Cleveland Cooks™
Lithuanian tree cake - Sakotis or Naumkuchen
The ClevelandPeople.Com Passport Adventurers travelled to Lithuania via the Cleveland Lithuanian Club. The Passport Adventurers visit traditional ethnic restaurants and showcases the food, culture, history of the country - in this case Lithuania.
One of the desserts served was a Tree Cake.
Colorful Tree cakes in Lithuanian Club in Cleveland
Its name means "branched tree" or "tree with many branches" due to its distinctive shape (it is often conical, like a pine tree, and with the drips as branches). It is baked in a time- and labor-intensive process, by painting layers of dough onto a rotating spit in a special open oven or over an open fire. It can be decorated with chocolate and flower ornaments, but it is often served plain. Šakotis is one of the most important desserts in Lithuanian celebrations, especially at weddings or other special occasions such as Christmas.
Decorated Sakotis
The adventurers got to see a baker make a traditional Lithuanian Tree Cake (Sakotis or Baumkuchen).
In this video, baker Dainius Zalensas of the Lithuanian Club Bakery in Cleveland showed how he makes Lithuanian Tree cakes also called Sakotis or Baumkuchen. The cake is built layer by layer over a rotisserie.
Dainius Zalensas baking a Lithuanian tree cake
In this video, Linas Johansonas told about the Lithuanian tree cake (Sakotis) also called the branch cake. It dates back to the 16th century. It is a unique-looking hollow cake made of butter, eggs, flour, sugar, and cream.
In this video baker Dainius Zalensas of the Lithuanian Club Bakery in Cleveland told a story about the spikes on a Lithuanian Tree cake (also called Sakotis or Baumkuchen).
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