Karpatka cake. A spectacular Polish cake

For 6 € 2.8 /pers. 340 kcal/100g

Some cuisines in the world are not well known, but we can assure you that each and every local food has its own gems . The natives always know what the treasures of each kitchen are: a traditional legume dish , classic of Spanish cuisine; a spicy and tasty recipe , like so many Asian recipes; or a good sweet , as is today’s recipe.

Today we are going to explore nothing more and nothing less than Polish gastronomy to bring you a spectacular cake recipe . Although it sounds exotic, this preparation is not that far from other European desserts. The dough is a classic of French pastry: choux dough . The cream is a classic of world pastries: a sweet and delicious cream, the mousseline cream or crème mousseline , which we will make from a traditional pastry cream . You can hardly go wrong with this combination, eh?

Preparing this cake takes time, but the result is worth it (a lot). The combination between the flavor of the cream and the flavor of the dough is wonderful. Of course, it is one of those recipes that you have to try to prepare once in your life. Do you dare?

Preparation of Karpatka cake

Preparation of flavored milk for the pastry cream

1. We start with the vanilla pod. We cut it lengthwise, open it and remove the seeds inside with a knife.
2. We wash the lemon and peel the skin finely, without any white part. Depending on your taste, you can use more or less of the peel, since the flavor of lemon can be overwhelming for many.
3. Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat (except 150 ml, which we are going to use to mix with the cornstarch). When it is about to boil, but does not reach it, remove it from the heat.
4. We add the vanilla, the lemon peel and a cinnamon stick. We let it infuse for about 30 minutes, with the saucepan covered. We reserve.

Preparation of the pastry cream

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the sugar (about 120 grams). The amount of sugar can vary a little up or down, depending on the sweetness you are looking for (and how healthy you want it to be.)
2. We also add 50 grams of cornstarch or Cornstarch, mix everything in the bowl well. We stir everything well and pour the mixture into a small pot or casserole.
3. Pour the infused milk with the previous mixture and heat over medium-high heat, cook, stirring, until our mixture thickens. In this process we have to stir all the time, otherwise it will make lumps and prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
4. When it has thickened, lower the heat and continue stirring for another minute, over low heat. The cream should be very uniform and have a silky texture.
5. We put the cream in a clean bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. The film should not be tight, but should touch the cream to prevent a scab from forming. We are going to let it cool for at least an hour.

Preparation of Choux dough

1. To prepare the dough, we will start by pouring 250 ml into a saucepan. of milk together with 100 grams of pomade butter. Heat the saucepan over high heat until the butter melts. When it is liquid, add a little salt and sugar, and stir well.
2. When the ingredients are integrated, we add 150 g. of pastry wheat flour and stir vigorously until there are no lumps of flour left. We have to prevent the dough from sticking to the pot, so until it does, we won’t stop cooking.
3. Next, we will pour the dough into a bowl and add 4 eggs, one by one. There is no need to let the dough cool. With the whisk of the mixer or, if we don’t have one, with a wooden spoon, we integrate each of the eggs.
4. Next, we are going to divide the dough into two parts. We put the dough in a 22 centimeter diameter mold well lined with baking paper. We have to previously spread the edges with butter to prevent it from sticking.
5. We have to distribute this half of the dough unevenly throughout the mold, to give it the texture we are looking for. We heat in the oven previously preheated to 210º C with heat up and down. Afterwards, we will lower the temperature to 180º C and bake for 20 more minutes, keeping an eye on the last 5 in case we have to remove it sooner. We repeat the process with the other half of the dough and let both parts of the dough cool.

Preparation of the mousseline cream and presentation

1. We are going to prepare the mousseline cream from the pastry cream that we have resting in the refrigerator. We put the 130 grams of soft butter in a bowl, add the pastry cream that we had cooling in the refrigerator and, with the help of a whisk mixer, beat until we achieve a very uniform mixture.
2. We line the dough mold with baking paper so that it is easier to remove it from the mold later. We take one of the parts and put it in the mold. We put about three quarters of the cream on top, distributing it well everywhere.
3. We cover the gaps in the dough with the leftover cream and place it on top of the cake. Now we will keep the cake in the refrigerator for two hours, placed in its mold. When the resting time has passed, we sprinkle a little icing sugar and some flaked and toasted almonds on top and… Let’s eat!

This dessert is wonderful. Although it takes time, it is prepared quite simply and the flavor and texture are incredible. If you have a little time and desire to give baking, give it a try.