Russian & Ukrainian · Dessert
Kyivskyi Tort
- Advanced
- 1 h 30 m
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
- Vegetarian
Leads with richness that coats and comforts, a floral thread lifting the aroma, melting away silken.
Ingredients
- 200 g egg whites (about 6), aged 24 hours in the refrigerator
- 250 g caster sugar
- 150 g roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- 50 g plain flour
- 2 g fine salt
- 200 ml whole milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 200 g caster sugar, for the buttercream
- 300 g unsalted butter, softened to 20C (68F)
- 20 g cocoa powder
- 20 ml cognac
- 5 ml vanilla extract
Equipment
Piping bag · Sheet pan
The skills inside
Whipping a meringueTempering a custardThe wobble & the skewer: testing a bakeIcing & frosting
Allergen screen
Found: gluten · dairy · egg · nuts · alcohol
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Bring the aged whites to 20C (68F), whip them with the salt to soft peaks, then add the 250 g sugar in a slow stream and beat to a stiff glossy meringue.
- Fold in the hazelnuts and sifted flour by hand, spread into two 22 cm circles on lined trays, and dry at 140C (285F) for 2 hours until they lift cleanly and sound hollow; leave them overnight. 120 min
- Whisk the yolks with the milk and the 200 g sugar, bring to a boil and simmer 4 minutes to 5 minutes, stirring, until it thickens to the consistency of condensed milk, then cover, chill in the refrigerator, and bring it back to 20C (68F) shortly before you need it. 4 min
- Beat the softened butter until white, beat the tempered custard in a spoonful at a time, then take out a third and beat the cocoa into it; flavour the pale cream with vanilla and cognac.
- Sandwich the discs with pale cream, coat the top and sides, pipe the cocoa cream over and refrigerate 12 hours so the meringue softens into cake. 600 min
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the techniques it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Icing & frosting 17 recipes
- The temperatures were chosen, not defaulted: the bake fully cool where the finish is meant to sit on top of it, or both deliberately warm where the method wants the two to fuse, and the proof either way is a finish that stayed where it was put.
- Smooth on the tongue: no grit of undissolved sugar and no lumps of anything that was never fully worked in.
- The consistency matches the job: it spreads or pours the way the method intends, then holds the edge, swirl, or drip it was given.
- The surface underneath is intact: covered rather than scrubbed, with no crumbs dragged through the finish and no torn patches showing.
- By serving it has settled into the finish the method wants (matte, glossy, or soft) and a cut comes away clean rather than pulling the top off with it.
Where it goes wrong A finish meant to sit on top went on while the bake was still warm. The layer that touched first melted, slid, and soaked in; what is left sets greasy and streaked, and no amount of chilling afterwards puts that finish back.
Whipping a meringue 40 recipes
- Bowl and whisk are clean and dry with no trace of fat or yolk. Grease prevents the foam outright, and there is no recovering a bowl that had it partway through.
- The sugar went in gradually once the whites were already foaming, rather than all at once at the start.
- No grit: a little rubbed between finger and thumb feels smooth, so the sugar has dissolved into the foam rather than sitting in it.
- Stiff peaks means the tip stands with a slight bow when the whisk lifts, and the bowl can be tipped without the mass moving in it.
- Glossy and smooth rather than chalky or dull, with no liquid gathering underneath it in the bowl.
Where it goes wrong It was whipped past stiff peaks. A minute beyond glory the protein network tightens and tears, the foam turns grainy and matte, water weeps out beneath it, and folding that into anything gives a mixture that collapses on the way to the oven.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Banyuls or Ruby Port
- Also Right
- PX Sherry
- From the Taps
- Imperial stout
- Zero-Proof
- Espresso
Chocolate wants fortified sweetness or roast-bitter contrast: the wine must out-sweet the plate, or oppose it entirely.
Saved on this device and kept across visits: export from My Menu to move them.