To make a classic sour cream cake, you’ll need to bake two layers — a light one and a dark one. Sour cream will be used for both the layers and the cream that goes between them.
Ingredients for the layers: flour – 2 cups; sour cream (21%) – 1 cup; sugar – 1 cup; eggs – 4; cocoa powder – 1.5 tablespoons; baking soda – 2 teaspoons.
Ingredients for the cream: sour cream (21%) – 2 cups; sugar – 1 cup.
Beat half of the eggs with half of the sugar for the light layer. In a deep bowl, mix the other half of the sour cream with half of the baking soda; when the sour cream doubles in volume, pour it into the egg mixture. Stir, add the flour, and beat the batter until smooth.
Pour the batter into a baking pan and bake for 30 minutes at 180°C (350°F). Check the layer for doneness with a wooden toothpick or skewer.
Make the dark layer the same way, adding the cocoa powder to the flour. Bake until done. Remove the layers from the oven and let them cool. While they cool, beat the sour cream with the sugar to make the filling.
To double the number of layers, slice the cooled layers in half lengthwise. Assemble the cake by spreading the filling on the bottom layer. Stack the dark and light layers, spreading filling between each, and coat the sides with the remaining cream.
Refrigerate the cake for 6–8 hours to let the filling set and the layers soak. Decorate with grated chocolate, fruit, or whipped cream, and serve with tea or coffee.
Life Hack
When making the sour cream cake in a slow cooker, beat the flour, baking powder, sugar, sour cream, and eggs in a deep bowl until smooth. Grease the slow cooker bowl with butter and dust it with flour. Pour in the batter and set the cooker to “Baking” mode. After 50 minutes, flip the cake and bake another 10 minutes to get a golden brown color.
