No Time for Baking? Try the "Iceberg" Cake — One Layer, Simple Cream, and You’re Done!

We all know how hard it can be to get to the stove and cook something after a hard day at work, especially if guests are coming and you desperately need some dessert while all the bakeries are already closed.

Fear no more — this quick and delicious “iceberg” cake will become your last-minute saviour, requiring the simplest ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen already. It may even prompt you to cook the dessert for yourself from now on — just one bite is enough to fall in love with this sweet treat.

Here’s what you need:

For the cake layer: 200 g of sugar, 2 eggs, 320 g of flour, 1 tablespoon of sour cream, 200 g of condensed milk (half a can), 100–150 g of pitted prunes, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, vinegar or lemon juice to neutralize the baking soda.

For the cream: 700 g of 20% sour cream, 100 g of sugar, 50–100 g of walnuts.

Take a bowl, crack two eggs into it, add 200 g of sugar, and beat with a whisk until the mixture lightens in color. Next, add half a can of condensed milk and one tablespoon of sour cream, then mix well.

Rinse the prunes thoroughly, pat them dry, and chop them finely with a knife. Add a teaspoon of baking soda to the dough and mix it with vinegar. Then gradually add 320 g of flour and knead until smooth. Separately, coat the prune pieces in a small amount of flour so that they are evenly distributed, and fold them into the dough.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, lightly grease it with vegetable oil, spread the dough, and smooth it out with a spoon. Place in an oven preheated to 200°C for 15–20 minutes. Check for doneness with a wooden toothpick; it should come out dry.

Let the finished crust cool slightly, then cut out a 20 cm diameter circle (this will be the base), and cut the remaining scraps into 2 cm squares. Finely chop the walnuts with a knife.

For the cream, just mix 700 g of sour cream with 100 g of sugar using a whisk until the sugar dissolves. Place the main round cake layer on a plate, make shallow cuts in it with a knife for better soaking, and generously spread the sour cream mixture over it (leave a little cream for the top).

Add the chopped cake squares to the remaining cream and mix. Start building some sort of hill: spread this mixture in layers on the cake, sprinkling with chopped nuts. Pour the remaining cream over the top.