Baking & cooking

From our family kitchen · Slices

Kefir Cocoa Slices

Cocoa slices made with kefir, topped with a buttery rum cream.

I have this recipe handwritten in my family recipe notebook.

The batter is simply stirred together in a bowl, and the oil is measured with the kefir jar. We whip the butter, sugar, cocoa and rum cream until light and fluffy.

What you’ll need

  • Sponge:
  • 350 g plain/all-purpose flour (Czech “polohrubá”)
  • 150 g sugar
  • 1 sachet vanilla sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 jar of kefir (approx. 250 ml)
  • 1 kefir jar of oil (kefir used to be sold in glass jars, about 250 ml)
  • Cream:
  • 160 g butter (softened)
  • 160 g icing sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons rum (can be left out)

How to make them

  1. We mix the flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, baking soda and cocoa in a bowl.
  2. We pour in the kefir and the oil — measured with the rinsed kefir jar (about 250 ml) — and stir into a smooth batter.
  3. We pour the batter onto a smaller baking tray lined with baking paper (or greased and floured) and level it.
  4. We bake in an oven preheated to 180 °C for about 20–25 minutes. We check with a skewer: if it comes out dry, the sponge is done.
  5. We let the baked sponge cool completely.
  6. We whip the softened butter with the icing sugar, cocoa and rum into a light, fluffy cream. You can simply beat it by hand, but whipped it is lighter, fluffier and we like it better.
  7. We spread the cream over the cooled sponge, let it set in the fridge and cut it into squares.
Baking & cooking