Karpatka — Carpathian Mountain Cake
Ren Behan · The Sweet Polish Kitchen
Karpatka is also known as a Carpathian mountain cake, named after the Karpaty mountain range. The dough (in this case a choux pastry) creates the effect of mountains, and the icing sugar on top represents the snow. There are variations dating back to the 1950s and ’60s, which is the sort of time my parents began making their first return to Poland, after the Second World War (their first trip back was in 1952, and I have a memorable photograph of my mum, dad and two cousins standing outside the Teatr Narodowy, or National Theatre, in Warsaw). I like to think that, just after that photo, they went off to sit in a cafe in Warsaw to eat a slice of karpatka. The filling is a krem budyniowy (pastry cream). Make the pastry cream first and leave to chill overnight in the refrigerator covering the surface with clingfilm so that a skin does not form. For the choux, I use equal parts of water and milk. I sometimes like to add a layer of rose petal jam, but you can use any marmalade or preserve y
