Slovak Homemade Cakes

04/19/2025

People lined up at the town Square of Bardejov to have their Eastwr baskets blessed. Most churches in Slovakia started blessing the baskets on Saturday evening so people don't have to rush on Sunday morning. We have a special Eastwr breakfast on Sunday so this is a great way to have everything ready for the morning.

04/19/2025

Pashka or Mazanec is next on my list. This is such an easy recipe, anybody can make it. I love the wreath shape but last year we just braided it and left it straight and it was really good too. I'll share a picture in the comments

Pashka bread came out awesome once again. I love this recipe. So simple to make and so pretty on the table. I love the wreath shape way better than the circle loaf, it always cracks on the top. With the wreath it doesn't matter if it cracks. I made small changes in the prep process. Instead of proofing my yeast separately in a glass with milk, I now throw dry yeast straight in the bowl with all the ingredients and save myself 15 minutes. Put flour, sugar, salt, egg, packet o dry yeast and raisins (optional in a mixing bowl. Melt butter, pour milk and water in the same pot to bring down the temperature of melted butter. test with your finger how warm it is. Heat up tiny bit more if needed. you need little more than lukewarm liquid for yeast to activate, but if it is too hot to touch, stick it in the fridge to cool down. Too hot liquid can kill the yeast. Pour this in the same bowl and mix with a hook attachment until combined. once mixed, cover the bowl tightly with a cling or saran wrap. cover in warm blanket and let rise for 1.5 hours. Knead few times, split in three parts and braid together. Pinch the ends together. Let rest for 20 minutes. Then brush with an egg wash, sprinkle slivered almonds and bake at 330 F for 30 minutes. That's all!
https://www.facebook.com/pg/SlovakHomemadeCakes/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1086294941442438

04/19/2025

I made these beauties a few years ago. My favorite way to decorate Easter eggs. All decorated eggs are called Kraslice, no matter what technique you choose.

04/19/2025

Beets are next!

Pickled beets with horseradish is another traditional Easter side dish that goes really well with ham and all the other meat dishes. We make this fresh few days before Easter. Once again very simple recipe. I made a small amount, only used 2 beets. Wash 2 medium beets really well, cove with cold water in a deep pan, cover and bring to a boil. Simmer on low-medium covered for 1 hour or until beets are fork tender. Meantime prepare the pickling juice. For this small amount you only need 1/3 cup of vinegar, 1/3 cup water, 3.5 tbsp sugar and 1/4 tsp of caraway seeds or Aniz seeds. Combine in a pan and bring to a boil. Sit aside and let cool down completely. When beets are done, drain and let cool down. Then use a fine grater to grate beets. If using fresh horseradish root, cut a small piece off, peel and grate on the same grater. go easy with horseradish, it's potent. Mix in a deep bowl. Strain your pickling juice to get rid of the seeds, they are there only to give it nice fragrant smell. Pour it on the beets, you don't have to use all of it. Mix, transfer to a bowl, cover tightly with a lid and store in the fridge. Should last for about 4-5 days.

04/19/2025

I made one last night. Beets and Pashka are next. How are you guys doing? Is your Syrek hanging in the fridge already?

Traditional Slovak Easter Hrudka or Syrek. Can be made savory like in my video or sweet with vanilla, raisins and sugar. Many different ways to make Easter S...

04/13/2025

My kid's favorite Easter egg decorating technique 🐣 🐰 So much fun! We use wooden eggs and keep expanding our collection every year.

04/12/2025

My first time trying this Easter egg decorating technique, a shrink plastic wraps. I love it! So easy and quick and if you use wooden eggs, you can keep them forever. People usually use hardboiled eggs but I thought this should work for the wooden eggs I buy for my kids to decorate so we can keep them and expand our collection every year. It worked perfectly!

Cut the wrap, place over the egg, dip in the boiling water for about 3 seconds and that's it!

You can find lots of wooden eggs on Amazon, they are not cheap but they are great for keepsakes.

I also tried the cheap dyeable eggs from Walmart (dozen for $1.98) and they worked great too!

You can find a huge selection of shrink decorative egg wraps on Amazon too. From floral, animal, religious to Disney themed. So much to choose from.

03/05/2025

Who can guess what I had for dinner tonight? I often had this at my grandparents' house, grandpa loved to eat it with buttermilk. My mom would do plain milk. The secret is to put a little bit of the meal on your spoon, then dip it in the buttermilk or milk and then eat it. So let's see who can guess what was for dinner tonight :)

Edit to add the answer:
Some of you guessed it, tonight I had a cornmeal or polenta. In my parts of Slovakia, we simply call it Gris, or kukuricna kasa (corn kasha). All I could find in the store was polenta in the Italian section. Our cornmeal is bit more coarse and takes longer to cook. I remember having a little more crunch to it rather than polenta's smoothness. But tastewise it was almost the same. Lots of salt and some browned butter made it taste almost like grandma's :)

12/05/2024

Don't forget to put your boots in the window tonight. Make sure it's clean and shiny. St. Nicholas or Svaty Mikulas as we call him, is coming tonight. Hope nobody finds a coal or potatoes in the morning. I still remember what a horrible threat that used to be for us when we were little. Be good or you get dirty coal instead of sweet treats. We made sure to clean our boots really well and couldn't wait to wake up in the morning. We usually got enough sweets to last us for a while. I always carefully divided my candy over many days, while my brother ate most of them by the end of the day. We used to get some better brand candy and chocolate from St. Nicholas than we would have in the house during the year. what a treat it was to get a Twix or Snickers or Milky Way bar! It used to be very expensive when they started selling them in Slovakia. A bag of raw peanuts in the shell used to be a big thing to get. Shelling peanuts is in my mind forever associated with Christmas time in Slovakia. And bag of mandarin oranges too! What a fun memories we have. Do you still celebrate St. Nicholas and what do you give your children? Since my son has enough sweets in the house, we are going with Hot wheels cars, glow sticks and a precious Kinder Egg (that is not available in USA so a hot commodity)

12/05/2024

Tomorrow, Dec 5th, is a big night for the kids in Slovakia (and other European countries). St. Nicholas will stop by their house at night and fill their boots with sweet treats if they were good. Or coal and wooden spoon if they were bad. So don't forget to clean those boots and put them on the windowsill tomorrow before going to bed! Who else still follows this tradition of Mikulas, as we call St. Nicholas in Slovakia.

09/25/2024

Slovak Radio hour is hosting another Dinner Dance this year. If you are in Pittsburgh PA area, or within a driving distance, It will be held on Sunday Oct. 13th. A New Jersey based Slovak band Kontakty will provide a live entertainment and they are fantastic. They keep us dancing all night long. Let me know if you are going, hope to see some of you there.

09/21/2024

Creamy bean soup made by my cousin in Slovakia. She likes to torture us by sending pictures of her food in our family group chat😀 I miss those big dark purple beans, I haven't found them in the States yet.