Muraveinik: Russian Anthill Cake with Dulce de Leche

Name: Muraveinik: Russian Anthill Cake with Dulce de Leche
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 270 min
Yield: 10 servings
Cuisine: Eastern European
Ingredients: 400 g all-purpose flour (for the dough); 200 g cold butter (for the dough); 100 g sugar (for the dough); 2 egg yolks (for the dough); 100 g sour cream or plain yogurt (for the dough); 1 teaspoon baking powder (for the dough); A pinch of salt (for the dough); 400 g thick pastry-grade dulce de leche or cooked sweetened condensed milk (for the cream); 120 g butter, at room temperature (for the cream); 100 g chopped walnuts (for the cream); 1 tablespoon poppy seeds or grated chocolate (to finish)

⏱ 4 h 30 min in total🔪 40 min prep🍳 20 min cooking🧊 3 h 30 min resting🍽 10 servingsEasySlavic

Muraveinik shaped like a mountain: golden pastry pieces bound with dulce de leche and sprinkled with poppy seeds, with a slice cut and walnuts alongside

Muraveinik, «anthill», is a Russian and Ukrainian home-style cake that isn't baked whole: you bake strands of shortcrust pastry, break them up, mix them with cooked condensed milk and butter and pile everything into a mountain. The poppy seeds on top are the ants.

In Argentina it's easier than in Russia, because the cooked condensed milk in the original recipe is, plainly, dulce de leche. A thick, pastry-grade dulce de leche works best, as it holds the mountain up. The dough is grated on the coarse side of a box grater or passed through a meat grinder: that's what makes the strands that later break into crunchy little pieces.

Ingredients

Measurements

🍽 10 servings

400 g all-purpose flour (for the dough)
200 g cold butter (for the dough)
100 g sugar (for the dough)
2 egg yolks (for the dough)
100 g sour cream or plain yogurt (for the dough)
1 teaspoon baking powder (for the dough)
A pinch of salt (for the dough)
400 g thick pastry-grade dulce de leche or cooked sweetened condensed milk (for the cream)
120 g butter, at room temperature (for the cream)
100 g chopped walnuts (for the cream)
1 tablespoon poppy seeds or grated chocolate (to finish)

Method

1
Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the cold butter in cubes and rub it in with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs.
2
Add the yolks and sour cream and bring together without overworking, just until it forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes: the dough needs to be very cold to grate.
3
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Grate the dough on the coarse side of the grater straight onto a lined baking sheet, in a loose layer. If you have a meat grinder, pass it through that.
4
Bake for 15–20 minutes, until golden, turning the strands with a spatula halfway through. Let cool and break into small pieces with your hands.
5
Beat the butter with the dulce de leche until smooth. Stir in the walnuts.
6
Mix the baked pastry with the cream until every piece is coated. Turn it out onto a platter and shape it into a mountain with damp hands, pressing lightly.
7
Sprinkle with the poppy seeds or grated chocolate and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before slicing.