Kyiv Torte

Kyiv torte is another famous Ukrainian product. Nearly every visitor to Kyiv has a duty to taste this delicious confection. Its history is shrouded in legends. It is well known that the first Kyiv torte was baked in 1956 at the Karl Marx confectionary factory (today the Roshen factory). One legend has it that the cake was invented by accident, as a result of a mistake made by factory bakers. They forgot to put the necessary amount of egg-white for the meringue in the fridge. To hide this mistake, the head baker Konstantin Petrenko decided to make a cake with the ingredients he had. What emerged was a unique torte with crispy layers of meringue and delicate cream.

The official name Kyiv Torte.

The official version says that Kyiv torte was, yes, invented in 1956. But a patent for the unusual recipe was only granted in 1973, not to Konstantine Petrenko, but to Galina Fastovets-Kalinovskaya and Anna Kurilo. It took their skills to develop Kyiv torte to its full potential; the torte you sample today. This is a cake consisting of different layers – two crunchy and nutty meringues with butter-cream between them. The topping is decorated with multi-colored butter-cream flowers and chestnut leaves, and the sides – with hazelnut coating. By the way, the decoration on a Kyiv torte is patented and in this way the confection is protected against impostors. And to this day the recipe of the torte is a closely guarded secret.

Lidiia Shokha

This article was published in the book Interesting Kyiv.
You could download this book in PDF file for free here.

© Sky Horse Publishing House (Kyiv) / Nahs Haus, 2019
Copying and publication of this article is possible only with the written permission of the publishing house.
Official website of the Awesome Heritage series: awesomeheritage.com

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