Armenian cake "Mikado" - classic recipe with photo

General principles of cake preparation

The origins of the Mikado cake are still unknown. It is assumed that it appeared during the Soviet era. Mikado is a word of Japanese origin. It translates as high gate. It was used when addressing the supreme Japanese ruler. The cake probably got its name because of its height and multiple layers. The design of the dessert consists of many thinly rolled cakes soaked in cream. To prepare Mikado cake, well-baked shortcrust pastry is usually used.

There are non-standard dessert recipes based on honey, puff pastry or biscuit dough. The cakes are soaked:

condensed cream;
sour cream;
custard;
curd cream;
butter cream.

Some additionally add walnuts to the dough. They may also be present in a layer or cream.

In addition to nuts, additional layers include:

caramel;
airy meringue;
souffle.

The cake recipe may include bananas, honey, cocoa, and coffee. The dough layers are baked in the oven or fried on each side in a frying pan to obtain a sweeter and more tasty crust. The most common decorations used are chocolate glaze, crushed leftover cakes, or nuts.

They cover the sides of the cake, and the top part is greased with a thick chocolate layer. It is important that the chocolate is not too liquid. It shouldn't spread.

You can also decorate the dessert:

crumbled cookies;
coconut flakes;
waffles or sweets;
berries and fruits;
marmalade or marshmallows.

Traditionally, the cake is served in the form of pastries, the shape of which resembles a diamond. This type of serving can be found in cafes and restaurants. It is allowed to cut the cake into triangular portions. It will take a lot of time to prepare the delicacy. The process of baking cakes is considered especially lengthy. However, the result is worth the time spent.

Classic recipe

Mikado cake, the Armenian recipe of which is loved by many in its classic version, is considered one of the best desserts.

It will take 2 hours to prepare.

Ingredients

Before you bake the Mikado cake according to the classic recipe, you need to prepare the ingredients. Some will be intended for cake layers, others for cream and icing, and the rest will be used as decoration.

For the cakes you will need:

3-4 tbsp. first-grade flour;
2 chicken eggs;
370 ml fat sour cream;
115 g butter;
1 tsp. soda

The cream contains:

565 g boiled condensed milk;
395 ml cow's milk;
35-40 g of first-grade flour;
2 chicken eggs;
155 g sugar;
215 g butter;
1 tsp. liquid vanilla extract;
4 tsp. powdered cocoa.

Ingredients for making glaze:

45 g butter;
85 ml heavy cream;
1 bar of dark chocolate.

For decoration you need to use 0.5 cans of boiled condensed milk, 365 ml of heavy cream, and 110 g of large strawberries.

Step-by-step cooking process

Armenian Mikado cake is prepared according to the classic recipe as follows:

First you need to prepare the cream. Pour milk into a container, add granulated sugar, vanilla extract and mix everything thoroughly. The finished mixture must be put on the fire and left there until it boils.
While the milk syrup is boiling, mix the flour with cocoa powder and a small amount of sugar. Add eggs to this mixture and whisk until smooth. After this, you need to pour in the milk syrup removed from the heat, while constantly stirring the cream with a whisk so that no lumps remain. Now you can cook the creamy mixture for 10 minutes. and do not forget about intensive stirring.
Then add butter to the thickened cream and stir until it is completely dissolved. The prepared mass should be covered with cling film and left until completely cooled. While it cools, beat the butter with boiled condensed milk. The cooled chocolate mass must be added to the butter whipped with condensed milk to obtain custard.
At this stage, you can start preparing the cakes. First, beat the butter and eggs separately, and then mix them together. To this mixture you need to add sour cream and soda and mix. At the end you need to add flour and knead the dough.
After this, the kneaded mass should be divided into 13 parts. The blanks need to be put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, and then each of them should be rolled out to 20-23 cm in diameter. Using a plate, you need to give the workpieces the correct shape.
Now you need to preheat the oven to 200°C and bake each cake separately for 7 minutes. After this, you can proceed to assembling the cake.
The cake should be assembled in a springform pan. When laying, each cake must be greased with chocolate custard. The surface of the last cake should also be covered with cream, the cake itself should be covered with cling film and placed in the refrigerator to soak.

Another cream is prepared for decoration. To prepare it, you need to whip heavy cream with condensed milk. The cake, taken out of the refrigerator, should be poured with butter cream. To create the glaze, you need to melt the chocolate in a water bath and add a little butter to it as soon as it starts to melt. Pre-softened butter will melt faster.

While the chocolate and butter are melting, you need to heat the cream in the microwave. They must be added hot to the melted chocolate mass and mixed until smooth. The finished glaze should be kept in the refrigerator until it hardens. At the end, the cake needs to be covered with glaze and decorated with strawberries.

Mikado cake from mom. Armenian “Mikado” cake – classic recipe

Today I propose to prepare a traditional, very popular Mikado cake in Armenia. It’s not for nothing that it is included in the list of classic cakes such as “Napoleon” or “Bird’s Milk” - very tasty! Another undoubted advantage of this recipe is that it is not difficult to make and is quite quick.

how to make Armenian Mikado cake according to the classic recipe

Ingredients :

Egg yolk - 3 pcs. Sugar - 1 cup (250 ml) Milk - 1.5 cups (250 ml) Cocoa powder - 4 tbsp. without top Condensed milk - 760 g boiled (2 jars) Butter - 500 g for cream Butter - 150 g for dough Chicken egg - 2 pcs. Sour cream - 500 g Soda - 1 tsp. Flour - 5 cups (250 ml) Black chocolate - 50 g

Preparation:

To prepare the Armenian Mikado cake according to the classic recipe, you need to start by preparing the cream.

In a heatproof saucepan, mix sugar with yolks.

Then pour in the milk, stir and add cocoa powder. After stirring until smooth, put the pan on the fire.

Stirring constantly to avoid curdling of the yolks, bring this mixture almost to a boil - until the first bubbles appear. The custard mixture will thicken a little; it must be cooled completely before mixing with the butter.

Once the custard mixture has cooled, you can begin the final preparation of the cream. Beat butter at room temperature for 5 minutes until fluffy. Then, without stopping whipping, start adding boiled condensed milk - one spoon at a time.

Then add chocolate custard to this caramel butter and mix well. Set the cream aside until the cake layers are ready.

To prepare the dough for the cakes, first mix the sour cream and soda separately and wait until bubbles appear - this is the process of extinguishing the soda.

In another bowl, beat the butter until fluffy. And then, without stopping beating, add eggs and sour cream one at a time.

Now gradually add the sifted flour, mixing it well each time until smooth.

At the end you should get a homogeneous elastic dough, which must be divided into 8 parts.

Roll out each piece quite thinly - you will get a large layer, almost the size of a baking sheet. Then I immediately mark the future edges of the cake using the mold (I just place the mold on the dough layer and press lightly).

10.

Bake the cakes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees until barely noticeable golden brown. Do not overcook, otherwise the cakes will be too dry and will not be soaked well in the cream.

Having taken it out, cut the still hot cakes along the marked lines. We get the same size cake blanks and trimmings, which will then need to be crushed and decorated with the sides of the cake.

11.

Now you need to assemble the cake - stack the cakes one on top of the other, greasing each with a portion of cream. At the end, coat the sides with the remaining cream, filling all the voids.

12.

Decorate the sides of the Mikado cake with crushed dough scraps. Sprinkle the top with grated chocolate. Now the cake should be left at room temperature for 3-4 hours to “impregnate”. And then put it in the refrigerator.

13.

Half an hour before serving, remove the cake from the cold - this will make it easier to cut.

14.

Traditionally, the Armenian Mikado cake, according to the classic recipe, is cut into small portioned diamonds and served as a cake. Have a delicious tea!

With sour cream

Recipe with sour cream.

Mikado cake, recipe with sour cream.

Required ingredients for preparation:

500 g flour;
300 g sour cream (25%);
1 tsp. baking powder;
1/4 tsp. soda;
1/4 tsp. salt;
100 g sugar;
400 g butter;
380 g boiled condensed milk;
200 g sour cream (30%);
1 tsp. cocoa powder and 50 g chocolate for decoration.

Mikado cake, the Armenian recipe of which includes sour cream, is prepared as follows:

For the dough, beat 200 g of butter with sugar in a bowl. You should get a mass that resembles a cream. After this, you need to add 25% sour cream to the container and beat again.
Then you should sift the flour, add it along with salt, baking powder and soda to the mixture.
After this you can knead a soft dough. After this, it needs to be divided into 9 pieces, which will need to be rolled out thinly. To make sure there is enough area of the rolled out dough, you should attach a springform pan. There is no need to trim excess pieces of dough around the edges.
Next, you need to send the cakes to the oven, preheated to 180°C, for 10-12 minutes.
While the cakes are baking, you can make the cream. To do this, you need to beat boiled condensed milk with 200 g of butter. Then add 30% sour cream and mix everything until smooth.
Then the finished cakes need to be cut using a stencil. The cake scraps should be ground with cocoa.
Now you need to grease the cakes with the prepared cream and assemble the cake from them. The remaining cream should be distributed on the sides of the cake. The top part of the dessert should be decorated with grated chocolate, and the sides should be sprinkled with scraps chopped with cocoa.

It is recommended to keep the cake in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Before serving, you need to let the dessert brew for 30 minutes. at room temperature.

With curd cream

Curd cream is perfect for Mikado cake.

Main ingredients:

4 tbsp. l. flour;
2 eggs;
120 ml sour cream;
1.5 tbsp. l. cocoa;
1/4 tsp. soda;
130 g butter;
200 ml condensed milk;
100 ml milk;
150 g cottage cheese;
100 g sugar;
vanilla sugar optional;
grated chocolate for decoration.

Mikado cake, the Armenian recipe of which consists of curd cream, is made as follows:

First you need to make the dough. To do this, beat 50 g of butter. It should acquire a white tint and increase in volume. You will need to add 1 egg and sour cream to it. All ingredients in the container must be beaten for 3 minutes. until a homogeneous and fluffy mass is obtained.
Now you need to add 2 tbsp to the resulting mixture. l. sifted flour and cocoa in parts and mix until smooth. The last portion of flour should be added along with soda. There should be no lumps left in the dough.
After this, you can replace the dough, wrap it in cling film, put it in the refrigerator and start creating the cream. Break 1 egg into a container, pour in the milk and beat everything thoroughly. The finished mixture must be placed on low heat.
When the homogeneous mass heats up, add sugar and stir the cream constantly. After boiling, add 80 g of butter into the mixture and leave it on the fire. You also need to add cottage cheese, previously crushed in a blender, stir and bring to a boil again.
Now you can add condensed milk to the boiling mixture and cook until the mixture thickens a little. After this you need to add 2 tbsp. l. flour, cook the cream until it turns into a consistency reminiscent of boiled condensed milk, then remove from heat and leave to cool.
Next, prepare the parchment for baking by greasing it with butter and sprinkling it with a little flour. The dough taken out of the refrigerator should be divided into 9 parts. The blanks must be rolled out as thin as possible and placed on parchment. Having rolled out the blanks on paper again, you need to cut out round cakes from them using a plate.
Then you need to pierce the cakes with a fork and put them in the oven, preheated to 190°C, for 5-10 minutes. Any bubbles that appear during baking should also be pierced with a fork.
Then the finished cakes should be cooled, and cottage cheese should be added to the cooled cream and everything should be mixed. After this, you can assemble the cake, placing the cakes greased with cream on top of each other. In this case, you need to press a little on each cake to fill the space with the same amount of cream. The surface of the top cake should also be covered with a thick layer of cream.
Having trimmed the sides of the cake with cream, you need to generously sprinkle the dessert with grated chocolate.

It is recommended to leave the cake to steep for 12 hours. There is no need to put the dessert in the refrigerator.

Cake with thin layers. Thin cake layers

1. Sift flour into a deep bowl. Cut the cooled butter into small cubes or grate it.

2. Mash everything into homogeneous crumbs. Add sugar and yolks. For aroma, you can use vanilla or cinnamon, for example.

3. Grind the almonds and add them to the dough. Mix everything thoroughly until smooth.

4. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap it in film or parchment and put it in the refrigerator for about half an hour.

5. Divide the chilled dough into 5 equal parts.

6. To prevent the dough from melting from the temperature of your hands, I recommend rolling it out between two sheets of parchment.

7. Cut according to the shape in which you will bake.

8. Carefully transfer the dough into a heat-resistant form and place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees.

9. The cake is baked quite quickly, only 12-15 minutes.

10. Cool the finished cakes and brush with cream. Enjoy your tea!

With bananas

The recipe for Mikado cake with fresh bananas will become more original.

For it you will need:

600 g flour;
2 eggs;
400 ml sour cream;
100 g butter;
100 g sugar;
1 tsp. soda;
200 g boiled condensed milk;
2 bananas.

Step-by-step instructions on how to make Mikado cake with bananas:

First you need to put butter and granulated sugar in a container and beat well.
After this, you can add eggs, soda and 100 ml of sour cream, and then beat again to obtain a homogeneous mass.
Then you should sift the flour through a sieve and add small parts into the mixture. Now you should knead the dough, wrap it in a bag and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Then you need to take the dough out of the refrigerator and divide it into 13 parts. Each piece should be rolled out on parchment and placed in the oven preheated to 190°C for 5 minutes.
To prepare the cream, beat 400 ml of sour cream with condensed milk. Now you need to peel the bananas and puree them using a blender. Banana puree should be added to the cream and mixed well.
Next, the baked cakes need to be cooled, and then greased with a thick layer of cream and assemble the cake. Excess dough can be baked and shredded.
At the end, grease the sides and top of the cake with the remaining cream, cover with chopped dough scraps and place in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

To make bananas taste more, you can cut them into rings and place them on the cakes.

How to bake cakes?

Only Armenians know well how to make Mikado cake, but Russian housewives can do it too if they follow the recipe step by step, which has been passed down for 5 generations. Mix sour cream with soda and leave. Beat the butter with half the sugar, add salt and vanillin. Add flour, beat in eggs. Combine with sour cream. Knead the dough. Don't overdo it, or it will become clogged with flour. Divide into flat cakes - from 5 to 15, the more, the higher the Armenian Mikado cake will be. Sprinkle with flour and leave in the refrigerator. Take them out one at a time, roll them out thinly on the back of the baking sheet, no need to grease. It’s convenient, the sides don’t get in the way, and there’s no need to move the dough. Heat with a fork and bake for 5–10 minutes at 180 degrees until golden brown. The cakes are ready.

With honey

For Armenian honey cake you will need:

4 tbsp. flour;
3 tbsp. l. spoons of honey;
560 ml milk;
2 eggs;
2 tbsp. Sahara;
1 tsp. soda;
0.1 kg margarine;
250 g butter;
1 chocolate bar.

Mikado cake, the Armenian recipe of which is supplemented with honey, is made as follows:

First you need to melt the margarine along with honey and 1 tbsp. sugar in a water bath.
After this, add eggs, soda and beat until smooth. Pour 60 ml of milk into the finished mixture, add 3 tbsp. flour and knead a stiff dough.
Then the kneaded dough must be divided into 5 parts. The resulting pieces can be rolled out, and then round layers of dough can be cut out of them with a plate. Cakes and dough scraps should be left for 5-7 minutes. into a preheated oven at 180°C.
To make the cream, you need to combine 500 ml of milk, 1 tbsp. flour and 1 tbsp. Sahara. These ingredients should be beaten well. After this, the cream must be kept on fire until it thickens. The finished chilled cream must be mixed with butter.
Now you can coat the honey cakes with cream and assemble the cake. The sides of the dessert should also be covered with it. At the end, sprinkle the cake with chopped scraps and decorate with cooled melted chocolate.

From Grandma Emma

Mikado cake according to the recipe from Grandmother Emma consists of:

2 tbsp. flour;
1 egg;
1 tbsp. walnuts;
240 g sugar;
3 tbsp. l. milk;
200 g margarine;
1 tbsp. l. cocoa.

Main stages of preparation:

First you need to soften the margarine and beat it with sugar. To this mass you need to add an egg, flour and half a glass of walnuts. Now you can knead the shortbread dough, wrap it in a bag and put it in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Then place the dough on a greased baking sheet and bake in the oven at 200°C until golden brown. After this, you need to take the dough out of the oven and put the walnuts there. While they are drying, you need to divide the dough into 2 cake layers.
Next, mix the butter with cocoa and the remaining sugar to create a cream.
After this, you need to pour in the milk and heat the cream.
Then you need to evenly distribute the cream over 2 cake layers and assemble the cake. The top of the dessert should be sprinkled with dried walnuts. The finished cake can be left in the refrigerator overnight.

Preparing the cream

The custard for the Mikado cake is prepared with boiled condensed milk. Cocoa is added as desired. Put the milk on the fire, add flour, vanilla sugar, stir until thickened. Pour in condensed milk. Beat butter at room temperature separately and mix with the second part of the cream. Cool. An easier option is to blend butter, condensed milk, and cocoa with a blender at high speed. In some “grandmother’s” recipes, beaten eggs and sugar are added to the cream.

Advice! It will be much tastier if you cook condensed milk yourself, and it will also be healthier. In a pressure cooker the process will take 15 minutes. It is only important to completely fill the jar with water and let it cool naturally.

From Irina Khlebnikova

Ingredients:

For the test	For cream
2 eggs	500 g boiled condensed milk
200 g butter	200 g butter
400-500 g flour	2 tbsp. l. Sahara
250 ml sour cream	5 tbsp. l. flour
60 g sugar	600 ml milk
1 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
vanilla sugar

Step-by-step instructions for preparing the cake:

First, you need to mix soda with sour cream and leave for 30 minutes.
Then you need to beat the butter with sugar, salt, vanilla sugar and eggs. To the resulting mixture, add sour cream with soda and sifted flour in parts, and then knead the dough.
Then you should sprinkle the table with flour, roll out the dough on it, divide into 9 parts. The pieces rolled in flour should be placed in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Now you can take out the cakes, roll them out thinly and shape them into a circle or rectangle, cutting off the excess. The cakes should be placed on an oil pan and baked in the oven at 200°C for 7-10 minutes.
Next, you need to make a cream by mixing sugar with warm milk until it is completely dissolved. Flour should be added there in small parts and stirred with a whisk. The cream must be cooked until thickened, stirring constantly.
When the cream becomes hot, you need to add vanillin and boiled condensed milk to it, beat everything and wait until it cools. The cooled cream should be added to the whipped butter and mixed thoroughly.
At this stage, you can take the cakes and coat them with cream. While assembling the cake, you need to press the cake layers a little. At the end, it is recommended to decorate the dessert with chocolate.

It is best to leave the finished cake for 4 hours at room temperature, and then place it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

How to make Mikado cake

Prepare all the ingredients for the dough

And for the cream.

Pour sour cream into a bowl and add soda. Let it sit for a while until the sour cream begins to bubble and increase in volume.

Using a mixer, beat soft butter and sugar. Usually I use any inexpensive oil for the test. And for cream I choose high-quality and tasty. Add sour cream and soda, “ripened” by this time, and beat further.

Now it's time for the eggs. Also, add vanilla sugar along with them.

Stop whipping when the mass becomes homogeneous and fluffy.

Add the sifted flour in parts and stir with a spoon. After three-quarters of the prepared flour has been poured in, transfer the dough to a board and then knead with your hands. The dough should be soft, but not sticky.

Divide the dough into 7-8 approximately equal parts and cover with a napkin. Turn on the oven at 200-220 degrees and let it warm up.

You can roll out the cakes in different ways. Personally, I find it most convenient to stretch and knead the dough with my hands on the underside of the sheet, lightly greased with oil. This is done easily and quickly. Before baking, prick the cake with a fork, otherwise it will swell.

We bake all the cakes in this way. We handle them carefully, as once they cool down, they become brittle. It takes 15-20 minutes to bake one.

The process of making the cream is surprisingly simple. Using a mixer, beat soft butter, vanilla sugar and condensed milk. To be safe, add 2-3 tablespoons of cognac.

Grease the cakes with cream. Leave 2 tablespoons of cream, we will spread the topmost cake a little later. We press the cake with a board of suitable size and place a small weight. After 2-3 hours, remove the weight, grease the top of the cake, and sprinkle generously with grated chocolate.

The classic Armenian Mikado cake is ready.
But you will be able to enjoy it no earlier than in a day. Bon appetit! Author: Elena Gritsko Specially for Foodbest.ru, Category - Baking, World Cuisines, Cakes

Useful tips and tricks

To make the baked goods high-quality and tasty, you need:

Don't overdo it with adding soda. Excessive amounts of it will lead to an unpleasant odor and taste of the cake. The cakes will become very dark.
Use a knife that has been previously rinsed under hot water to distribute the glaze evenly.
Bake the cakes one at a time until they are completely baked.
Carefully roll out the dough pieces so that they do not tear and are of the same thickness.

The delicious Armenian Mikado cake will appeal to those who love a lot of sweets. Various recipes allow you to discover a new taste for dessert. The most important thing is to prepare it correctly.