Sweet Cornmeal Cake - a sweet very popular in Transylvania

For people growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, it was an important tradition to visit their grandparents during the holidays. Grandparents usually lived in the village; only those born in the 50s and 60s began to move to the city. So the children growing up in the late twentieth century often enjoyed long holidays in the fresh air and wide plains of the Romanian countryside.

Most of these children, especially those who had grandparents in Transylvania, grew up with a simple but delicious dessert called sweet cornmeal cake. It is an uncomplicated recipe, for which you only need to mix the ingredients and put the composition into the oven.

You can serve it according to the traditional recipe, or you can add a modern touch, with chocolate or raspberry sauce and fresh cream topping. It is wonderful either way.

In the countryside, women make this cake on Saturday mornings, in the bread oven, when they bake the bread for the week. They did not learn these recipes from cookbooks, but from their mothers and grandmothers. They watched carefully and learned how to make them themselves, and thus have a sense for the right quantities, without knowing them precisely. This recipe uses this traditional way of measuring the ingredients.

Thus, you will need 3 cups (1 cup = 250 ml) of flour, 2 cups of cornmeal, 1 cup and a half of milk, 4 eggs, 1 cup of vegetable oil, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 sachet of baking powder, 1 tablespoon of lemon zest, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and half a teaspoon of salt.

First, you have to mix the eggs with the sugar for about 5 minutes or until the sugar has melted. Then add the oil, lemon zest, vanilla and milk and mix them well. Finally, add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Now grease the pan with butter and place some baking paper inside. Now pour the composition and bake it in a preheated oven (180 ° C) for 30-40 minutes.

To this you can add a simple chocolate sauce made by melting some milk chocolate or some sauce raspberry obtained by boiling raspberries in water with sugar. The sauce can also be accompanied by some sweet cream.

Sources:

“Mălai cu lapte”, Teo’s Kitchen, November 27th 2012, Available at: http://www.teoskitchen.ro/2012/11/malai-cu-lapte.html, Accessed: 10.042015.

“Prăjitură cu mălai şi lapte bătut”, Enjoy dessert, July 2014, Available at: http://www.enjoy-dessert.com/2014/07/prajitura-cu-malai-si-lapte-batut.html #, Accessed: 10.04.2015.

“Un chec țărănesc – mălai dulce, de la bunica la mama”, Adi Hadean, February 2011, Available at: http://www.adihadean.ro/2011/02/un-chec- %C8%9Baranesc-malai-dulce-de-la-bunica-la-mama/, Accessed: 10.04.2015.