle and carefully coat the layer with cream;
• After this, you need to alternate layers of meringue and cream. In this case, the diameter of the meringue circle must be constantly reduced, forming a kind of cone;
• the last layer of the dessert is made of cream;
• Then the cake can be decorated with ground nuts, strawberries cut in half, or poured with chocolate glaze.

The finished dessert should be placed in the refrigerator for about 3 hours so that the cream “sets” and the cake holds its shape.