Skubaniec

• Skubaniec comes from the word skubać – to pinch or to pluck.
• This is because the cake dough is pinched into little pieces and then assembled.
• It could be said this cake is related to pleśniak – a very recent discovery of mine.
• There is a recipe in the Christmas pamphlet, which I bought but I have adapted it after looking at other recipes. 
• As in pleśniak there is plain and cocoa cake dough, sour fruits and meringue.
• Baking powder is used in this dough.
• Some recipes pinch all the dough including the base, others roll out the base.
• The next is a meringue layer, then the fruits, followed by a pinched dough topping of plain and cocoa dough.
• Sour cherries, blackcurrants, gooseberries are the most used fruits but I have seen recipes for apples and for rhubarb.
• You can use 2 or more fruits – I used fresh blackberries in 1 third and bottled sour cherries in the rest.
• Bottled fruit, drained, can be used as was here.
• Frozen fruits can be used and the cake made out of season.
• Defrost frozen fruit and dry the water away.
• Egg yolks are used in the dough and then the whites in the meringue.

Ingredients – Dough

• 420g plain flour
• 120g icing sugar
• 120g butter
• 1¼ teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 tablespoon of cocoa
• 4 yolks
• Cold water to bind the dough

Ingredients – Meringue 

• 4 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon of icing sugar

Ingredients – Fruit

• 200g bottled cherries

Putting the cake together

• Line 3 sides of a 26 x 23cm rectangular tin.
• Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
• Rub the butter into the flour until it is like breadcrumbs.
• Mix in the icing sugar and the baking powder.
• Divide the dough into three parts.
• Take 2 parts, add 3 yolks and water to make a soft dough.
• Add the cocoa to the other dry mixture.
• Add 1 egg yolk and water to make a cocoa dough.
• Take 1 half of the plain dough and roll it into a rectangle to fit the base of the tin.
• *
• Drain the fruit from the liquid in the jar (keep the liquid for other things).
• *
• Whisk the egg white till stiff.
• Add the icing sugar, whisk again till stiff.
• *
• Spread the egg white mixture over the dough base.
• *
• Put the fruit evenly over the egg white.
• *
• Pinch small pieces of each colour of dough.
• Place them on top of the fruit alternating between plain and cocoa.
•  Bake for around 40 minutes.
• Leave to cool in the tin.

• NOTE
• I did find that the cake went stale quite quickly.
• Next time I will try using 210g of butter.