How the Kyiv cake appeared, now at MuffinTaffin

The Kyiv cake appeared in 1956 at the Karl Marx confectionery factory in Kyiv, when Kostiantyn Petrenko and Nadiia Chernohor built it from nut meringue instead of sponge. MuffinTaffin still takes orders for that cake in Budva.

Cashews were scarce in Soviet pastry shops then. A meringue folded with nuts, a cocoa buttercream and crumbs on the sides gave the cake a slice people could recognise without a long explanation.

Nut meringue, then cocoa cream

The method shows in the cut. Egg whites and sugar are beaten to a firm meringue, ground and chopped nuts are folded in, and the rounds bake slowly until the crust dries and the centre stays soft. Cocoa buttercream goes between the rounds and over the top, and the sides take nut crumbs.

November evenings in Montenegro are cool enough for a dense nut cake. In Budva, MuffinTaffin serves the Kyiv cake whole for table orders, so the meringue stays crisp until it is cut.

For sales in Budva, MuffinTaffin keeps the 1956 build when guests place orders for cakes: nut meringue, cocoa buttercream, crumbs on the side. In Montenegro the same slice still shows how the dessert appeared.