Big royal Easter cake

Step-by-step preparation

Cooking time: 6 hr

1. STEP 1

   

   How to bake a large royal cake? Prepare all the necessary ingredients. First, let's make the dough.

2. STEP 2

   

   To do this, pour the cream into a bowl and heat it slightly in the microwave. Or you can heat the cream in a saucepan on the stove. The temperature of the cream should be about 38-40 C, no more, otherwise the yeast will simply die! Add sugar to the cream and stir.

3. STEP 3

   

   Mash fresh compressed yeast with your hands and add to the bowl with the cream and granulated sugar. Leave the bowl with yeast for about 5 minutes, during which time the yeast will soften and dissolve much more easily.

4. STEP 4

   

   After 5 minutes, use a whisk or spoon to stir the mixture very thoroughly so that the yeast is completely dissolved.

5. STEP 5

   

   Sift the flour through a sieve or using a special mug, this will saturate it with oxygen and make the baked goods airy. Add flour to bowl with cream.

6. STEP 6

   

   Stir until you get a thick dough. Cover the bowl with the resulting dough with a damp towel or cling film and place in a warm place for about 1-2 hours. During this time, the dough should increase several times in size.

7. STEP 7

   

   While the dough is rising, let's move on to the other ingredients.

8. STEP 8

   

   First, separate the yolks from the whites of 10 eggs. Place them in a deep bowl so that when beating, we won’t stain the table. Pour the whites from two eggs into a bowl, they will be needed later for the glaze, we won’t need the rest, pour them into a jar, close with a tight lid and put everything in the refrigerator. Add 3 more whole eggs to the yolks. Before using, wash eggs in warm water and soda, as there may be harmful bacteria on their surface.

9. STEP 9

   

   Add granulated sugar and vanilla sugar to the bowl. You can replace vanilla sugar with vanillin, but use it on the tip of a knife, otherwise it may add bitterness to the finished baked goods.

10. STEP 10

    

    Beat everything with a mixer until you get a fluffy foam. The mass will approximately double. Set the bowl aside.

11. STEP 11

    

    Take cardamom. Place the cardamom pods in a mortar and crush them with a pestle until they open up.

12. STEP 12

    

    Take out the black seeds.

13. STEP 13

    

    And grind them into powder. If you wish, you can grind the cardamom in a coffee grinder or use ready-made ground cardamom. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it at all.

14. STEP 14

    

    After 1 hour, take out our dough. During this time it should rise well.

15. STEP 15

    

    Add beaten eggs with sugar and ground cardamom to the dough.

16. STEP 16

    

    Stir with a spoon or whisk until smooth.

17. STEP 17

    

    Add sifted flour. By the way, since flour from all manufacturers is of different quality, you may need a little less or a little more of it, so in order not to clog the dough with excess flour, add it in small portions.

18. STEP 18

    

    Knead into a soft and sticky dough.

19. STEP 19

    

    Add soft butter into the resulting dough in small portions. After each new portion of butter, knead the dough thoroughly. Remove the butter from the refrigerator in advance (1.5-2 hours beforehand) so that it is soft. Cold butter will not be able to combine with the dough.

20. STEP 20

    

    The end result should be a very soft, tender and smooth dough. If desired, you can knead this dough using a bread machine or a mixer with dough attachments.

21. STEP 21

    

    Grease a bowl or, as in my case, a large pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil and place a ball of dough into it. Cover the container with the dough with film or a towel and leave in a warm place for 1-2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

22. STEP 22

    

    While the dough is rising, combine the raisins (I used a mixture of light and dark) and cranberries. Pour hot water over the dried fruit mixture and leave to swell slightly for 5-10 minutes. If your cranberries are fresh, then you don’t need to pour boiling water over them, just rinse them in running water and dry them.

23. STEP 23

    

    Drain the water and place the dried fruits in a sieve.

24. STEP 24

    

    Transfer the raisins and cranberries to paper towels/napkins to remove any remaining water.

25. STEP 25

    

    Lightly chop the peeled almonds with a knife. And put it aside for now.

26. STEP 26

    

    After 1-2 hours, take out our dough.

27. STEP 27

    

    Add dried fruits and nuts to it.

28. STEP 28

    

    Mix the dough thoroughly so that the dried fruits and nuts are evenly distributed in it. Cover the container with the dough again with a towel or film and leave to rest for 15-20 minutes.

29. STEP 29

    

    Divide the rested dough into parts. Roll each piece of dough into a neat ball.

30. STEP 30

    

    Grease baking pans with vegetable oil and sprinkle with flour or line with baking paper. By the way, if you use disposable paper molds, it is better to grease them as well, since sometimes they use not the highest quality paper and it will be difficult to separate the finished cake from such a wrapper. So, fill the prepared molds with dough. By the way, the dough should fill the mold 1/3, then your Easter cakes will not run off the edges of the mold.

31. STEP 31

    

    Leave the filled molds in a warm place for 40-50 minutes or until the dough has increased in size by 1.5-2 times. Before baking, brush the tops of the Easter cakes with beaten egg if desired (this is not necessary).

32. STEP 32

    

    Bake the Easter cakes in an oven preheated to 170-180 C for about 20-50 minutes until a beautiful golden brown crust. Please note that the time I give is not exact, as it will differ depending on the size of the cake and the features of your oven. On average, cakes weighing about 500 g will bake for about 40 minutes. If suddenly the tops of the cakes brown quickly during baking, cover them on top with a sheet of foil.

33. STEP 33

    

    Remove the finished cakes from the mold and leave to cool on a wire rack.

34. STEP 34

    

    Meanwhile, prepare the glaze.

35. STEP 35

    

    Pour the previously reserved 2 egg whites into a deep container. Add sifted powdered sugar to them in small portions.

36. STEP 36

    

    And with a spatula, start rubbing the whites with powder. Grind until the glaze becomes thick, smooth and snow-white. This can also be done using a mixer, spending less effort and time.

37. STEP 37

    

    At the very end, add 1 tbsp to the glaze. l. lemon juice and mix thoroughly. But you can do without it.

38. STEP 38

    

    Cover the tops of the cooled Easter cakes with the finished glaze and sprinkle with confectionery sprinkles. Leave the cakes for several hours to allow the glaze to dry.

39. STEP 39

    

    That's all! The royal cake is ready!

40. STEP 40

    

    Happy Easter to you! Christ is risen!

Comments on the recipe

olgay198108

13.08.2023

5

Irishka))) Your Easter cake is just a sight for sore eyes))) So elegant)) I’m taking this recipe for myself and will definitely bake it too))) Thank you for such an interesting recipe)

Ira

13.08.2023

4.8

Irisha! Expensive! Hello! Finally I waited for your masterpieces! And as always, I was blown away! Wonderful Easter cakes! mmmmm... With so many additional ingredients added to the dough - I can imagine what the aroma was like at home! And you can’t even imagine the taste! Multi-colored berries and nuts are used, I would like to see in cross-section how they come out in finished form. Sorry for being curious)). Thank you very much for your efforts! I'm adding it to my Cookbook!

Natusik

13.08.2023

4.8

Irishka, wonderful cake! So elegant and beautiful! Super! This is delicious!

Elena

13.08.2023

4.9

Thank you very much for the recipe! It really turned out to be a Tsar's Kulich! Everyone was blown away and no crumbs were left behind!!!!

Marina

13.08.2023

4.5

Good afternoon Irina! I baked a truly ROYAL KULICH according to your recipe for Easter. It turned out very tasty and aromatic and everyone really liked it. THANKS for the recipe.

katya_she

13.08.2023

4.9

How much is in one serving??? And then for 16 servings for 10, and how much is 1 serving - in grams, or so that if there are 16 servings, then that is 8 Easter cakes or 6??! How to understand

enlik

13.08.2023

4.5

The recipe is called “Big Tsar’s Easter cake”, and I made a lot of different Tsar’s Easter cakes - both large and small))). I highly recommend making Easter cakes of different sizes. It will be useful to give as a gift and to put on the table. The recipe is simply wonderful, the cakes are delicious and beautiful. Thank you!