Barban cake
Barban cake
Barban cake or cake for the wedding – is a traditional cake from the Barban region.
“The tradition was that when weddings used to be held, the leaders of the wedding party would carry a round Barban cake on their arm, with a hole in the middle. When the bride and groom got married, it was customary to place a barban cake in front of them and whoever pulled out the thicker end became the head of the house,” Mirjana Prgomet told us.
The cake is not too complicated to make, but you need to be skilled because the cake must have a nice circular shape and a regular “škuja” (hole) in the middle, and it is customary to cut it into triangles. The recipe requires three whole eggs, three egg yolks, yeast, ten tablespoons of sugar, olive oil, a little rum or good brandy, and lemon or orange zest per kilogram of plain flour.
Recipe
“Barban cake”
- 4 whole eggs
- 4 egg yolk
- 30 dkg sugar
- 2 vanilla sugar
- 3dcl milk
- 8 dkg yeast
- 1dcl olive oil
- 10 dkg homemade lard
- 2 lemon-zest
- 2 orange-zest
- 1dcl rum
- 1-11/2kg flour
Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and flour and 1 dl of milk to the yeast, let it rise.
Mix the eggs and sugar a little and gradually add the flour, milk, yeast, fat, lemon and orange zest and rum, stirring constantly. Add enough flour to make a smooth, firm (not too hard) dough. Let it rise, knead it and let it rise again.
Knead it, shape it into a circle, cut it and connect the ends with a flower made from a piece of dough. Brush it with egg yolk mixed with a tablespoon of olive oil. Bake for 1 hour at 180 degrees.
Our recipe comes from Mirjana Prgomet, a hardworking housewife from the Barban area who keeps traditional recipes from being forgotten.
