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mazurka - russian dried fruit cake

elmotoo avatar
Recipe by
Beth Renzetti
@elmotoo

Found at Recipe Studio where the author, Nadia, posts about the foods of her childhood/homeland, Russia. This is a very dense cake. Try using different chopped nuts and dried fruit and there you have a completely new cake. Wet, fresh ingredients, like chopped apples, do not work well with this dough. For a more traditional taste, use unbleached all-purpose flour and substitute brown sugar with white.

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yield 10 +
prep time 40 Min
cook time 30 Min
method Bake

Ingredients For mazurka - russian dried fruit cake

  • 2
    eggs
  • 1 c
    sugar (white and/or brown)
  • 1 c
    all purpose or whole wheat flour plus
  • 1 Tbsp
    all purpose or whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp
    baking soda
  • 1 c
    chopped walnuts or other nuts
  • 1 c
    sliced dried apricots or other dried fruit
  • 1 tsp
    mixed spice: ground cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. - your choice
  • 1/2 c
    farina (more if necessary)
  • 1 Tbsp
    vegetable oil

How To Make mazurka - russian dried fruit cake

  • 1
    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare the cooking pan (about 9" in diameter). First spread vegetable oil over the bottom and the sides with your fingers or a brush. Then, pour the farina into the oiled pan and tilt it over the sink until there is a thin coat of farina covering all surfaces that the dough will touch. This makes the cake easy to remove and gives it an extra bit of texture.
  • 2
    Chop the nuts into bits. When working with walnuts, I usually just break them with my hands. Slice the dried fruit. Choose the size that fits your taste. Set the cutting board aside.
  • 3
    Combine eggs, sugar and any flavorings you have in a large bowl. Use a mixer to beat to this mixture until the sugar dissolves (may take a couple of minutes for dark brown sugar), or almost dissolves.
  • 4
    Add 1/3 of the flour, mix it in with the mixer. Repeat twice until all flour is integrated. The dough will be slightly runny, but rather viscous. It should pour, but not splatter.
  • 5
    With a wooden spoon, thoroughly mix the nuts and dried fruit into the dough. The dough will be very chunky. That's normal.
  • 6
    Now for the fun part. Put the baking soda (not powder!) into a small dry cup. Hold a teaspoon ready in your hand as you squeeze lemon over the cup. Don't worry about the exact amount of the lemon juice. You need just enough for all of the soda to react with it. As the soda bubbles vigorously, mix it with the spoon so that all of it reacts with the juice. These are the bubbles that will cause the cake to rise. From now on your actions should be swift: the sooner you put the dough into the oven, the more time these bubbles have to raise your dough. So, carefully fold the bubbles into the dough. Transfer the dough into the prepared pan. With a spoon, spread the dough so that it evenly covers the bottom of the pan.
  • 7
    Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes. To test for readiness, insert a dry wooden chopstick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean - the cake is done. Let the cake cool before cutting.
  • Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
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