AI-generated image
Kartoshka cake
Pirozhnoye kartoshka (пирожное картошка): potato-shaped cocoa truffles of cake crumbs and butter
Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.
- Total time
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 12
Ingredients
For the potatoes
- 3 ½ oz unsalted buttersoftened
- 5 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the coating and sprouts
- 4 tbsp icing sugar
- ⅔ oz unsalted buttersoftened
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Fresh ingredients (2)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Blitz the 10 ½ oz plain vanilla sponge cake, a day old in a food processor, or rub it through a coarse grater, until it is fine as sand.
3 minStep 2: Beat the 3 ½ oz unsalted butter with the 4 oz sweetened condensed milk for 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
3 minStep 3: Add the crumbs, most of the 3 tbsp cocoa powder and the 1 tsp vanilla extract and mix with your hands into a dough that holds together when squeezed.
4 minStep 4: Divide into 12 pieces of about 40 g and shape each into an oval potato. Press in a few dents with a chopstick for the eyes.
8 minStep 5: Mix the remaining 2 tbsp cocoa powder with half the 2 tbsp icing sugar on a plate and roll each potato in it until evenly brown.
4 minStep 6: Beat the ⅔ oz unsalted butter with the rest of the 2 tbsp icing sugar until smooth and pipe or dab two small sprouts on each potato.
3 minStep 7: Chill for 20 minutes, or up to 2 days, until firm.
20 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 190 kcal
- Protein
- 3 g
- Carbs
- 22 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does kartoshka cake take?
- About 30 minutes in total.
- How many people does it serve?
- 12 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of unsalted butter?
- The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).
- What can I use instead of sweetened condensed milk?
- Oat, soy or almond milk, same amount (use unsweetened for savoury dishes).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Baklava
The famous layered pastry: crisp sheets of buttered fillo sandwich a filling of almonds, pistachios and cashews spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and saffron. After baking, the hot baklava is soaked in a syrup of sugar, honey, lemon, rose and cardamom and decorated with almond and pistachio flakes. Cut into 40 diamonds; serve with fresh cream or ice cream.
Undu walalu
Walalu means bangles, and these dark, sticky rings of fried urad dal soaked in kithul treacle are a sweet that Sinhala families bring out for Avurudu and for special almsgivings, often made in large batches by an aunt known for her steady hand. A thick, fluffy paste of ground black gram is piped into loops and fried until crisp, then plunged straight into warm treacle, so the rings stay crunchy on the outside while drinking up the syrup. They taste a little like a darker, smokier jalebi, with a toffee finish from the palm treacle. Watery batter is what ruins them; it spreads into flat blobs, so grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible and beat it until light. This recipe uses no asafoetida, so it is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: pipe the rings onto small squares of baking paper and lower them into the oil paper and all; the paper peels away in seconds.
Sri Lankan
Marquesitas
Evening in Mérida's Plaza Grande means the smell of marquesitas: thin batter pressed in hot hinged irons until crisp, then rolled like a cigar around grated Edam cheese and a sweet filling such as cajeta, chocolate-hazelnut spread or jam. Edam came to the Yucatán through the port trade with the Netherlands and became part of the local cooking, and the salty-sweet combination is the whole point. At home you can cook them in a thin, wide frying pan. Edam is usually made with animal rennet, so check the label or use a vegetarian Gouda-style cheese. Chef's tip: roll while the crêpe is still in the pan and hot; within seconds it hardens and will crack.
Mexican