 Traditional home-made mazurek | |
| Alternative names | Easter shortcake[1] |
|---|---|
| Type | Pastry |
| Place of origin | Poland |
| Serving temperature | Room |
| Main ingredients | flour, sugar, butter ormargarine,eggs,icing, candied or dried fruits,nuts |
Mazurek is a very[2] sweet, flat[2] cake baked inPoland forEaster[1][3].
According to Polish gastronomycoursebooks, typicalmazurek is a cake that can be made of one or two sheets ofshort (or half-short) pastry or one sheet of short (or half-short) pastry covered with a sheet of butter sponge cake. The two sheets are fixed together with a help of alayer ofmarmalade. In case of one-sheet version, marmalade is skipped or goes on top, under the layer oficing. The top ofmazurek is covered with a layer of icing (i.e. sugar icing orkajmak) orjelly. It is also decorated with nut-based icing or almond-based icing andcandied fruits.[3] Traditionally, home-bakedmazurek cakes are often decorated withdried fruits and nuts.
In the one-sheet version, the cake includes the borders made of rolled half-short pastry[3][4]. Sometimes the shortcrust base is crowned with alattice made of half-short ormacaroon pastry.
Among other versions, often to be found in popularcook books and gastronomy coursebooks is "Gypsy mazurek" (mazurek cygański). A sheet of half-short pastry is half-baked, covered with a layer made of dried fruit, almonds, egg yolks creamed with sugar andwhipped egg white and baked again.[3]
The cake's name may have its origins in theMasovians (oldMazurzy) tribe inhabiting theMazovia region of central Poland.[5] Another theory says it might originate from the wordmazurek (Polish formazurka), traditionalfolk dance intriple metre from Poland. Ashortcrust pastry, Mazurek is considered one of the primary desserts of Easter across Poland. What distinguishes it from other festive dessert cakes is the abundance of decoration withdried fruit and nuts,[5] its overall sweetness, and chocolate icing, contributing to its prolonged freshness.
Although considered uniquely Polish, almost a seasonal national dessert,[6] the recipe for Mazurek came to Poland most likely from the East, via the spice trade-route fromTurkey[5] in the early 17th century.
Its symbolism is closely associated with the period ofWielki Post (Polish forLent) thus marking its successful completion. In fact, after a 40-day fast (not a total abstinence from food by any means), which is celebrated in Christian liturgy in memory of theTemptation of Christ, mazurek was supposed to be the rich reward for adherence to faith and tradition. Although today, the religious meaning of mazurek is virtually lost in Poland, the cake is closely associated with the seasonal celebrations nevertheless.[6]
Usually, the decorative patterns includes Easter symbols likeeggs[citation needed],hares,pussy willows and Easter greetings.[4]
News portalWirtualna Polska insisted that mazurek cannot resemble any other regular cake. It is supposed to be flat in multitude of varieties, each with different flavour and lavishly decorated. Twelve of them (served side by side, as claimed by the magazine), would not be entirely out of line traditionally.[2]
At Christmas, the emphasis on a symbolic number twelve is closely related to theTwelve Apostles at theLast Supper,[7] celebrated by Catholics by twelve different food offerings.[8]
Thenutty mazurek ("nutty Easter shortcake"[1], pol.mazurek orzechowy) was entered onto the list of Polish traditional bakery and confectionery products for theKuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship by theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MRiRW) on 3 November 2011, described in a particular way.[9] Theshortcrust (half-short) base is prepared from groundwalnuts,flour,sugar,margarine, small number ofeggs and a little bit ofsour cream.[1] The frosting is a walnut cream[9] or, according toPolish Food magazine published by MRiRW,icing made of sugar, water andmilk powder melted together[1]. The thick layer of icing is spread over baked cake and finally decorated with dried fruit (raisins), almonds and walnuts into a pattern[9][1]. "Nutty mazurek" is supposed to be considerably flat, rectangular, 20 centimetres (7.9 in) by 40 centimetres (16 in) in size, very sweet with distinct aroma of walnuts, golden or golden-brown in colour[9].
(Translation: If the tradition is to be followed, there should be 12 mazurek cakes at Easter, each with different flavour.) Aby tradycji stało się zadość, na wielkanocnym stole powinno być ich 12, a każdy o innym smaku.
