Bear in the North Cake

Prepare and pre-measure all the ingredients for the Bear in the North cake. Two types of sour cream will be needed. For the cake layers, use 20-25% fat sour cream. For the cream, it is best to use thick and creamy sour cream with a fat content of at least 30%.

Prepare the dough for the Bear in the North cake. In a deep bowl, combine sugar and melted butter.

Add 250g of 20-25% fat sour cream and baking soda to the bowl.

Mix everything well until the sugar is completely dissolved. Do not use sour cream with lower fat content for the cake layers, as it will have a more sour taste and a liquid consistency. In the future, we will need more flour for shaping the dough with this type of sour cream. This can greatly affect the texture of the cake layers, making them less tender.

Divide the resulting mass into two equal parts. Add cocoa to one part. Add one teaspoon of vanilla paste to the other part. In this recipe, you can replace vanilla paste with vanilla extract or quality vanilla sugar with natural vanilla.

Divide the flour into two equal parts and add 200 grams to each bowl.

Knead the chocolate and vanilla dough. It should be very soft but not sticky to the hands. Do not add extra flour as it may make the dough harder.

Divide each ball into 3 parts. Wrap each portion of dough in a cellophane bag and put it in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the cream for the North Teddy Bear cake. In a deep bowl, put 600 grams of sour cream with a fat content of 30%. Add all the powdered sugar and the remaining vanilla paste.

Mix the sour cream filling well using a whisk. In the Soviet era, not every home had a mixer, so they used improvised means. That's why there is no need to beat the filling. Just mix it enough to dissolve the sugar in the sour cream. Put the sour cream filling in the refrigerator.

Prepare the walnuts for the North Bear cake. Transfer the walnuts to a blender and grind them into large crumbs. If you don't have a blender, simply put the walnuts in a bag and roll them with a rolling pin. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Prepare the cake layers for the North Bear cake. Take a piece of dough from the refrigerator. Place the dough on a sheet of parchment paper. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper and roll out the dough into a sheet the size of the cake pan.

Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and carefully transfer the bottom parchment paper with the dough to a baking sheet. Bake in the middle of the preheated 180-degree Celsius oven for about 7 minutes. Do not overcook. The hot layer will be soft when pressed, but it will become more crispy as it cools. The layer should only lightly brown. Do not turn it into a cracker, so that the cake turns out tender and moist.

Remove the baked layer from the oven along with the parchment paper. Trim it with a sharp knife to fit the size of the cake pan.

To prepare the remaining dough, follow the same process. Only remove the ready-made cakes from the parchment paper once they have completely cooled.

Assemble the Bear in the North cake. Place one cake on the bottom of the mold. Spread it with 2-3 tablespoons of sour cream frosting.

Sprinkle a small amount of crushed walnuts onto the frosting.

Cover with another cake layer. Alternate between chocolate and vanilla cakes.

Finish assembling the entire cake. Spread sour cream frosting on the top and refrigerate the cake for at least 8-10 hours (preferably overnight).

Remove the cake from the mold.

Grind the leftover cake trimmings in a blender or food processor.

Sprinkle the cake with the resulting crumbs and serve.

Mishka on the North Cake is ready. Enjoy!