Gogosi

"Traditional Romanian doughnuts"

These little puffy balls of delight are a typical home-cooked treat. The kind of thing mothers make to feed the family, and the neighbour's family, and visitors, and anyone who happens to be in the area. While they take some time to make, the are wonderful fresh and warm and can be eaten as they are, or stuffed with jam or chocolate spread.

You sometimes see them in the markets, although they might have different names or shapes, such as their bigger, flatter cousin, the "langosi" (which are often sold with sour cream or even savoury cheese). You sometimes see shops selling them as 'gogosi infuriate', which translates as 'infuriated gogosi', I suppose because they are cooked in boiled oil.

Time:3 hours

Servings: about 60 gogosi

Ingredients:

1kg of plain white flour
1 teaspoon of salt
400ml of milk
1 egg
2 small packets of vanilla-flavoured sugar (8g each)*
1 teaspoon of grated lemon rind
200g sugar
100ml of oil (sunflower) or melted butter
Fresh yeast ('a chuck the size of a large walnut' - probably about 35g)
More oil for deep frying
Icing sugar for dusting

*This is a common ingredient in Romanian shops, but if you can't find it where you are, just add a couple more teaspoons of sugar and perhaps a few drops of vanilla essence.

Method:

1. Prepare the yeast starter by mixing 3 tablespoons of milk, the yeast, a teaspoon of sugar and 2 tablespoons of flour in a bowl (better if the milk isn't too cold) and leaving it in a warm place. You should quickly see a froth forming on the top, which lets you know the yeast is good and activated.
2. In the meantime, gently warm up the rest of the milk, add the rest of the sugar, the teaspoon of salt, the two packets of vanilla-flavoured sugar, the lemon rind, and mix until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Into a large mixing bowl, put the rest of the flour, break an egg into a well in the middle of the flour, add the yeast mixture from step 1 and the milk mixture from step 2 and incorporate the flour into the liquid slowly until a dough starts to form.
4. Knead the resulting dough until it starts to become more consistent in texture and de-sticks more easily from your hands and the bowl.
5. Step by step mix in the oil or butter and knead into the dough mixture. It should be less sticky now and easier to work.
6. Sprinkle a little flour on the dough ball and put, covered, in a warm spot and leave it to prove for a couple of hours, until it has doubled in size.
7. Put about 4cm of cooking oil in a pan and bring to a high temperature.
8. While it heats up, take a handful of the mixture, and on a floured board with a rolling pin (maybe also sprinkled with flour to prevent sticking) roll it out until it's about 3-4mm thick. Take a drinking glass, dip it in flour, and use it to cut out some rounds of the rolled out dough. Collect up the remaining parts, form into a ball, roll out again, and so on until all the dough is used up. The rest of the dough should remain in the bowl, covered, until you have fried the first batch.
9. In batches of two or three (depending on the size of the pan), fry the dough rounds for a couple of minutes, turning once if necessary or making sure the oil covers them well, until they've puffed up and turned golden. Remove them with a slotted spoon, shake off the excess oil, and drop them into large bowl in which you have put the icing sugar and shake them around to coat them well. Remove them and put them on a large serving tray.
10. Repeat step 8 and 9 with the rest of the dough, a handful at a time, leaving the rest covered in the bowl, until you've used up all the dough.
11. Eat and enjoy!

Mucenici moldovenesti

“Walnut-coated pastries”

Every year on the 9^th of March, Romanians celebrate a tradition that evolved from the story of the forty martyrs of Sebaste, which is now in present-day Turkey. The forty were Roman soldiers in the year 320 who were openly Christian and they were left out in the cold to freeze to death or recant their Christianity. The celebration of the forty martyrs commonly kick-starts the agricultural year and is a day when traditional Romanian smallholders clean up with households and courtyards and burn all the rubbish.

These sweet pastries, typically in the form of a figure eight (said to represent the human body), are made and eaten around the country on the 9^th of March, although their form differs from region to region. Moldavian ‘mucenici’ are larger and coated in nuts and honey, whilst their Dobrogean counterparts are smaller and boiled in water, sugar, walnuts and cinnamon.

I had only eaten them once before, and those were ones from a shop and a bit bready and dry, but I was very pleased with how these ones turned out – soft and fluffy inside, with a slight crispiness to the exterior, and of course the crunch of the nuts and sticky goodness of the syrup.

Time: 4 hours including proving periods
Servings: 20 pastries (normally you would make 40, one for each martyr, but depends on how many of you there are, or how greedy you are!)

Ingredients:

For the dough:
550g of plain white flour
125ml of warm water
125ml of warm milk
150g caster sugar
1 egg
90g of butter, softened and cubed
20g of fresh yeast, or one instant yeast packet
1 level teaspoon of salt

For finishing:
100g of shelled walnuts
150g caster sugar
300ml water
1 packet of vanilla sugar or a few drops of vanilla essence (optional)
2ml of rum essence (optional)
The zest of one lemon (optional)
One egg yolk
50ml of milk

Method:

1. Make a yeast starter by dissolving the yeast in the warm water with a teaspoon of the sugar. Mix well and leave for about 10 minutes still it starts to froth up. This basically kick starts the proving process and also lets you know the yeast isn't a dud.
2. In a large mixing bowl, weigh out the flour, sugar and salt and stir to combine. Make a well in the middle and add the egg, warm milk, butter, and the yeast starter. Beat the liquid ingredients to combine and start drawing in the flour. Once it gets less gooey, use your hands to mix it into a dough ball. Knead this dough for a few more minutes and if it feels very sticky, add a little more flour. Sometimes at the beginning it will seem dry until the ingredients are well combined, so avoid the temptation to add more liquid until you've been mixing it for a good five minutes. Mine went from dry to very sticky over the first couple of minutes, so I added another handful of flour to get it to a nice silky, slightly tacky consistency after about 10 minutes of kneading. You can, of course, do all this in a bread mixture if you have one of those.
3. Once it has been well kneaded, is smooth and silky, and doesn't leave your hands sticky any more  cover the bowl and leave in a warm place for about an hour to prove. In the meantime, you can get on with the next three steps.
4. Crush the walnuts with a pestle and mortar until you get a course breadcrumby mixture. You can use a blender for this, but make sure you don’t over-blitz it and end up with a powder.
5. In a saucepan, bring 300ml of water to the boil, add 150g sugar and the essences and boil until you get a syrupy consistency (not too stiff, but something like olive oil). Once you've got a syrup, leave to cool a bit and add the lemon zest if using. I read some older recipes and they use neither the essences nor the lemon zest, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide what you want to add. I added the essences, but not the lemon, but only because what I thought was a lemon when I briefly glanced in the fridge before going shopping actually turned out to be a very yellow and lemon-shaped quince!
6. Finally mix together one egg yolk and 50ml of milk and set to one side. You’ll use this for brushing the buns before baking them.
7. Once the dough has had its hour of proving, knock it back into a ball and divide it into 20 equally-sized balls. Take a ball, roll it into a snake about 50cm long, fold it in half and plait it. Then form this plaited length of dough into a figure-eight shape by joining the ends and twisting. Then place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Repeat for the other 19 balls. You might need to bake them in two batches depending on the size of your oven. Anyway, leave a little space between them as you arrange them on the tray.
8. Leave the tray of uncooked mucenici in a warm place for an hour to rise.
9. Brush the mucenici with the egg yolk and milk mixture and put them into a pre-heated oven (180-190C) until golden (mine took about 35 minutes).
10. Once they’re done, take them out and brush them with the syrup you prepared earlier (or you can dunk them instead of brushing them) and then sprinkle the crushed walnuts on top. Some people also drizzle or brush them with honey before sprinkling on the nuts.
11. Eat warm or cold. They keep well for a couple of days in the fridge.

Pasca (cu branza de vaci)

"Easter cake (with sweet cow’s cheese)"

This traditional sweet cheese-filled Easter cake is usually made either on Great Thursday (the Thursday before Easter) or, these days, on the Saturday before Easter Sunday so that it’s fresher on the day. The filling is made with fresh cow’s cheese, something like a dry cottage cheese, which is sweetened with sugar and spotted with raisins or sultanas. There are other versions that use cream or milk for the filling, which can also be flavoured with rum, walnuts, cinnamon or other spices. It’s usually eaten as a dessert with the Easter meal or, if people intend to have cozonac for dessert, as a snack during the day. Personally, I don’t think you can beat eating it straight out of the oven - ok, maybe give it a quarter of an hour to cool a little first! Pasca takes a long time to make so make sure you have plenty of time and patience. Nowadays you see many other recipes using more filling and a thinner, more easily-prepared base, but a traditional pasca is more like a stuffed bread than a flan.

Time: 5-6 hours (including preparation, proving, and baking)

Servings: 6-8 slices

Ingredients:

For the dough:

500g of plain flour

200ml of milk

A pinch of salt

1 packet of dry active yeast

200g of caster sugar

3 eggs

100g of butter, melted

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

For the filling:

500g of fresh cow’s cheese

30g of butter, melted

2 egg, separated

120g of caster sugar

2 tablespoons of sour cream (or thick cream)

Grated zest of one lemon

2 packets of vanilla sugar powder (or use fresh vanilla and add about 15g more sugar)

1 tablespoon of semolina flour

1 tablespoon of plain flour

80g of raisins

A pinch of salt

Method:

Preparing the yeast starter

1. Warm a little milk, about 50ml, pour it into a coffee cup or glass, and dissolve the yeast in it with a couple of pinches of sugar and leave in a warm place for 15 minutes or so. If the yeast is active it’ll start to foam up on top*.

2. Bring the rest of the milk (150ml) to the simmer in a pan and just before it starts to boil stir in 3 tablespoons on the plain flour and keep stirring until the flour has dissolved.

3. Pour the milk/flour mixture into a bowl and leave the milk to cool, and once it has cooled, mix in the hopefully now frothing yeast and milk mixture. Cover the pan with a damp cloth or a loose piece of foil and leave in a warm place until it starts to rise to double its original size, probably about 45 minutes.

*If nothing happens then it might be a dud batch of yeast – just redo this step with a new packet.

Preparing the dough

4. Separate the egg whites and yolks into two bowls. Beat the yolks with a pinch of salt and step by step mix in the 200g of sugar until you get a smooth pale yellow creamy mixture. Beat the egg whites until fluffy.

5. Pour the rest of the flour into a large mixing bowl, make a well in the centre, and add the yeast starter, the yolk mixture, the egg whites, and mix well. Following this, add the oil and the melted butter and mix.

6. Knead the dough for about 20-30 minutes (this is where a spare pair of hands or a mixer comes in handy) and when you have a well-combined dough, which should be more on the soft side, put it into a bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and leave in a warm place for an hour to rise. You really need to knead it quite aggressively, apparently, beating it more than massaging it, and stretching it out and throwing it back down on the table. This seems to be the trick for getting a nice fluffy end result rather than one that’s rather stodgy in consistency.

Preparing the cake

7. Once the dough has risen to double its original size (about an hour or so) then you can prepare the pasca by buttering a round deepish cake tin; of about 4-5cm depth and of a diameter of around 20-25cm.

8. Break off about half of the dough and roll it out to the size of the cake tin and about 1cm in thickness. Lay this in the baking tray.

9. Break the remaining dough into three* equal parts and roll each one into a snake about 80cm long. These can then be braided together and arranged around the inside edge of the cake tin, on top of the previously positioned layer of dough.

10. Leave the prepared cake tin and dough covered in a warm place to rise again, for an hour or so.

*You might also break it into four parts, keeping the fourth for decorating the top of the cake (after adding the filling) with other traditional motifs, such as a cross.

Preparing the filling

11. Prepare the filling by first squeezing any excess liquid out of the cow’s cheese. If it’s not completely dry, you might end up with a soggy filling which won’t stick to the bread casing. Then, mix the cow’s cheese together with the egg yolks, melted butter, cream, icing sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon zest and a pinch of salt.

12. Once these are well combined, beat the egg whites until fluffy and add them, along with the two types of flour. Stir in the raisins but keep a few to one side for sprinkling on top.

13. Put the filling into the centre of the dough-lined cake tin (after it has finished proving) and spread it out to the side in an even layer. Sprinkle the rest of the raisins on top.

Cooking the cake

14. You can beat another egg together and brush the pasty with this, pouring the remaining egg over the top of the cheese mixture to give it some colour.

15. Put the assembled cake into a preheated over (moderate heat – 180-190C/350-360F) and cook until the dough has puffed up nicely and turned a golden brown colour, approximately 50-60 minutes, depending on the oven. Check it regularly so as not to let it burn.

16. Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes and then remove it from the cake tin and serve warm or keep well wrapped up for the next day.

My first attempt turned out pretty well. It was a lot of hard work, but the bread mixture (I was told) was very authentic, light, and fluffy, but maybe could have done with an extra five minutes in the oven. Perhaps the braiding was a little too large and the base a little thin, next time I might try using about two-thirds of the dough for the base and making the braiding more delicate as by the time it had proved and puffed up in the oven it had virtually covered the filling. The filling was tasty and light, but because I had forgotten to squeeze the cheese thoroughly before making the filling, there was a little too much moisture in there with meant it didn't bond to the bread casing completely. It tasted good though!

Placinta Dobrogeana

“Cheese pie Dobrogea style”

Dobrogea is the area in the south-east of Romania comprising the Danube delta and the cities of Constanta and Tulcea. Historically, it has been somewhat prone to invasion and colonization and as a result has many varied influences in its cuisine. One period of foreign control was during the Ottoman period when many settlers from the Ottoman Empire moved to the region, introducing Turkish culinary habits to the area. As a result you find many good pies and pastries in the region, as well as other sweet and savoury delights.

Placinta Dobrogreana (pronounced /pla-chin-ta do-bro-gee-ana/) is probably one of the most famous pies or pastries in Romania – its popularity meaning that it can easily be found in good pastry shops all around the country. Whilst researching the recipe I notice that there do seem to be variations. Some make it as a pie with the cheese filling between layers of thinly rolled-out pastry. Other recipes have the filling rolled up in the pastry like a sausage and then arranged around the baking tray. Some recipes combine the cheese with sour cream, others with eggs. I’ve tried to incorporate elements and options of all these methods, but how you ultimately make it is up to you depending on your preference for ingredients and look.

This version is the savoury version of the pie, but a sweet version also exists, using sweetened cheeses and sometimes mixed with raisins. If you can’t be bothered to make your own dough (really, it’s an easy dough to make, so don’t be afraid!) you can use shop-bought phyllo pastry.

Servings: 8 slices
Time: 90 minutes

Ingredients:

For the dough:

300g flour

160ml water

1 small egg

1 tablespoon of oil (sunflower or olive)

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of vinegar (not malt)

For the filling:

500g of soft fresh cheese (see method)

Smantana (sour cream) and/or eggs (probably no more than 3 – see method)

For cooking:

100g melted butter or oil (sunflower/vegetable)

1 large egg

3 good tablespoons of yogurt or sour cream (smantana)

Method:

1. Pour the flour into a mixing bowl, make a well in the centre, and add the egg, oil, water, salt and vinegar.

2. Combine the ingredients in the well and slowly draw in the flour, mixing well with your fingers, until a dough starts to form.

3. Form the dough into a ball and turn out onto a floured work surface. Knead the dough until you achieve a soft, elastic dough which is no longer sticky.

4. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover with a damp tea towel and rest on the sideboard for 30 minutes. Alternatively, flour the ball a little, and drop it into a plastic freezer bag, give it a twist to eliminate the air, and rest for 30 minutes.

5. While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to about 200-210C (medium heat).

6. Now it’s time to start to make the cheese filling. You should use about 500g of cheese but you can add more if you like a thicker layer of cheese in your pie (or indeed less, if you like it less cheesy). I used a mixture of telemea de oaie (ewe’s milk cheese, something like a feta), branza proaspata de vaca (a soft fresh cow’s milk cheese) and branza de burduf (a soft but slightly mature tasting sheep’s milk cheese) but you can use any good fresh or semi-fresh cheeses (such as chevre, feta, Neuchâtel, paneer, queso fresco). Combine the cheeses well, and break up the harder ones with a fork, and then add either smantana (sour cream) or eggs, little by little, until you reach a nice sloppy consistency. I recommend adding the eggs/cream gradually – the amount you need will depend on the initial consistency of the cheese and the size of the eggs. The consistency you want is quite thick, certainly not ‘pourable’, but something like a thick cake batter or bricklaying mortar (if that helps you at all!). Taste it when you’ve done combining it and add salt if necessary.

7. You’ll need to brush the sheets of dough with a little butter or oil. If you intend to use butter, now is the time to melt it in a pan over a very low heat.

8. Once the dough is sufficiently rested, it’s time to roll it out. First of all, roll the dough into a sausage and cut into six equal parts. Form each sixth into a ball and then roll it out until it is the size and shape of the baking tray you intend to use (mine was a 25cm diameter circular tray, about 3cm deep).

9. Butter or oil the bottom of the tray well, then put in the first sheet of dough, brush it with butter/oil, then put in the second sheet, then half the cheese, spreading it out to about 1cm from the edge of the tray, then another two sheets of dough (the first, again, brushed with butter/oil). Now add the rest of the cheese, again spreading it out until it’s about 1cm shy of the edge of the tray. Finally, add the last two sheets of dough, brush each with butter/oil.

10. What I do now is to gently run the back of a knife over the top to mark the portions, dividing it into eight wedges (as I use a circular tray). I don’t actually cut through the dough, I just depress it so that the cutting point will more clearly defined at the end of the baking process.

11. Now, put the pie into the preheated oven and cook for about 20-30 minutes until the top has started to brown. At this point, make a mixture of one egg and three tablespoons of smantana (sour cream) or yogurt, according to preference. Spread this mixture over the top of the pie and return it to the oven for another 15-20 minutes, or until once again brown.

12. Once it’s nice and brown all over (but not burnt!) take it out of the oven, let it cool down for a few minutes, and then cut it into portions using the lines you scored in it earlier. Then...eat!

Placinta cu mere

"Apple pie"

Not quite a pie (as we'd understand it in the UK), not quite a strudel, not really a pastry, but georgeous all the same.  This dish can be made in advance and keeps well for a day or two. It can also be gently reheated to be served as a dessert with ice cream or custard, but more often it is eaten as a snack between meals or bought from the patiserie to eat on the way to work or on a break. This pie is also suitable for 'post', the period of fasting common in orthodoxy when it is forbidden to eat dairy and meat products.

Time: About an hour and a half to two hours
Servings: About 10 pieces

Ingredients:

For the dough:
450g of plain flour
260g of caster sugar
125ml of sparkling water
150ml of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of vinegar (white, not malt)
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

For the filling:
1 kg of peeled, cored apples (get about 1.3kg pre-peeling)
200g of caster sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 heaped teaspoon of cinammon

Plus:
Some icing sugar for dusting
A knob of butter or a little vegetable oil for greasing the tray

Method:
1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and mix in the 260g of sugar.
2. In a separate bowl, dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the vinegar and then add the vegetable oil and the sparkling water and combine.
3. Pour the liquid componants into the flour and sugar mixture and stir until starting to combine, then, using your hand, mix it until it starts to come together into a ball. If it is a little dry after a few minutes of mixing, add a splash more water - likewise, if a little sticky, add some more flour.
4. Turn the ball out onto a lightly-floured work surface and knead for about ten minutes until the dough becomes smooth and no longer crumbles at the edges. The dough will be very soft rather than elastic.
5. Form it back into a ball and cut into two equal halves.
6. Take a baking tray that is about 25cm square (or rectangular, or round, but around the same surface area) and about 4cm deep. Cut a piece of baking paper to about 1 cm larger than the tray and using this piece of paper as a guide, roll the first of the halves of dough out on top of the paper until it almost reaches the edge.
7. Grease the baking tray well with butter or oil (to keep the recipe 100% vegan/post) and then transfer the sheet of dough to it using the baking paper. As the dough is very delicate, it's much easier to move it with the paper rather than trying to do it by hand. Keep the paper for later when you roll out the second half of the dough.
8. Put the lined baking tray to one side, or even in the fridge, whilst you prepare the filling. Now's probably a good time to start preheating the oven (cc. 200C).
9. Peel and chop the apples, removing the seeds and cores. If you like the filling to be more like an apple paste, you can grate the apples, otherwise you can chop them into small cubes for a slightly 'chunky' end result.
10. Put the apples into a saucepan with the 200g of sugar and set on a medium heat until the juices start to be extracted from the fruit and the sugar starts to dissolve. At this point you can add the lemon juice and the cinammon. Stir from time to time to prevent burning on the bottom.
11. Continue to cook it over the same heat until the extracted juices evaporate (probably about 20-30 minutes) leaving the apple in a thick gloopy syrup. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down a bit.
12. When the apple is a little cooler, you can pour it into the prepared baking tray on top of the pastry lining, spreading it into one even layer.
13. Prepare the second layer of dough in the same way as the first, and again using the paper to transfer it, lay it on top of the apple, trimming the overhanging part from around the edge of the tray.
14. Put the tray into the preheated over and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes until the top is golden brown (but not burnt!). I have a gas oven which tends to burn the bottom of things before the top is done, so I usually place some thick ceramic tiles on the bottom shelf to balance out the heat.
15. Once it's cooked, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for about a quarter of an hour, dust it with icing sugar, and then cut it into squares (or whatever shape you prefer!).
16. Serve warm or cold.

Prajitura cu crema de caramel

"Caramel cream pastry"

This recipe was given to me by a friend from Transylvania. It's quite a long recipe with a lot of potential pitfalls, so you should make it long before you want to serve it. There is also quite a lot of kneading and beat and stirring involved, so it doesn't hurt the have some help (either another pair of hands or a mixer). It often tastes better the next day when the filling has softened the pastry sheets.

If you have a small oven or a small baking tray then you'll probably end up with a lot of trimmings. Don't throw these away; roll them up in a ball together, roll them out to about a 5mm thickness and cut into rounds with a cookie cutter. The resulting biscuits are a little dry, but are great for dunking in tea.

Ingredients
For the dough:
500g of plain flour
60g of butter
3 tablespoons of honey
150g of caster sugar
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons of milk
Zest of half a lemon
2 fresh eggs

For the cream filling:
One cup of caster sugar
80ml of black coffee
1/2 cup of milk
2 tablespoons of flour
250g of butter
100g of icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Method
For the sheets:
1. Preheat the oven to about 180C. Line a large deep baking tray with baking parchment.
2. Put the honey, butter, and sugar into a pan and very gently heat, stirring frequently, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Take it off the heat.
3. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the two tablespoons of milk.
4. Sieve the 500g of plain flour into a large mixing bowl (or do it on the work surface if you prefer) and add the butter/sugar/honey mixture, the milk/bicarb solution, and the two eggs. Sprinkle on the lemon zest and mix until it all comes together into a ball.
5. Turn the ball out onto a floured work surface and knead for a good few minutes until the dough becomes smooth and a little shiny and slightly elastic (it'll probably require about 5-6 minutes of kneading).
6. Divide the dough into four equal pieces and roll them out until they are about 1mm thick
7. Lay the first sheet in the baking tray and trim off any overhanging pieces.
8. Put the tray in the oven and bake until the pastry sheet is golden brown (probably around 10 minutes but keep an eye on them as they can burn quickly).
9. While the first sheet is baking, roll out the second sheet.
10. Remove the first sheet and put to one side to cool. Then put the second sheet in the oven.
11. Repeat stages 7-10 until all four sheets are baked.

For the filling:
1. Put the sugar into a pan and heat on a medium heat until it liquefies and starts to caramelize, being careful not to burn it or it will taste bitter.
2. Once it has liquefied, pour in the coffee slowly, stirring constantly, until well mixed and take it off the heat.
3. Separately, mix the milk and the flour in a cup and slowly add, stirring constantly, to the sugar mixture and keep stirring until it is well combined and thickened somewhat.
4. In another bowl, beat the butter and the icing sugar together, and then add the vanilla essence.
5. Bit by bit, add the caramel mixture to the butter mixture, stirring vigorously until it has all been combined.

Assembly:
Layer the cake with three layers of the caramel cream between the sheets of pastry and allow to rest for at least a couple of hours, preferably overnight. It can then be topped with a layer of whipped creams flecked with grated chocolate or walnut, or a dusting of cocoa - whatever you prefer. The cake is usually cut into small rectangles, each about 15mm x 40mm.