A Sunday Tea, to Celebrate a Birthday

The ladies got together to celebrate the seventieth birthday of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana. The tea party featured cakes, coffee, cognac, and cherry liqueur. Tatjana used to cook up a batch of the super-sweet, cherry liqueur every year. It's the dark liquid in the crystal decanter.

A bottle of the liqueur usually lingered in the liquor cabinet for many years. The liqueur grew stronger, thicker, and browner.

Tatjana also made a citrus-flavored liqueur; its main ingredient was milk. That was tasty.

Suburban Chicago, November 1967. Tatjana raises a glass to my Dad, the photographer. My Dad's twin sister, Jonė, sits to Tatjana's left. My Mom is on the far right, in the foreground, and next to Mom is Mom's best friend, Donna. Mom is wearing her moccasin slippers.

Babos Receptai (Part 10)

One of the other cakes my paternal Grandmother made for Easter was a nut torte. I disliked the torte because it didn't resemble the sweet American cakes I favored. The nut torte was a big job because Tatjana ground the nuts using a small, hand crank, grinder. She insisted pre-ground nuts from the grocery store lacked the correct texture for the batter.

Here's how I wrote up the recipe:

Riešutinis arba Migdolų Tortas (Walnut or Almond Torte)

For torte:

8 to 10 ounces walnuts or unblanched almonds, slightly toasted and cooled

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon potato starch or corn starch

1 teaspoon baking powder

12 egg yolks (Baba used yolks from 16 eggs graded "medium")

1 cup granulated sugar

12 egg whites, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup granulated sugar

For glaze and filling:

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup rum

       3/4 cup (approximately) lingonberry preserves

For icing:

       2/3 cup (10-2/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter  

       2-2/3 cups brown sugar

       2/3 cup whole milk

       1/8 teaspoon salt

  

For garnish:   

       Whole walnuts or almonds 

Torte: Preheat the oven to 350^oF and adjust rack to center position. Butter a 10-inch (or 12-inch) springform pan (or two 10-inch layer cake pans or three 9-inch round cake pans) and dust with flour. 

In the workbowl of a food processor with the metal blade in place, grind the nuts with the flour, baking powder, and cornstarch. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the 1 cup granulated sugar until the mixture is thick and light in color, about 10 minutes.

In another large bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites with the salt and cream of tartar until frothy. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar. Continue beating until the mixer is stiff. Remove bowl from mixer. Fold half of the walnut mixture into the egg yolks and then, using a rubber spatula, gradually fold egg whites gently to the nut/egg yolk mixture. 

Pour into prepared pan(s) and level top(s). Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes for the springform pan (35 to 45 minutes for the layer cake pans). Remove from oven, place pan(s) on a rack and allow to cool for about 30 minutes.  

When cooled completely, slice into two (or three) horizontal layers (omit this step if you baked two or three layers).

Glaze: In a small saucepan, combine the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and the 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, add the rum, and cool.

Brush first layer with about half the liqueur glaze. Spread with a layer of the lingonberry preserves.  Continue with the remaining layer(s), also soaking with the liqueur glaze. Let the layers stand while you prepare the icing.

Icing:  In a medium saucepan, over low heat, melt butter. Stir in the brown sugar until brown sugar dissolves. Gradually pour in the milk, stirring constantly. Slowly increase heat and bring the mixture rapidly to a full boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.  Beat with a wooden spoon until lukewarm and of spreading consistency. Spread icing over the torte. Garnish with whole nuts. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Here's how the cake looked when I baked it:

Verona, Wisconsin, April 2007. I may have "cheated" here and made a coffee buttercream instead of the icing Tatjana used to prepare.

Easter Manners: Enjoy the table.

Suburban Chicago, Easter Sunday, 1961. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, again enjoys hosting another party. She's seated at the dining room table with the mother of my Mom's Rockford friend and my Godmother's father. The decanter holds Tatjana's brew of citrus-flavored, milk liqueur. Ach! The tablecloth has creases.

Tatjana made a yeast Babka every Easter. The recipe used five egg yolks. On the table, you can see what Tatjana made with the leftover egg whites: a "Bizet Torte." A Bizet Torte consists of five or six layers of baked meringue disks, held together with coffee buttercream, and decorated with toasted almond slices. Although the Bizet Torte isn't as popular in Lithuania as a Napoleonas, it is a lot less labor intensive.

Latvians make Bizet Torte, too.

Easter Cake

"Šakotis," or, as we call it, "Baumkuchenas," is a traditional, Lithuanian Easter cake.

When I was growing up, Lithuanian bakeries in Chicago prepared the moist cake over a rotissiere, open flame. The chef poured ladles of batter onto a spit as the cake circled the flame. The dripping batter produced the "branches," or "šakos," of the cake as it baked.

Today, most Šakotis cakes arrive as plastic-wrapped imports from Lithuania. Although tasty, the imports tend to be dry: many break apart into parched pieces when you bite into a slice. It's possible to make a decent Baumkuchenas at home. I've had good luck with a recipe that calls for baking the cake, in sequential layers in a springform pan, under a broiler. The recipe appears in this this old gem. A Baumkuchenas prepared in a springform pan won't have the dazzling "branches," but the flavor is genuine.

Suburban Chicago, Easter, April 1966. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, slices the Baumkuchenas. I also see a decanter and cordials filled with Tatjana's citrus-flavored milk liqueur.

A 1934 Easter setting from Mr. Irene's side of the family features no Baumkuchenas, but there are Lithuanian Easter Eggs, "Margučiai," on the table.

(Oh! A non-Easter note: Mr. Irene and I served morsels of Baumkuchenas as part of the dessert table at our wedding reception.)