Bird’s Milk Cake Recipe (Ptichye Moloko)
This decadent Bird’s Milk Cake combines a fluffy cake base with creamy sour cream mousse and a silky chocolate ganache. Perfectly balanced in texture and flavor, it’s a classic Ukrainian dessert made faster using the pressure cooker technique.
Equipment
- 1 Springform pan 2 total
- 1 Cake pan 9-inch round
- 1 Hand mixer
- 1 Small saucepan
Ingredients
Cake Base
- 3 eggs fresh
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup flour
- ⅔ cup Cool Whip divided
- ½ cup boiling milk or water with 4 tablespoon sugar
Sour Cream Mousse
- 2 lbs sour cream Daisy brand
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 15 oz sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup milk
- 4 packets Knox Gelatine
- 1 stick unsalted butter
Ganache
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9-inch round cake pan.
- Beat eggs and sugar until pale and thick (about 10 minutes).
- Gently fold in flour; pour into cake pan and bake for 20–25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool cake in pan, slice in half, and place each half into springform pans.
- Evenly soak cake layers with milk and sugar mix. Spread ⅓ cup Cool Whip on each.
- Beat sour cream and sugar for 15 minutes, then add condensed milk and beat another 5 minutes.
- Whisk gelatin and milk in saucepan until boiling. Add butter, melt and combine.
- Slowly beat gelatin mixture into sour cream mixture; beat for another 2 minutes.
- Divide mousse evenly into two pans over cake layers; refrigerate for 4–6 hours until firm.
- Heat cream until boiling, pour over chocolate chips, let sit then whisk until ganache forms.
- Pour ganache over cakes and refrigerate until ganache is set.
- Top with remaining Cool Whip and serve chilled.
Notes
To keep the cake moist for days, wrap slices tightly in plastic and refrigerate. For longer storage, freeze slices individually wrapped; thaw in fridge before serving. Add a dollop of Cool Whip to revive that creamy texture after thawing.