Cake – Journey From A Polish Kitchen

Placek with Rhubarb & Meringue

This cake was inspired by my placek(flat cake) with sour cherries and meringue.

There are three parts to this cake:

Short pastry base – baked and cooled.
Rhubarb filling – cooked and left to go cold.
Meringue topping.

Three stages all take a bit of time but well worth the effort. It is delicious with a lovely balance of sweetness against the tart rhubarb.

Short pastry base

The base of is made with a smaller amount of the recipe for Ciasto kruche 1 – using raw egg yolks found in a previous post – Pastry – ciasto kruche & półkruche.

I could see out of my kitchen window that the rhubarb was beginning to grow. As I still had one batch left frozen from last summer I to decided to use that up before the new crop and in time for you to try it.

Ingredients – base

200g plain flour
100g butter – chilled
70g icing sugar
2 egg yokes
pinch of salt

Method – base

Add a pinch of salt to the flour.
Use a knife to cut the chilled butter into small pieces into the flour and then use your fingers to make the mixture like breadcrumbs.
Add the icing sugar and mix this together.
Add the yolks and gently mix this in, then and bring it all together into a dough – try and handle the pastry as little as possible.
Form the dough into a rough rectangle.
Wrap the dough in greaseproof paper and chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to GM 6 – 200°C.
Grease and line a 23 x 26 cm baking tin.
Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough a little
Press the dough into the tin – filling it up all the sides.
Prick the surface with a fork.
Bake for 20 – 25 minutes till golden.
Leave to cool.

Ingredients – Rhubarb filling

400g (approx) of rhubarb
150g of granulated sugar (more may be needed)
25g of butter
3 egg yolks
2-3 tablespoons of potato or corn flour

Method – rhubarb filling

This needs to be made ahead of time as it must be cold.
Pre-heat the oven to GM2
Chop the rhubarb into small pieces and place in a baking dish
Add sugar.
Bake in the oven for around 1 hour – till soft.
Check for sweetness and add more sugar if necessary – but not too sweet.
Leave to cool a little.
*
I used cooked rhubarb that I had frozen from last year.
*
Wizz the rhubarb up with a blender or chopper to get a purée.
Place this in a saucepan.
Heat slowly.
Mix the yolks with the potato or cornflour and add this to the rhubarb and heat till it thickens.
Add the butter and mix in.
Leave to go cold before use.

A few thoughts on the origin & history of meringues:

Meringue – a French word.
Swiss village of Meiringen.
Improved by Italian chef Gasparini.
From Polish word – marzynka – a day dream?
Made by the chef for the exiled king of Poland, Stanisław Leszczyński (1677 – 1766), Duke of Lorraine (1737 -1766).
His daughter, Maria, was married to Louis XV of France and she introduced them to the court.
In Polish – beza(sing)) bezy(pl) – link to – buzi – kiss?
French meringue – whisk eggs till stiff – add sugar and whisk again.
Italian meringue – uses sugar syrup.
Swiss meringue – sugar and whites heated over a water bath.
Addition of cornflour – strengthens the egg white.

Meringue

I used 4 egg whites & 200g icing sugar.
Place the whites into a grease free bowl.
Whisk till stiff.
Add icing sugar and whisk again till stiff.

Preheat the oven to GM 1 -140°C.
Cover the base with the rhubarb filling and level it out.
Cover the rhubarb with the meringue and level it out
Put back into the oven for 45 to 60 minutes.
Cut the cake into squares when cool to serve.

Served here on Royal Doulton – Counterpoint tea plates 1973 – 1987.

Placek-with sour cherries & meringue

The base of this placek (flat cake) is made with a recipe similar to Ciasto kruche 2 – with cooked egg yolks found in a previous post – Pastry – ciasto kruche & półkruche.

The base is baked, apricot jam and bottled sour cherries are placed on top, this is topped with meringue and cooked again.

A few stages but well worth the effort. It is delicious with a lovely balance of sweetness against the sour cherries.

Ingredients

300g plain flour
200g butter – chilled
100g & 150g icing sugar
3 eggs separated
pinch or two of salt
Fine grated rind of 1 lemon – optional
250ml of apricot jam – approx
1/2 – 3/4 of a jar of morello/sour cherries

Method

Cook the egg yolks

Separate the raw yolks from the whites.
Place the yolks in a colander and cook over hot water.
Use a fork to break up the yolks into very small pieces.
Leave to go cold.

Make the base

Add a pinch of salt to the flour.
Use a knife to cut the chilled butter into small pieces into the flour and then use your fingers to make the mixture like breadcrumbs.
Add the 100g of icing sugar and mix this together.
Add the broken up yolks and gently mix this in then and bring it all together into a dough – try and handle the pastry as little as possible.
Form the dough into a rough rectangle.
Wrap the dough in greaseproof paper and chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to GM 7 – 220°C.
Grease and line a 33 x 23 cm baking tin.
Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough a little
Press the dough into the tin – filling it up the all the sides.
Prick the surface with a fork.
Bake for 20 – 25 minutes till golden.
Leave to cool.

Toppings and meringue

Lower the oven to GM 1 -140°C
Place the whites into a grease free bowl.
Whisk till stiff.
Add the 150g of icing sugar and whisk again till stiff.
Spread the jam thickly over the base
Drain the sour cherries and pat them dry.
Arrange the cherries over the jam.
Spread the meringue over the cherries taking it up to the edges.
Put back into the low heat oven for 45 to 60 minutes.

Cut the cake into squares when cool to serve.

Served here on Duchess – Bramble Rose tea plates from the 1960s.

Orange Cake

This cake using sunflower oil and yoghurt has a really good texture and reminds me of English Madeira cake, which was invented in the mid 19th Century taking its name from the Portuguese Madeira wine with which this cake was often served.

It started out in my hunt to make a cake using lemon balm – (melisa in Polish) which grows abundantly in my garden. Sadly none of the cakes I made captured its taste at all!

However I adapted this recipe to make an orange cake and the result is delicious.

Short History of Oranges

Oranges originated in Ancient China and sweet oranges are recorded in Chinese literature in very early times.

They are thought to have been brought by Italian and Portuguese traders to the Mediterranean area in the 15th century.

The name is of Middle Eastern origin:

Arabic – nāranj
Persian – narang
French – l’orange
Italian – arancia
Portuguese – laranja
Spanish – naranja
Polish – pomarańcz
Whilst in Dutch it is – sinaasappel – meaning Chinese apple.

Oranges in Poland were very expensive before World War 2 and my mother would tell me that at St Nicholas and Christmas time an orange or a tangerine would be a common gift.

Christopher Columbus took oranges to the Caribbean on his second voyage in 1493.

Later, Spanish settlers introduced orange plants to North America, first to Florida and then to California.

Figures from 2017 show Brazil as being the largest orange producer in the world with the United States of America coming second and Florida produces 70% of that country’s oranges.

Ingredients

85- 90ml of Greek yoghurt (full fat is best)
2 large oranges – finely grated rind & juice (not all will be needed)
125ml of orange juice
180g of caster sugar
320g of plain flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
170ml of sunflower oil
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Method

Pre-heat the oven to GM 5 – 190°C.
Finely grate the rind of the oranges.
Squeeze the juice from the oranges (you will not need all of it).
Mix the yoghurt with 125ml of the orange juice.
Prepare a 23cm loose bottom or spring form tin with a cake liner.
In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, oil and orange rind.
Add the eggs and whisk again.
Lightly mix in the flour.
Mix in the lemon juice.
Mix in the yoghurt and orange juice mixture to give a thick batter.
Pour into the cake tin.
Bake for 30 – 35 minutes (check after 25 minutes and cover the top lightly if necessary).

Served on Duchess – Bramble Rose – tea-plates from the 1960s.

Rhubarb & Date Cake

As I have rhubarb growing in the garden I am always on the lookout for recipes for rhubarb cakes and have tried many from English, American & Polish recipe books and magazines.

Some recipes just used 1 or 2 stalks of rhubarb – as I have lots of rhubarb – I wanted a recipe that used more.

I was talking with my old school friend who lives in Leeds and she told me her husband makes a lovely rhubarb cake with the rhubarb they have growing on their allotment.

So, I tried it out and it was indeed lovely!

Ingredients

340g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
170g butter
230g caster sugar
450g rhubarb, chopped into small cubes
230g stoned dates, chopped into small pieces
2 eggs
120ml milk (either whole or semi skimmed)
Optional – extra sugar to sprinkle on top – (I would not bother with this next time)

Method

Preheat the oven to GM 5 – 190°C
Line the base of a 26cm round spring-form or loose bottomed tin with baking paper. (You can use a 23cm tin)
Place the chopped rhubarb and dates into a bowl.
Place the flour and baking powder into another bowl.
Cut the butter into cubes and rub it into the flour using your fingertips until you have a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar.
Stir the chopped rhubarb and dates into the mixture.
Combine the eggs and milk in a jug and beat a little.
Stir into the cake mix until well combined.
Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin and level the surface.
If using, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar on the top of the cake.
Bake for approximately 1 – 1 & 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean – best check on it after an hour and cover top if necessary to prevent burning.
Leave to cool on a wire rack until the tin is cool enough to safely handle.
Remove the cake from the tin and leave to cool completely on the wire rack

Although the cake keeps well, I think it is best eaten when fresh as then the rhubarb taste is strong and the cake delicious.

Crown china tea plates – no pattern named.

Note

The rhubarb season is now over in my garden as it has just past July – next year I am going to try some variations on this cake eg – without the dates or with raisins etc.

Placek with Almonds

I stayed in Derbyshire (home of the Bakewell Tart) in 2018 and I came across a recipe for a cake using yoghurt which I adapted and this was posted as Placek – Derbyshire Inspired.

This is a variation I tried out using almonds.

I used Greek style full fat yoghurt – If using my own yoghurt I would strain it a little so it becomes thicker.

Ingredients

250g butter or block margarine
225g caster sugar
150ml of Greek style yoghurt (full fat)
4 eggs
1/2 a teaspoon of almond essence
230g self raising flour
50g of ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
Sour cherry jam or other slightly tart jam
50g of flaked almonds

Method

Grease and line 22 x 32 baking tin – use 1 piece of greaseproof to do the 2 long sides and base.
Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C
Place the flaked on a tray and pop them under the grill for a few minutes to toast them.

Mix together the yoghurt, eggs and almond essence
Mix together the flour, ground almonds and the baking powder.
Beat together the butter and sugar .
Add the yoghurt, egg and essence mixture and beat well.
Add the flour mixture and beat till you have a unified smooth mixture.
Using a big spoon and spatula put the mixture into the prepared tin.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
Carefully take the cake out of the oven and place large teaspoon ‘blobs’ of jam on the top – I did 12 teaspoons at even intervals.
Cover the top with the toasted almonds and quickly put it back in the oven.

Bake for around another 25 – 30 minutes.

Place on a cooking rack and leave until it is cold to take out of the tin.
Cut into squares or rectangles to serve.

Served on teaplates by Wedgwood, Hathaway Rose – 1959 -1987

Carrot Piernik

Piernik is a spiced honey-cake.

I would describe this cake as a “Pseudo-piernik” as granulated sugar rather than honey is used.

My Polish friend in Leeds gave me this recipe and she got it from another Polish lady. The written copy could be described as being in “Ponglish” being written partly in English with additional notes in Polish!

The original recipe used cups which except for liquids I find hard to work with and much prefer weights.

I tried out a few alterations & variations until I reached this final version which I feel is the easiest way to get consistent results.

I made it is two different tins: the longer tin gave a thinner cake which was better for cutting in two and adding a filling, the shorter tin gave a thicker cake which was better with just a topping.

Ingredients

225g granulated sugar
250ml sunflower oil
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Zest of 1 large orange
225g coarse grated carrots
225g plain flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of mixed spice (I use Marks & Spencer’s) or cinnamon

Method

Grease and line a 32cm x 22cm or a 27cm x 21cm tin.
Pre-heat oven to GM5 – 190°C
Mix well together the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla essence & orange rind (I use an electric whisk).
Mix together the flour, baking powder, spices & salt and lightly mix this into the whisked mixture.
Mix in the grated carrots.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
Depending on the tin size, bake for 25 – 35 minutes but keep an eye on it and cover with foil or greaseproof if it starts to burn.
Leave to cool in the tin.

Finishing – several ways

Dust with icing sugar
Drizzle with a melted chocolate & butter mixture
Cut into two and sandwich together with powidła – Polish plum jam* or sour cherry jam – then dust with icing and drizzle with chocolate & butter topping
Top with orange butter icing

*Powidła is a lovely spread – often translated as jam but is not really a jam.

It is made from fresh ripe plums which are heated and stirred for hours until the water is driven off and you get a thick paste. The traditional version does not have any extra sugar added.

I bought some in my local Polish shop, I have seen it for sale in glass jars or in plastic tubs.