Easter is a bright and, perhaps, the most long-awaited holiday of the year for every Christian. The main decoration of the Easter table is Easter cake, painted eggs and curd Easter.
Kulich is a high rich bread, which symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Easter cake - its symbolism and meaning
By the main Christian holiday, according to tradition, they bake leavened bread - artos, which depicts a cross and a crown of thorns, which symbolize the sacrifice of Christ.
On the first day of Easter, Artos is carried around the church. Then it is left on the lectern, where it is located throughout the week. On Holy Week, it is cut and distributed to all the parishioners of the church. Artos symbolizes the bread of life. The acceptance of artos is comparable to the participle.
Kulich is an analogue of homemade artos. On a clean Thursday, yeast dough is turned on, baked on Friday, and then consecrated in the temple. Kulich is a kind of personification of bread that Christ shared with his disciples during the Last Supper.
This tradition is so great that even during the war, when people did not have anything, black bread was brought for consecration at Easter.
In the Christian tradition, there are many varieties of Easter baking. But only the Russian Easter cake is a unique product. It is light in its structure and well absorbed.
This cake has a cylindrical shape. Dried fruits or candied fruits are added to the dough, and the top of the pastries is decorated with icing, on which they spread the letters XB, which symbolize Christ's Sunday.
According to tradition, part of the Easter cakes were donated to the poor. For this, small wafers are baked, which are passed to children's homes, hospitals and places of detention.
It is worth noting that it is very important to cut the cake correctly. Many cut it with longitudinal slices, but this is permissible only if it is eaten whole. Basically, the tip is cut off, and the cake is cut into vertical chunks. And the tip is eaten last, as it protects the crumb from weathering.
An important stage of cooking cakes - decoration. This will make the baking unique.
Best Easter Cake Decorating Ideas
1. Powdered sugar. Our grandmothers used this method. Due to its simplicity, it is popular in our days. It is enough to take powder, and sift it through a strainer directly on the cake.
2. Proteins, whipped with sugar. This method also comes from the past. Separate the whites from the yolks. Beat them, gradually pouring sugar until a thick dense foam. She covered the surface of cakes. Yolks can be used for making dough for cakes.
3. Frosting with decorative powder. Prepare the glaze is simple: take icing sugar, mix it with starch and citric acid. Egg whites are whipped into a stable foam, gradually pouring in them a dry mixture of powder and starch. The baking surface is coated with icing and decorated with decorative powder. The powder will not hold if the icing dries.
4. Candied fruit, beads and sugar figurines. Today you can buy sugar beads of silver and golden color. They look just great on a white background. If you have children, pay attention to the sugar figurines of flowers or animals. Use not too large figures. They look best on cake.
5. Sugar pencils. This invention allows to create a real masterpiece on the surface of baking. In addition, the decoration with pencils will be interesting for children, which will allow the whole family to spend time with interest and benefit.
6. Marshmallow mastic. To prepare take 250 g of ordinary white marshmallow. Pour 50 ml of lemon juice on it and place it in the microwave for 25 seconds. It will become soft and begin to melt. In the resulting mass put 30 g of butter and begin to knead, gradually pouring powdered sugar until a homogeneous mixture. You can add a little sour cream to make the mass elastic. Then the finished product is packaged in a bag and sent to the refrigerator for an hour. If necessary, it can be colored with food dyes or juice of vegetables or berries. From mastic can sculpt a variety of figures.
7. The letters XB. They are applied with sugar pencils, or made from dough for kulich. To do this, tear off a small piece of dough, roll it into a sausage of the same thickness and spread the letters on the surface of the cake, after having previously smeared it with yolk. 8. Chocolate icing. Melt 1/3 bar of white chocolate. Pour it thinly onto the foil and cool completely. Pour the melted black chocolate bar. Smash a layer of white chocolate in small slices and sprinkle with a layer of black chocolate.
9. Lemon glaze. Combine lemon zest with 110 g of powdered sugar. Dissolve 30 g of plums. oil and add to it a mixture of zest and powder. Squeeze here the juice of half a lemon and pour warm cream. All well whisk. The resulting mixture pour hot cakes and leave to cool for an hour.
10. Original composition for decoration “Chickens and testicles”. Rub 85 g of cheddar on the smallest grater. In 120 g of sifted flour, add 55 g of plums. butter and knead the dough. Add half the grated cheese. Shake the egg yolk, adding quite a bit of water. Pour some yolk mixture into a bowl, put the rest in the fridge. Roll out the dough in a thin layer, powder with flour and cut out the chicken and testicle figures. Lubricate them with yolk mixture, sprinkle with cheese and bake for 20 minutes in the oven at 180C. Decorate the Easter cake with cooled figures.
11. Decorative do-it-yourself powder. Prepare it from the base and food paint. The basis may be semolina or white sugar powder. The base is stained. To do this, put it for a few minutes in a paint diluted in water. Then laid out on paper and dried. The resulting lumps crumble to make powder.
12. Decorating with dough. Not only letters are made of dough, but also various figures that are attached to the baking surface with the help of whipped protein. The dough is used the same as for cakes, or prepared according to another recipe. The decor is also fixed after baking. In this case, it is glued with sugar syrup.
13. Lemon-chocolate fudge. Melt 65 g butter. Add to it a squeezed juice from half a lemon and add 225 g of powdered sugar. Here we send 75 g of cocoa. Stir. It should be a sticky mass. We decorate the surface of her cake.
14. Multicolored chocolate icing. The basis for the preparation of glazes of different colors is white chocolate. However, do not use catchy colors; soft tones of green, yellow or pink are best. Top of the glaze can be sprinkled with finely chopped nuts or candied fruit, confectionery powder. Melt a bar of white chocolate. Cool to a warm state, enter a dye and mix. Optionally, you can add condensed milk or butter. As a dye, you can use the juice of vegetables or berries. If the icing is too thin, add starch to it.
15. Toffee Glaze. In a quarter cup of milk, add 220 g toffee and put on a slow fire. Hold until the candy melts completely. Gradually add 60 g of powdered sugar. Cook the icing until smooth.
16. The decor of chocolate and nuts. Melt 120 g of dark chocolate. Pour in 55 ml of cream and cook, stirring, until smooth. Cover the surface of the cooled baking with chocolate icing and sprinkle with finely chopped nuts.
17. Coffee fudge. Boil 120 ml of black coffee. Put 320 g of sugar in it and keep on low heat until it dissolves. Pour the resulting mass in a bowl, whisk and grease cakes with icing.
18. Fruit Fudge. Beat 3/4 tbsp. powdered sugar with protein to a fluffy mass. Enter a few tablespoons of the juice of the berries to obtain a uniform color.
Serving at the table - final touches
Now you know how beautiful and unusual to decorate the cake. It remains to add a few strokes to make the flow even more spectacular:
• Tie the finished cake with satin, openwork or embroidered ribbon. Tie a magnificent bow. You can attach a live spring flower to the ribbon. Next on the plate, put the spikelets of wheat and painted eggs.
• You can decorate the plate with a round knitted napkin or an embroidered towel.
Recently, for decoration using different figures, ranging from flowers, and ending with figurines of fairy-tale characters. To decorate Easter all sorts of elves and other fictional characters are not recommended. It is better if it will be spring flowers, letters or figures of chickens.
The main thing is to decorate cakes with love and in a good mood, and you will definitely get a real piece of pastry art.
