Passover recipe. Ingredients and method of preparation. A pastry chef's recipe: “Fluffy cake top, smooth and rich interior”

“Pasca is the dessert that reminds me of the anticipation of Easter mornings from my childhood, when we couldn't wait to get home from church to tear off a piece of the fluffy cake wrapped in flavored cheese,” says Ana Consulea.

Ana Consulea trained in France, at the School of Confectioners in Montbeliard, where she learned from masters such as Eric Vergne, Pierre Hermé and Mickaël Azouzvin. He comes from a family where gastronomy has always been important: his grandfather worked in the meat hall at Piața Obor, and his mother was a confectioner at Athenee Palace.

He started working since high school in the family's restaurants, and after college he chose this path for good. In 2014, he opened his own pastry laboratory, followed by Zexe Braserie in 2016, and in 2019, he received the title “Pastry Chef of the Year” from Gault & Millau. Later, it also developed the Zelato ice cream division, and from 2024 all projects were brought together under the identity The gelato shopwhich integrates the brasserie, the laboratory, the events division and the gelateria.

Ana Consulea. Photo: Personal archive

The Easter recipe offered to HotNews.ro readers is a balance between a fluffy cake top, a fine and rich cream cheese and golden raisins, just as many of us remember it.

“Pasca Zelateria is the result of the most beloved elements of this traditional dessert: fluffy cake top, very smooth interior and rich in cream cheese, lots of golden raisins, just the way we liked it when we were kids”, adds Ana Consulea.

Easter Easter. Photo: Gelateria

Easter Zelateria recipe

Two pieces

For the dough

Milk – 60 g

Yeast – 23 g (fresh yeast)

Eggs – 90 g

Yolk – 50 g

Lemon peel – 12 g

Sugar – 90 g

Orange peel – 12 g

Rum essence – 18 g

Vanilla extract – 10 g

Milk – 50 g

Flour T45 – 400 g

Salt – 6 g

Butter – 130 g

Egg for greasing – 100 g

Heat the milk to 30 degrees Celsius. Mix it with the yeast and flour using a whisk. Cover the bowl and let the mixture develop at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the eggs, yolk and sugar with the mixer. Add the citrus peels, rum essence, vanilla extract and milk. Replace the mixer blade with the dough hook. Mix the flour with the salt, then add to the mixer in two batches, mixing until incorporated. After the flour is fully incorporated, add the cubed butter and knead the dough for about 20 minutes, until it becomes elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place it in a buttered bowl. Cover and let it rise for an hour.

After it has risen, divide the dough into two equal pieces of about 500g. Each piece is then divided into three parts of about 160g, thus obtaining 6 pieces of dough.

Cover the pieces with plastic wrap and let them rise for another 30 minutes.

For the filling

Elle & Vire Professionnel cream cheese – 800 g

Sugar – 150 g

Lemon peel – 30 g

Vanilla extract – 15 g

Starch – 45 g

Salt – 5 g

Eggs – 150 g

Fermented cream 32% fat – 150 g

Raisins – 200 g

In the bowl of the mixer, mix the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt and starch using the paddle (spatula).

Then add the eggs and sour cream and mix for 3–4 minutes, until the cream becomes smooth and homogeneous.

Finally, incorporate the raisins. Divide the resulting cream into two equal parts.

fitting

For the first piece of pastry you need three pieces of dough. From the first piece, roll out a disk with a diameter of about 22 cm. From the other two, make a braid 60 cm long. Do the same for the second pass.

Place the dough disk inside a 22 cm diameter and 6 cm high mold, previously greased with butter. Place the braid on the inner edge of the shape. In the center of the dough add about 700 g of cream cheese.

Let the paste rise in the fermenter for 15 minutes. Then, brush the surface (dough and cream cheese) with beaten egg, using a brush.

Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C for about 60 minutes.