Easter or the Bright Resurrection of Christ is the most ancient and joyful holiday celebrated by Christians around the world after the biggest fast of the year. Therefore, those who fast will get the maximum pleasure from all Easter dishes. In the Easter baking section you will find recipes to your liking, which are ideal both for the table and as a gift to relatives and friends. You will also find out what they bake for Easter.
Kulich - bread symbol of Easter
On the Easter holiday, it is customary to replace ordinary bread with specially baked rich bread with raisins, nuts, dried apricots, candied fruit, marzipan or other fillings. Kulich (so it is customary to call pastries) has a peculiar shape, according to giving, symbolizing the decorated dome of the church. And indeed, the housewives decorated the top of the cake with cream, beaten eggs with sugar and bright powder.
Modern housewives prepare Easter cakes according to various recipes for the feast of the Resurrection of Christ, since there is no single recipe for its preparation. Some adhere to traditions and bake Easter cakes according to the recipes of their mothers and grandmothers, others decide to experiment. To do this, we have placed Easter cakes on our website: recipes with photos and step-by-step instructions for their preparation from around the world.
Also every year there are new recipes and forms of Easter cakes. The standard cylindrical shape of the muffin has not lost its relevance, but it is also made in the form of wreaths, flowers, cupcakes, pyramids. Such bread rolls not only look original, but are, of course, a true decoration of any holiday table.
Do not think that Easter baking recipes are only about cooking Easter cake. In addition to this bread, the hostesses prepare other interesting sweet dishes, such as:
- Curd Easter;
- nests (small twisted rolls into which you can place Easter eggs "pysanka" or "krashenka");
- yeast buns in the form of animals (for example, Easter bunnies), sometimes with raisins, poppy seeds or other fillings;
- gingerbread (with the addition of ginger, ground cloves, cinnamon, vanilla);
- cookie;
- rum women;
- rolls, braids, bagels with poppy seeds, honey, jam, cream.
Gingerbread takes a special place in Easter baking. They are prepared, as a rule, in the form of testicles, and after baking they are painted with a special glaze. By the way, if you have children, decorating these gingerbread cookies will be an excellent creative activity with your family. Who knows, maybe this process will become a tradition of your family before every Easter holiday.
Without a doubt, among the millions of Easter recipes, you will definitely find your favorite, which will symbolize the spring holiday. The main thing is not to stop experimenting and looking for new ideas and recipes for Easter cakes, gingerbread, buns with photos, a step-by-step description of cooking, a detailed description of the ingredients, and you will certainly succeed!
Easter for Christians is the biggest religious holiday, with which many traditions are associated. One of them is to cook Easter cottage cheese, bake Easter cakes and paint eggs. Not a single Easter Sunday passes without these Easter attributes. But Easter cakes and Easter were not always prepared for Christ's Sunday. How did the custom Why are Easter cakes baked on Easter? ?
Easter cake
Easter cake, like cottage cheese Easter, and colored eggs, are obligatory ritual attributes of Christian Easter. Kulich is a Slavic rich ritual bread of a round or oval shape, which is consecrated in the church before serving at the Easter table.
The word "Kulich" (from Greek - "pretzel") is of church origin. Easter cakes are made from yeast dough. The size and shape of Easter cakes can be different, mostly cylindrical, but the product must be tall. Catholics, in addition to yeast cakes, prepare shortbread "women". Raisins, spices (vanilla, nutmeg or cardamom), candied fruits, nuts or just fruits are added to Easter cakes, decorated with icing from egg white whipped with sugar, powdered sugar, or the letters “XB” are depicted on top.
The preparation of Easter cakes begins on Maundy Thursday, and on Great Saturday, before Bright Sunday, ready-made Easter cakes are consecrated in the church. For Orthodox Christians, this is the most important, revered and indispensable rite. After the service, the Easter cake was broken at the Easter meal, divided among all those present.
Ritual meaning
The prototype of the Easter cake is church leavened bread (artos), which symbolized the victory of Christ over death, the triumph of life, the replacement of the Old Testament by the New. Believers believe that the one who eats the ritual artos approaches Christ and overcomes diseases.
Why are Easter cakes baked for Easter? ? According to biblical tradition, after the death of Christ, the apostles always gathered at the refectory table, leaving free the central place where Jesus once sat with them. To show that after death and resurrection Christ is invisibly present among them, an artos decorated with a cross and a wreath of thorns was placed in the center of the table. From here came the tradition of bringing special bread to the church, symbolizing Easter.
The cylindrical shape of the Easter cake is the shape of the shroud in which Christ was wrapped after the crucifixion.
Over time, high cylindrical cakes decorated with glaze became a traditional Easter bread in every family, symbolizing the invisible presence of Christ.
Biblical tradition says that after the crucifixion of Christ, the apostles ate unleavened bread, after his resurrection - yeast (leavened). Traditional Easter cakes today are made from rich dough with the addition of a large amount of eggs and butter. It is customary to cut Easter cakes horizontally in circles. The top of the cake was kept until the cake was finished.
Today, before Easter, a lot of ready-made Easter cakes are sold, but it is important that the housewives cook this ritual bread on their own. After all, only the warm aroma of homemade muffins, prepared with love and prayers, can create a good and blessed Easter mood.
Ready-made Easter cakes were eaten throughout the Easter week, and then carried to the cemetery on Memorial Sunday.
Easter signs
There are many signs associated with the Easter cake. It is believed that if the Easter cake is a success, then happiness and prosperity await the house during the year.
If it cracked or fell apart - expect trouble.
Other attributes of the Easter table
In addition to Easter cakes, the traditional Easter table is never complete without painted eggs and curd Easter. It was made from mashed cottage cheese with sugar and eggs with the addition of butter, sour cream or cream. The traditional form of the cottage cheese Easter is a truncated tetrahedral pyramid, which symbolizes Golgotha or the tomb from which Christ resurrected. For the preparation of cottage cheese Easter, a special pasochnik is used. The prepared curd mass is placed in a mold and left for a day in a cold place to glass whey. On the inside of the sides of the form are usually depicted a cross, spears or canes, the letters of the greeting "Christ is Risen!" ("ХВ"), grape bunches and flowers, symbolizing the suffering of Christ and his resurrection. All these images are printed on the finished Easter.
It is customary to eat cottage cheese Easter spread on a piece of Easter cake.
Painted eggs, which Christians traditionally exchange or simply give to each other, uttering the joyful exclamation “Christ is Risen!” Also serve as a symbol of the coffin and the rebirth of life.
Slavic ritual tradition
The history of the Easter cake is older than Christianity itself, its history is deeply rooted in the pagan past.
The Slavs, like many peoples, had a custom to bake ceremonial bread in the spring and sacrifice it to the earth. So the pagans performed a ritual dedicated to the gods of fertility, hoping to get a rich harvest. Worshiping their gods, the ancient Slavs baked Easter cakes several times a year for the biggest holidays associated with the change of seasons - the New Year, the arrival of spring or the autumn harvest.
Slavic ritual bread - kulich, was usually made from leavened dough and baked before sowing. Bread was sacrificed to the ancestors, the earth and the elements, so that the earth would be fertile and the harvest rich.
With the advent of Christianity, the tradition of baking Easter cakes, like many other pagan traditions, has united in the popular consciousness and is already perceived by us as Christian traditions and is actively used in religious rites.
Not a single Easter is complete without Easter cakes - these delicious, bright and fragrant masterpieces of homemade baking embody not only a symbol of the resurrection of Christ, but also a symbol of the rebirth of Mother Nature. At the same time, Easter cakes prepared according to old recipes are especially popular - of course, sometimes you have to tinker with them, but the result is worth it!
Fans of original pastries will certainly appreciate the delicious French-style cake made from brioche dough - its unusual taste will impress even the most demanding gourmets!
And novice hostesses can safely try to cook a wonderful sour cream and honey cake - it is not only incredibly easy to prepare, but it also turns out to be surprisingly tasty and extremely fragrant.
Easter cupcakes
Cupcakes are a great opportunity to diversify the Easter table or even replace traditional Easter cakes. Easter cupcakes with honey icing and raisins decorated with colorful confectionery topping will give a great mood to both children and adults!
The spectacular English Easter cake "Simnel" will not leave anyone indifferent - in English-speaking countries it is baked as often as traditional Easter cakes. Eleven marzipan balls, with which this unusual cake is decorated, symbolize the eleven apostles (for the twelfth, Judas, there was no place on the surface of the cake), and some hostesses put another ball in the middle - this ball personifies Jesus himself.
Easter pies
Pies are also baked for Easter, while open pies are considered to be the most popular type of Easter pies - the most striking example of this is the amazingly beautiful Easter meat pie. Unusual stuffing of minced meat with rosemary and thyme will appeal to everyone!The Easter pie "Blueberry Basket" will look no less impressive on the table - it will also delight absolutely all guests!
Easter cookies
Bright Easter cookies will also be very appropriate on the festive table. Especially delicious will be cookies made from quick puff pastry. And if you are not too lazy to decorate it with mastic, then it will delight everyone gathered at the table with its incredibly original design!Yeast dough buns
Many hostesses are very willing to bake fluffy yeast buns for Easter - such buns are actively used to treat work colleagues, neighbors and acquaintances. There are a huge number of variations of recipes for yeast buns - you can bake them with raisins, poppy seeds, marzipan or sesame seeds, and to make them look more spectacular, it is not forbidden to decorate them on top with chocolate or white icing. Well, if you want something special, it's time to try baking cute Easter bunnies. Sweet sour cream dough, exuding a delicious aroma of orange and vanilla, goes very well with an exquisite poppy seed filling!grandmother
Spectacular sweet grandmothers are able to instantly decorate even the richest and most sophisticated holiday table, including Easter. Well, can anyone resist such bright Easter rums, especially if they are beautifully decorated?Easter bread
You can’t do without bread for Easter, because it’s not for nothing that they say that bread is the head of everything! Agree, both guests and family members will be very pleased to see on the table not simple, but real holiday bread, for example, green Easter bread with soft cheese! Try to embody the best German traditions in your kitchen, because such a bread is perfect for meat, vegetables, and numerous cold appetizers!
Make the celebration of Easter bright and unforgettable - with Povarenok it's so easy!
Why are Easter cakes baked for Easter? Many people who have been brought up in the traditions of Christianity since childhood do not even think about where this custom came from, because the Easter cake has always been the main decoration of the Easter table, along with Easter cottage cheese and painted eggs.
However, if we turn to history, it turns out that the custom of baking Easter cakes originally appeared not in the Christian, but in the pagan tradition - long before the advent of the Christian cult, and they were baked not once, but three times a year, in honor of the onset of holidays significant for the ancients. Slavs. When did paganism and Christianity merge? This article is devoted to finding an answer to this question.
With the adoption of Christianity and the beginning of religious rites in the image and likeness of the sacraments performed by the Greek Church, a huge number of words borrowed from the Greek language came into the Russian language. The word & kulich & is also of Greek origin, meaning & round bread &.
What events are associated with this attribute of the bright holiday?
With the advent of Christian traditions in Russia, traditional Slavic ritual bread became known as Easter cake and was an obligatory attribute of the Easter meal. It is baked from yeast dough with the addition of candied fruit and raisins and has the shape of a tall cylinder decorated with sugar icing. For greater decorativeness, Old Slavic Easter cakes were sprinkled with dyed millet. Nowadays, decorative sprinkles are used for this purpose.
Holy (Great) Saturday preceding Easter is the time for the consecration of Easter cakes, Easter and painted eggs (the question: & why do they paint eggs for Easter?& again refers us to the need to turn to historical reference books).
In each Russian region, different forms were used for baking. For the most part, the Easter cake resembled high church bread - artos, although the Vologda peasants baked it in the form of an open berry pie.
Whatever Easter pies are: large or small, narrow or wide, they always have a rounded shape. This is connected with the memory that Christ was dressed in a round shroud.
The fact that Easter breads are baked from very sweet and rich dough indicates the festivity of this dish, dedicated to a bright event in the history of all mankind. Before the great sacrifice, Jesus and his apostles knew only the taste of bread baked from unleavened dough. After the miraculous resurrection, bread made from an unusually tasty, fermented dough appeared on their table.
Easter cakes were modest: the dough from which they were baked contained a huge amount of butter and eggs. Recipes are known, according to which a whole hundred eggs were added to two kilograms of wheat grain.
After the seven weeks of Lent, a small piece of cake was the best food, capable of both creating a feeling of a joyful holiday and preparing the body of a fasting parishioner for a plentiful festive feast.
They broke the fast (that is, for the first time after fasting they ate fast food) with a symbolic loaf only after the Easter church service.
Ritual bread baked from sourdough was at first sacrificed to the mother earth, ancestors or natural elements. The purpose of such a sacrifice was the desire to get their support, thereby ensuring a rich harvest and soil fertility. Ritual loaves were baked on the eve of sowing.
The prototypes of future Easter cakes were initially baked twice a year: at the beginning of spring (marking the beginning of field work) and at the end of autumn (on the occasion of harvesting). In the times of Peter the Great, they were also baked in winter, in connection with the onset of a new calendar year.
Such frugality was explained by the rather high cost of the resulting product, since their manufacture requires a large amount of valuable and expensive products. In addition, baking technology is characterized by great complexity and duration of the process itself, which makes them exclusively an attribute of only a solemn and significant feast.
For some time, festive breads were used in pagan cult rites along with the administration of Christian customs, as a result of which there was an imperceptible interpenetration of the two cultural traditions. Over time, the pagan meaning of the rite was forgotten, giving way to the Christian meaning associated with the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Why does baking appear on the Resurrection of Christ?
The Christian meaning of the tradition of baking Easter cakes for the holiday is associated with an ancient tradition, according to which the resurrected Jesus Christ visited the dining apostles. From that time on, they always left a place for Jesus in the center of the table, where freshly baked bread was always waiting for him.
Over time, on the Easter holiday, a church tradition appeared to bake special bread - artos (which is a whole prosphora) and leave it on a special table, in imitation of the actions of Christ's disciples.
On all days of the Easter week, the artos is an indispensable attribute of the processions around the church. On Saturday of the Holy Week (after reading the prayer to crush the artos), the clergy divide it into parts and distribute it to the parishioners after the end of the church service as a shrine. The distribution of the artos is accompanied by the kissing of the cross.
One of the postulates of Christian teaching is the idea that each family is a small church, which on the bright holiday of Easter should have its own artos. The role of such an arthos was played by the Easter cake.
Thus, the presence of Easter bread on the table became a symbol of the invisible presence of the Lord in every home. On the table of every Orthodox Christian on this day, there must be Easter cake and Easter. The Church assists believers in every possible way, taking part in their consecration.
Kulichik symbolically means the bread broken by the resurrected Jesus during the meal of the apostles.
Festive bread is a distinguishing feature between Jewish and Christian Passover. During the Jewish Passover, only unleavened bread is served on the tables of believers. Leavened bread at this moment is under the strictest ban. Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter by enjoying delicious sweet pies.
Putting the dough and kneading the dough, it is necessary to maintain purity of thoughts and a high mental attitude, so the hostess at this moment should read a prayer and turn to the Lord with a request to help her prepare a successful Easter cake.
It has long been believed that the type of Easter cake for the whole year determines the well-being of the whole family. The even and smooth surface of the finished cake means that the affairs of the family will turn out well. If the Easter cake did not rise well or cracks formed on its surface, this portends many upcoming disappointments and losses.
Easter cakes are baked on Maundy Thursday, in an atmosphere of comfort, cleanliness and order. The hostess who baked in the old days always wore a clean shirt.
At the time of baking Easter cakes in the house, it was impossible not only to knock, but also to raise your voice, as well as open doors and windows.
In order to prevent the freshly baked cake from settling, it was planted on a down pillow until it cooled completely. At this time, all household members were removed from the kitchen in order to exclude the occurrence of drafts and extraneous air currents accompanying any movement.
The cake is cut not lengthwise, but across, in rings. If necessary (if the Easter cake has a large diameter), these rings can be cut radially.
The upper part of the Easter cake is kept until the last moment (until the last piece of pulp is eaten), using it as a lid that protects the tender Easter cake from drying out.
Easter cakes are baked taking into account the number of members in the family. Easter cake must be distributed over the entire Easter week: each family member should receive one piece daily.
Unlike European varieties of Easter bread (for example, English cake or Austrian reindling), the Russian version of Easter cake is much lighter both in structure and in the degree of absorption by the human body.
The unique combination of sweetness and lightness of Easter cake make it an indispensable product that promotes a gradual and safe transition from observing a strict fast to eating fast food.
The sourdough for Russian Easter cake is set a week before Easter, and the dough is traditionally made on Maundy Thursday.
The flour intended for Easter cake is sifted at least twice: this contributes to its saturation with oxygen.
The tub with the created dough is covered with pillows to prevent it from sagging, and during its proofing, loud conversations and walking around the room in heavy shoes are unacceptable.
In the room where Easter cakes are prepared, there should be a constant air temperature, excluding even the slightest temperature fluctuations.
A festive Orthodox Easter cake is unthinkable without prayers read over it.
Croatia - Pinca
In Croatia, they eat pinca for Easter - a pie with lemon or orange zest, dried fruits, raisins or candied fruits. Many still, according to the old tradition, make a pattern in the shape of a cross on the pincer before baking. In addition to the pie, ham, boiled eggs, radishes and green onions are usually served on the table. Like us, Croats bless food at the Easter service.
Great Britain - buns with a pattern (hot cross buns)
On Good Friday, the British eat hot cross buns - buns with spices, decorated with a pattern in the form of a cross. One of the beliefs says that buns baked on Good Friday do not spoil for a whole year - just like the Epiphany water of the Orthodox. And on Easter itself in Britain, it is customary to cook a roast of milk lamb.
Germany - Easter lamb (Osterlamm)
It seems that one of the cultural borders of Europe runs somewhere in Germany. To the west of it, in France and Great Britain, lamb dishes are prepared for Easter, and to the east they prefer to eat sweets like Easter cakes and Easter cakes for the holiday. The Germans do both - they make sweet pies in the shape of a lamb.
France - wicker baskets ("cavagnats")
In France, every city has its own Easter cake. So in Auvergne these are big thick pancakes “pachades”, and in Savoy - “cavagnats” wicker baskets, they put red-colored eggs, in Touraine - these are gingerbread in the form of horses.
Italy - Colomba Pasquale (Colomba Pasquale or Colomba di Pasqua)
As with pizza, you will hardly find two identical colombas in Italy - each has its own recipe. This tall, dry cake is made from yeast dough with grated orange peel, candied fruits or raisins. It is baked in the shape of a dove (the literal translation of the Italian name is “Easter dove”), and sprinkled with almond slices and sugar on top. It turns out a sweet symbol of peace and resurrection.
Spain - Torrija
Even on Holy Week, the Spaniards cannot deny themselves the pleasure of eating something sweet. There is no single recipe for torrijas; each family prepares them in its own way. But the general principle is simple: slices of bread are soaked with honey and spices in milk, wine or liquor; then dipped in egg yolk and fried in olive oil. Does it look like our croutons? It seems. But don't talk about it to the Spaniards if you don't want to hurt their pride.
In addition to torrijas, the Spanish Easter table is sure to include garlic soup and buñuelo - donut-like balls of dough with anise. And in Catalonia, whose inhabitants strive to be different from the rest of Spain in everything, there is their own Easter dish Mona de Pasqua - a cake with almonds and chocolate, generously decorated with Easter eggs, chocolate hares and even toy chickens.
Poland - Mazurka (Mazurek)
In Poland, mazurkas are eaten at Easter - shortbread cookies with fruit and nut fillings. Initially, mazurkas were made with plums and apples, but modern recipes more often call for making cookies with oranges or lemons. It is customary to add chopped almonds or walnuts to the filling of shortbread cookies, and sprinkle with powdered sugar or decorate with icing on top.
Bulgaria, Romania - Cozonac
In each country in the south-east of Europe, sweet Easter bread is called in its own way. In Greece, these are tsoureki, in Turkey - cherek, in Bulgaria and Romania - kozunak. In fact, these are the same our Easter cakes and Easter cakes. With one difference: the variety of fillings is limited only by the common sense and imagination of the baker. Anything can be inside: from classic cottage cheese and raisins to innovative Turkish delight and pumpkin puree or pistachios, cranberries and blackberries.
Greece - Tsoureki 
In Orthodox Greece, they eat both roasted lamb at Easter, as in France and Britain, and sweet tsoureki bread, as in Russia and Bulgaria. On the eve of the holiday, on the evening of Great Saturday, the Greeks prepare magiritsa - a hearty soup with offal, egg-lemon dressing and herbs. This is the first meat dish to break the fast after Lent, and is traditionally made from the liver of the Passover lamb. Magiritsa is usually served on the table at night, immediately after the Easter service.
Finland - Mämmi
If you look for comparisons, then the closest analogue of the Finnish Easter dish mämmi is beer with ice cream. It is all the more surprising that they usually eat it on Good Friday. Mämmi is a porridge made from rye flour and malt that is cooked for several hours in the oven, then cooled and eaten with cream or vanilla ice cream. By the way, once this recipe was widespread in our Karelia.
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