Today is Maundy Thursday (in German “Green Thursday”) - a day on which there has always been one particular dish since my earliest memories: Fried egg with potatoes and, of course, spinach for Maundy Thursday. Did you know that the word "Green Thursday" doesn't actually come from "green", but from the old German word "greinen"? It means something like "to weep". Well, according to Wikipedia, there are various theories, but the one with the "greinen" is my favourite. There are lots of different Easter customs. Typical Pongau Easter customs range from carrying palm bushes to painting blown-out eggs. You can read about 7 typical Easter traditions here. Well, I'm sitting at a classic Maundy Thursday lunch eating spinach with a fried egg and potatoes and I'm already thinking about the "culinary Easter holidays". My job in the family is always to bake a nice Easter cake. And as I tend to be a bit of a mess in the kitchen, I need a great, particularly simple recipe. Full of motivation, I delved into my mum's recipe books and found a great, simple recipe for an Easter cake.
So, dear readers, grab your cooking apron and join me in making my recipe for Easter cake:
1. for the sponge cake, beat the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl in a food processor (a hand mixer also works, of course) until very frothy. Then stir in the mineral water well. Carefully fold in the flour, preferably spoon by spoon. Then pour the mixture into the buttered and floured cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for approx. 20 minutes.
2. For the cream, whip the whipped cream with the cream stiffener, then mix in the quark, sugar and lemon juice. Pour the cream into a piping bag.
3. Cut the cooled cake in half. I always do this with dental floss so that it is even. Spread the bottom part with the jam and dab with the cream. Then put the lid on and dab the cream on again and spread evenly.
4. And to finish, decorate with chocolate bunnies 😊.
I wish you a happy Easter and good luck!
Ps: If you make your Easter cakes, you can link us on Instagram - @josalzburg. Looking forward to lots of Easter cakes 😉
photo credits: Katharina Huber