Easter kitchen Sękacz
SękaczSękacz – a multi-egg cake with 'icicles' (or branches, asit is sometimes called a "tree-cake") - is known mainlyin the Easter tradition in the Suwałki region, but alsoin many other regions of Poland. However, most ofthis cake is served at the tables of almost every homeon the Polish-Lithuanian border at Easter.Legends say that the sękacz was first mentioned in the15th century. It was supposed to be eaten by Lithuanianwarriors, going to the Battle of Grunwald. According toother stories, the career of Polish sękacz began in theSuwałki region, in Berżniki, where it was baked for thefirst time in honour of Queen Bona. The Queen,delighted with the amber and golden cake, decided thatsękacz would be the decoration of the reception tableat the wedding of her son Zygmunt August. Thewedding gathered in Krakow many crowned heads and,according to the legends, they all fell in love with thewoodland specialty. Another story says that the Poleslearned about sękacz and the method of its productionfrom the Yotvingian people, who lived in the northernregions of today's Poland in the Middle Ages.The truth is that there is no consensus on the origin ofthis baking, and no wonder everyone wants to attributeit to themselves. It seems that the cake was created inthe Polish Eastern Borderlands and from there it wentto Germany (Germans say that Sękacz comes fromBerlin), to Hungary or Romania, where the tree cake isstill baked.You need 30 to 50 eggs to bake the cake. It is baked on aspecial cylinder above the hearth. During baking, thedough cylinder rotates and in this way characteristicknags - icicles appear on it. The average sękacz is approx.50-60 cm high. A lot of tree cakes is made during Easterin the vicinity of Sejny and Puńsk, a town inhabited byPolish Lithuanians. Many orders are received byhousewives in villages, who still make them, but Suwałkibakeries bake the most of them. Sękacz, also known as"dziad", "spit baba" or a "round pie", looks like a cake thatis not so easy to prepare. However, this is not the case -both the dough and the method of baking are simple -however, as mentioned above, they require the use of aspecial oven that imitates the traditional method ofbaking cakes over a fire. Anyway, you will need a lot ofpatience. The whole process of baking the sękacz cantake up to three hours! For a large size sękacz you needto use a kilogram of butter, sugar and flour, and 40 eggs(or - according to the traditional recipe - 50 yolks).Sometimes cream is also added. The dough can also beenriched with additives such as ground cardamom, vanilla,orange peel or rum. he ingredients create a fairly densebatter, which is poured over a wooden shaft filled with aspit, and this is placed over the fire or in a special oven.The roller is constantly turning, thanks to which the doughcovers it evenly, and its excess flows down, creatingcharacteristic projections similar to knots in a tree.Subsequent seared layers of sękacz, after cutting thedough, look like rings in a tree trunk.Ingredients(version for a home-baked cake)I250 grams of buttera cup (220 g) of sugar3/4 cup (150 g) of coarse ground flour1/2 cup (110 g) of potato starch6 eggs5 grams of ground almonds1 spoon of rum1/2 vanilla podgrease for the baking panHow to make itThe tree cake does not contain any complicated ingredients. The most importantingredients are eggs, wheat flour, cream, butter and sugar, which are mixed to make asponge and butter dough. It is worth using the addition of low-gluten flour, e.g. potatostarch - then the dough has a more delicate structure. In the past, quince juice wasadded to it as well, giving it a characteristic flavour. Today, lemon is often used insteadof it, and sometimes even vanilla sugar. Cream the butter and sugar until it is light andsmooth. While constantly mixing, gradually add one yolk at a time, pour in rum, almonds,ground vanilla and both types of flour.Beat the stiff foam from the cooled egg whites and gently mix with the egg mass.Grease the cake tin. Spread 2 tablespoons of dough on the bottom, bake for 5 minutesat 200°C. When the dough is lightly browned, remove from the oven, spread another twotablespoons of the dough on the baked dough and put the form back in the oven foranother 5 minutes. Repeat the steps until the dough is used up. (It is important tocreate as many thin layers as possible). After baking, let the dough cool, remove it fromthe baking pan and sprinkle generously with powdered sugar or pour over with thefrosting.129 TRAVEL.LOVEPOLAND
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