Kulich is one of the main symbols of the Easter feast, the same as colored eggs and Easter. In the old days, Orthodox hostesses always competed in baking Easter cakes. Even today, despite the fact that the finished confection can be bought at any grocery store, many women prefer to bake and decorate the cake on their own. Moreover, thanks to the large assortment of confectionery decorations, making Easter cake can turn into an exciting activity for mothers and children.
It is necessary
- - chicken or quail egg whites
- - icing sugar
- - lemon juice
- - confectionery sprinkles
- - chocolate
- - marmalade
- - dried fruits, nuts
- - chewing marshmallows
- - butter
- - poppy
- - almond petals
Instructions
Step 1
Traditionally in Russia the cake is decorated with a "hat" made of white protein glaze. To cook it, take two chicken egg whites or six quail whites if you are not sure about the quality of chicken eggs and are afraid of salmonellosis. Put the proteins in the refrigerator for two hours, then remove and beat them with a mixer, gently starting at the lowest speed and gradually increasing it. When the proteins are at their normal level (they thicken so that they will not pour out of the bowl, even if you turn it over), start adding half a cup of powdered sugar to them in a very thin stream and continue whisking. Then add one tablespoon of lemon juice to the protein mass without turning off the mixer. After half a minute, finish whipping and immediately apply the icing to the hot cake from the oven. To make the icing freeze faster, you can put the cake with the "cap" in a hot oven for a couple of minutes.
Step 2
If there are small children in the house, or you are preparing a cake for a gift, most likely you will not want to be limited to the classic white coating. You can decorate the Easter cake already on top of the protein "cap" with multi-colored sprinkles (it is sold in the confectionery departments of supermarkets). Another option is finely grated chocolate or colored coconut, almond petals, poppy seeds. Considering that, according to church custom, the Orthodox theme should be present on Easter cakes, you can not sprinkle the entire surface of the Easter cake with decoration, but with a pinch of your fingers pour shavings figured, in the form of a cross or the letters ХВ (Christ is Risen). If there is no sprinkling at hand, the letters can be laid out from nuts, finely chopped dried fruits, figured marmalade.
Step 3
Surprise your family and friends by making a one-piece Orthodox decoration - a cross or the letters ХВ yourself. To do this, take a bar of dark chocolate and melt it in a steam bath. Then, in a not very thin stream, "draw" the cross or the letters XB on the pastry baking paper. Transfer the sheet of paper carefully to the freezer. After a couple of hours, take it out: the chocolate decoration will easily come off the leaf, and it can be transferred to the cake and "put down, slightly drowning the tip of the figurine in the still uncured glaze.
Step 4
Skilled craftswomen decorate Easter cakes with real flower arrangements made of mastic. You can do it yourself. Easiest option: Buy a pack of gummy marshmallows like sweet snow or marshmallows, place in a deep microwave bowl, add a small lump of butter there. Heat the marshmallow with butter in the microwave until melted, remove and start pouring powdered sugar into the bowl, while kneading the mass like dough. As soon as the mastic reaches the consistency of plasticine, you can sculpt anything from it. For example, roses. Sculpt about 12-15 flat wide-angle triangles of different sizes, twist the first into a cone, and wrap the rest around it so that you get a flower with half-open petals. Please note that the color of your products will depend on the color of the marshmallow you originally took.
