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List of Traditional Products · Podlasie · Bakery and confectionery

Hajnowski marcinek

A torte of a few dozen paper-thin layers sandwiched with sour cream. Tall, moist, with its sides dusted in breadcrumbs. A cake from Hajnówka with a tsarist pedigree.

OriginHajnówka and the edge of the Białowieża Forest
CategoryBakery and confectionery
On the list since18 July 2016
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History

According to the people of Hajnówka, the recipe dates from tsarist times and from the palace in Białowieża, where the cake was baked for St Martin's Day. From the palace kitchen it passed to the homes of the people who worked there, and for more than 70 years it has been handed down in families. There are twenty to thirty layers, each no more than two millimetres thick. Marcinek joined the list in 2016.

Recipe

Marcinek with sour cream

Makes: a torte about 26 cm across, 16 portionsTime: 2 h 30 min

Ingredients

  • Layers
  • 750 g plain flour
  • 250 g cold butter
  • 200 g thick sour cream 18%
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons icing sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • Filling
  • 1 l whipping cream 30% (chilled)
  • 500 g thick sour cream 18%
  • 150 g icing sugar
  • 1 sachet vanilla sugar
  • For the sides
  • 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs or crushed pastry layer

Method

  1. Chop the butter into the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the yolks, sour cream and icing sugar and knead quickly into a dough. Wrap in cling film and chill for an hour.
  2. Divide the dough into 20 equal parts. Roll each out on baking paper into a disc about 27 cm across, as thin as you can, about 1–2 mm. Prick with a fork.
  3. Bake the layers one at a time at 200°C for 4–6 minutes, until lightly golden. Trim each one at once into an even circle, using a plate as a guide. Keep the offcuts for coating the sides.
  4. Whip the cold 30% cream with the icing sugar and vanilla. Gently fold in the 18% sour cream.
  5. Stack the layers one on top of another, spreading each with 2 heaped tablespoons of the filling and pressing down lightly.
  6. Coat the top and sides, then dust the sides with breadcrumbs or crumbs from the offcuts. Refrigerate for 12 hours so the layers soak up the cream and soften.
TipThe layers can be baked a day ahead and kept somewhere dry. Once assembled, marcinek is easiest to slice on the second day.

Where to taste and buy

Look for marcinek in the cake shops and bakeries of Hajnówka and at local fairs. Many families bake it at home for holidays and name days.

Description based on the entry in the Ministry of Agriculture's List of Traditional Products. The quantities in the recipe are our own suggestion for the home kitchen. Product sheet on gov.pl →

Stay in Klejniki

Most of these flavours are within an hour's drive of our house. A kitchen with a wood-fired range is waiting, in case you feel like baking something.

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