Easter buns in different countries

Easter buns: Sicilian cassata

Traditional Easter baked goods from Palermois known not only in Italy, but all over the world. Now it is prepared not only for Easter, but all year round. Cassata is Easter biscuit pastry and ricotta with filler, candied fruits, marzipan, candied fruit. To prepare a cassata, we need such products.

• 
  140 g of flour
• 
  140 g of sugar
• 
  25 g melted butter
• 
  6 eggs
• 
  grated peel of half a lemon

• 
  500 g ricotta
• 
  140 g of sugar
• 
  140 g of candied fruit
• 
  50 g chocolate

• 
  280 g of sifted powdered sugar
• 
  4 tbsp. l. apricot jam
• 
  1 tbsp. l. orange liqueur
• 
  1 tbsp. l. lemon juice
• 
  1 tbsp. l. milk
• 
  liquid green food color
• 
  candied fruits, candied fruit

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. A detachable shape with a diameter of 25 cm is smeared with melted butter and sprinkled with flour. Eggs beat up with sugar with a mixer, until you get a light air mass. Gently add the lemon zest and flour so that the mass does not lose airiness. Continue to beat, pour the dough into a mold and bake for half an hour (the finished cake should be elastic when pressed). Let's cool and take the cake out of the mold.

To make a cream, cold chocolate andcandied fruit finely chopped. Mix ricotta, sugar, chocolate and fruit, put the cream in the refrigerator. For the preparation of the glaze sugar powder is mixed with milk and lemon juice and colored with food coloring until tender green, quickly whisk.

Add in jam liqueur and 1 tbsp. l. water, heat. Cut the cake in half (horizontally). The bottom is spread on half the jam, we spread the cream from the ricotta on top. The second cake is smeared with jam from below, we cover the filling with it. From above spread the cassata glaze and decorate with candied fruits and candied fruits. Easter baking is ready, but before serving, put it on the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Easter baking: cake "simnel"

Traditional Easter bakery in the UKand Ireland - this is a cake "simnel". It is covered with marzipan, and on top there are eleven marzipan balls, symbolizing the apostles (without Judas). And one more ball in the center symbolizes Jesus Christ. To prepare the cake "simnel" we take the following ingredients.

• 
  raisins - 350 g
• 
  Butter - 175 g
• 
  brown sugar - 175 g
• 
  Wheat flour - 175 g
• 
  candied citrus fruits - 55 g
• 
  eggs - 4 pcs.
• 
  apricot jam (thick) - 1-2 tbsp. l.
• 
  mixture of ground spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger) - 0.5 tsp.
• 
  half a lemon peel
• 
  a pinch of salt

• 
  ground almonds - 250 g
• 
  powdered sugar - 250 g
• 
  egg - 1 pc.
• 
  almond essence - 0.5 tsp.

Preheat the oven to 140 degrees and lubricateoil mold with a diameter of 18 cm. First, prepare marzipan. Mix ground almonds and powdered sugar. Beat the egg, add to powder and almonds and stir until homogeneous. We pour essence and mesim until the marzipan becomes elastic and smooth. A third of the marzipan is distributed evenly over the bottom of the mold.

Mix the butter with the sugar until the mixture ispale. Separately we beat up three eggs. Without stopping to whip, we introduce beaten eggs in small portions into butter and sugar. Mix the flour with salt and spices, in the same way add to the oily-egg mixture. Lastly, we introduce raisins, candied fruits and zest, we knead to homogeneity.

Half the dough is evenly distributed in the formover the marzipan layer. From above put a circle from half of the remaining marzipan, and on it - the remaining dough. In the center of the cake make a small groove. We bake for about 1 hour and 45 minutes (we check the readiness with a toothpick). When the cake has cooled, grease it with apricot jam.

The remainder of marzipan is divided in half. From one half we make a circle, from the second - 11 balls. We put the circle on the top of the cake, around the balls. Lubricate the cake with a beaten egg and put it for 1-2 minutes in the oven, heated to the maximum temperature, so that the marzipan is browned. Russian Easter baking is ready!

Bon Appetit!