The Great Pathology Bake-Off
It’s often said that pathology is the bread and butter of medicine…
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After two years of practice, many pathologists and laboratory medicine professionals are master bakers and confectioners! We asked you to share your craft with us and the world and you delivered. Here, we showcase some of your showstopping cakes, cookies and more. Click on each image to reveal more about it – and to discover recipes you can use to create your own delicacies!
Cat Taylor
MD Candidate, 2022
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
I made these back in the fall of 2021, during the period when I was completing my pathology residency interviews!
Making and sharing food has always been my love language. I included these medically inspired cookies in a winter care package I sent to my best friend when she was stuck in the hospital awaiting colon surgery. She loved the treats and has been recovering well since her operation, thanks to her wonderful team of doctors, nurses, and family!
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ c butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl.
- In a larger bowl, beat butter and sugar for two minutes on high, until fluffy and well-mixed.
- Add egg, vanilla, and almond extracts. Beat for an additional minute on high.
- Beat the dry ingredients into wet, just until evenly combined.
- Divide into two dough balls. Roll each ball out to about ¼” thick on a floured surface, using a floured rolling pin. Refrigerate for about an hour.
- Cut into desired shapes.
- Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for nine to 12 minutes.
- Cool and ice with your choice of royal icing, simple glaze, frosting – or just eat!
Brett Kurpiel | PGY-2 AP/CP Resident, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
I’m Brett (@basophil_brett), a PGY2 AP/CP resident from the University of Virginia. I fancy myself an amateur baker and have plenty of bakes to choose from.
These images include a “blood bank” red velvet cake with candy glass shards for Halloween, me with various organ-shaped cookies I made for Donate Life Week in medical school, a pecan chocolate spice babka, and a blood orange cake!
Cheryl R. Houin
Retired
I retired on December 31, 2021, after 41 years in the field. Although I was a generalist, my main focus was microbiology. My other hats are dairy farmer, wife, mom of five, and grandma of 11. My husband prefers homemade yogurt. The cost to make it is 1/10 of store-bought.
Yogurt is made by bringing 1 L of whole milk to a boil. Turn off the heat and let it cool to a lukewarm temperature. Remove the skin from the cooled milk and whisk in two tablespoons of plain yogurt, either store-bought or saved from a previous batch. Cover the dish and let it sit in a warm place overnight; then transfer the container to the refrigerator for storage.
Katie Lopez | Pathologists’ Assistant, Greensboro Pathology Associates, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
I have always loved baking, but moving into my own home several years ago finally gave me the space to get creative! For Pathologists’ Assistants’ Day, I made breast lump and placenta cookies, prostate cake pops, splenule cakelets, and coronavirus cookies.
Cheryl Wright
Medical Laboratory Technologist
Terre Haute Regional Hospital, Terre Haute, Indiana, USA
I made this comical brain cake for our pathologist’s birthday!
Syeda Qasim
PGY-1, Department of Pathology
RWJBarnabas Health, New Jersey, USA
I made these brain-themed cupcakes with my five-year-old daughter over Halloween. We used pink icing and gooey “blood” icing to make them even better.
My daughter and I love to bake together and we tend to choose human body-related items. That way it is fun and interesting for her – and it makes me explain to her the sort of work mommy does in the lab!
My go-to recipe for the moistest vanilla cucpakes:
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 2/3 cup (213 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 3 egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120 mL) sour cream, room temperature
- ½ cup (120 mL) whole milk, warm
For the vanilla buttercream:
- 2 lb (900 g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1 lb (450 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 1 tsp whole milk
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Place cupcake papers in a cupcake pan.
- Sift the flour, sugar salt, baking soda, and powder into a large bowl and whisk together.
- Separate the eggs. You can use the yolks for a custard or a batch of French buttercream.
- In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients until combined. (The batter may be clumpy; do not worry!)
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.
- Distribute the batter evenly into cupcake papers, filling each paper about 2/3.
- Bake for about 18 minutes or until centers are springy to the touch.
For the buttercream:
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature butter.
- Add in the confectioners’ sugar in two batches.
- Add salt, milk, cream, and vanilla. Mix until fluffy.
- Transfer to a piping bag.
- Pipe a large dollop of buttercream on each cupcake.
Darcy Nishimura
Medical Laboratory Scientist
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Cake pop CBC differential!
Marissa Spencer
Faculty Instructor, Pathologists’ Assistant Program
Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
This is one of the things I baked during the COVID-19 quarantine. It’s a kidney-shaped spice cake! I created it for Pathologists’ Assistant Day.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 ½ cups (315 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 1 ¾ cups (350 g) light brown sugar, packed
- ¾ cup oil
- ½ cup (125 g) unsweetened applesauce
- 4 large eggs
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240 mL) buttermilk
For the frosting
- 8 oz (227 g) brick-style cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup (115 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9x13” (or equivalent) baking pan and set aside.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together brown sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs, vanilla extract, and buttermilk until well combined.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 35–40 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cake on a cooling rack.
For the frosting
- Beat cream cheese until smooth.
- Add butter and mix until smooth and well combined (about 30 seconds to a minute).
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
- After the cake has cooled, spread the frosting on top.
Michele Palermo
Blood Bank Technologist
Richmond University Medical Center, Staten Island, New York, USA
I’m a recently graduated and licensed medical laboratory scientist currently working in a blood bank. I’m also an ASCP tutor and ASCLS microbiology consumer informant. I started in laboratory research at 15 and have stayed in the lab ever since!
In my spare time, I bake, garden, do conservation work , volunteer as a citizen scientist, and I am a master SCUBA diver.
Morgan Bagley
Instructor and Pathologists’ Assistant
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA
The placenta cake I made for my coworker’s pregnancy announcement!
Nathan Shields
High School Teacher
Washington, USA
My entry is called “Heart Pancake.”
I enjoy making pancake art to entertain, pique scientific curiosity and, of course, feed my kids breakfast! More of my work is on Instagram (@saipancakes) or at saipancakes.com
Nurun Tania
Hepatology Research Nurse
Hull University Teaching Hospitals, Hull, UK
This is a three-layer vanilla and lemon curd cake covered in fondant that I made for a specialist liver nurse. I am a hepatology research nurse by day and a PhD student by night! My doctorate is exploring care pathways for patients with alcohol-related liver disease.
I love baking but, like most busy individuals, I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like. I’m a stress baker! I bake when I’m stressed because it really helps me completely switch off and focus on the task at hand (plus, I am a massive feeder – so it’s a win-win)!
Rowena Pagulayan | Biomedical Scientist, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK
This cake was made with Saracino modeling paste and has chocolate fudge inside. I wish you guys were here to smell it!
I highlighted the organisms we often see under the microscope, such as Gram positive cocci in chains and clusters, Gram negative bacilli and yeast. I even created two Petri dishes containing Escherichia coli and MRSA!
The model is based on my friend Sanuki here at Charing Cross Hospital.
Regina Plummer
Anatomic and Clinical Pathologist
Nebraska Methodist Health System, Nebraska, USA
My Berries and Cream Retina Cake is a lab favorite. It comes complete with a Biscoff cookie pigmented layer!
The layers are:
- strawberry whipped cream stratum opticum,
- blackberry ganglion cells,
- strawberry cake plexiform layers,
- blueberry and whipped cream nuclear layers,
- strawberry poke cake rods and cones, and
- Biscoff cookie pigmented layer.
This recipe works best when layered in a parfait dish. Enjoy!
Medical Laboratory Science Students
University of Massachusetts Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
These white blood cell cupcakes were made by medical laboratory science (MLS) students at the University of Massachusetts Lowell during Lab Week.
Vinny Piscitelli
Lead Tech
Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut, USA
I made these cookies to teach my four-year-old daughter’s preschool class about germs and the importance of hygiene.
Jenny Winters
Pathologists’ Assistant
Emory University Hospital-Midtown, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Previously at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Newnan, Georgia, USA
The cake was simply a box lemon moist cake from Duncan Hines with added lemon zest (~ 1 Tbsp) in the batter, cooked to the specifications on the box (red food coloring optional for red interior). The frosting was a simple buttercream frosting.
Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
- 4 cups sifted (or brand new) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp extract (vanilla is common; I used almond just to be fun)
- 1–2 Tbsp milk or heavy cream (if needed) for desired consistency
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl or electric mixer, beat butter until smooth and creamy (about two minutes).
- Add confectioners’ sugar a half-cup at a time, mixing well and scraping down sides of bowl occasionally.
- Stir in extract and beat until stiff, but foldable peaks still form at end of beater.
- Gradually beat in enough milk or cream to make frosting smooth and spreadable if needed. (I used none and just kept beating it carefully.) If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk a few drops at a time. If frosting becomes too thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar.
Then I stacked the cakes and used buttercream frosting and raspberry preserves for the filling. Trick to getting the cakes even: cut a little off the rounded baked top and stack the layers upside down. This will give you a nice, flat, crumble-free layer to put filling on for the bottom layer and the same for frosting on the top layer.
Put a thin crumb layer on the cake, then freeze for two hours (yes – just stick it in the freezer, uncovered). Then, put a thicker (~1/4”) buttercream coat on and stick it back in the freezer for six hours or overnight (preferable) until rock hard!
(Make sure you don't have any strong smells in the freezer, but know that the buttercream acts as a moisture and smell barrier and that thawed cake tastes the same as fresh cake.)
For a box mix cake, and with the upside-down layering, you might not have much in the way of crumbs at all and may be able to get away with doing a full buttercream layer initially, rather than bothering with a crumb coat. If you get a lot of crumbs in the initial frosting, opt for a crumb layer to trap them and leave a smooth final frosting layer for the mirror glaze.
The mirror glaze is where it gets fun! I had never done this before and the key factor here is temperature.
Mirror Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tbsp (2 envelopes) unflavored gelatin powder + ¼ cup water (for blooming)
- 2 cups white chocolate melting wafers
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Mix gelatin in a bowl with ¼ cup water and set aside to bloom while you begin the glaze.
- Over medium heat, stir together sugar, water, and sweetened condensed milk. Stir occasionally, until the mixture begins to bubble.
- Pour in gelatin and stir until fully dissolved.
- Turn off heat and gently pour in white chocolate chips. Stir slowly until all white chocolate has melted.
- Pour through a sieve into a large bowl to remove all clumps. Add food coloring in separate bowls for a swirled look (or a lot of red gel food coloring for a red glaze) for a placenta cake.
- Mixture must sit to cool off to 90–93°F (32–34°C). Use a food thermometer or a finger if you’re brave! If mixture is hot to the touch, it could melt your cake.
- When ready, take cake out of freezer, set on a dish smaller than the cake to allow dripping, and place it all over a lipped sheet pan to catch runoff.
- Pour mirror glaze all over in any pattern you want, making sure that you get all of the sides (especially the back).
Decoration
The veins and arteries were store bought piping gel and the pattern was made by hand. The cord was made by microwaving large marshmallows (~20 seconds) and using cornstarch and powdered sugar on my hands to roll out and coil the cord without the marshmallow sticking. (Boy, is it sticky!) You can brush corn syrup on the cord to make it look shiny and wet or leave for a drier look. Try to remove as much cornstarch and powdered sugar dust from the cord and your hands as possible before placing on cake because, once on the mirror glaze, it won’t come off easily without messing up the surface.
Happy placenta caking!
Randika Jayasekara | Biomedical Scientist, North West London Pathology, London, UK
This is a cake from the microbiology department with a PCR cartridge, agar plates, and plastic loops.
The recipe was a coffee cake – a common madeira cake recipe with 250 g butter, 250 g caster sugar, 250 g flour, 2.5 tsp baking powder, and five eggs. I replaced the milk with 3 Tbsp strong coffee.
Helen Risser
APHL-CDC Infectious Disease Fellow
Alaska State Virology Laboratory, College, Alaska, USA
Protocol: Preparation of Chocolate Agar Suitable for Human Consumption
Purpose: Laboratory-grade “chocolate agar” sounds delicious, but it is not. The lysed sheep blood and antibiotic contents are not suitable for human consumption. This protocol outlines a method to produce edible chocolate agar for use as a tasty dessert. This method is adapted from previous work on mizu-yokan, a Japanese dessert made with agar powder.
Materials
Equipment
- Stove (or equivalent heating element)
- Medium-sized saucepan
- Whisk
- Containers for finished agar (suggested: small plastic cups with snap-on lids)
- 4°C refrigerator
Reagents
- 10 g food-grade agar-agar powder (available at many Asian grocery stores)
- 20 g cocoa powder
- 50 g sucrose (table sugar)
- 500 mL water (does not need to be de-ionized; tap is fine)
Methods
- Combine the agar-agar powder, cocoa powder, and sucrose in a dry container. Stir to evenly incorporate the mixture.
- Heat the water to boiling in the saucepan.
- Add the agar-cocoa-sugar mixture to the water, whisking constantly to break up clumps. Continue whisking until all the reagents are fully dissolved. Optional: add a splash of milk or cream to make the agar look more like laboratory chocolate agar.
- Remove the mixture from the stove and aliquot into containers.
- Transfer containers to the refrigerator and allow to set for approximately one hour. Gently tilt the containers to determine if they have set; if they are still liquid, continue refrigerating.
- Once set and chilled, enjoy the chocolate agar within a few days to prevent spoilage.
Yasmeen Senussi
Research Assistant
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
My name is Yasmeen Senussi and I’m a research assistant and aspiring pathologist. I wanted to share some of my bakes – an almond cream tart and a dark chocolate babka.
Dark Chocolate Babka
Ingredients
For the dough
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp cold butter
- 2 eggs
- 1½ cups lukewarm milk
For the filling
- ½ cup chopped dark chocolate
- 5 Tbsp butter
For the syrup
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Prepare syrup first by heating sugar and water in a saucepan together until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens.
- Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the cold cubed butter; pinch or rub the butter and mix it with the flour until it forms small clumps.
- Add the eggs and one cup of milk. Mix until the dough starts to come together, then add more milk in ¼ cup increments if the dough is dry. If it is too wet, add more flour. Knead for 10 minutes.
- Proof dough in a bowl covered with a wet kitchen towel for two to four hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Knead the dough for two minutes to make it pliable. Divide it into two balls.
- Roll each ball into a rectangle around ¼” thick
- Soften or melt butter and mix with chopped chocolate.
- Spread the chocolate mixture onto the dough rectangle, leaving a 1” space at each edge.
- Roll the rectangle to form a long log, then cut the log along its length and braid it.
- Place the roll in a greased loaf pan lined with parchment paper.
- Let it rise for another 30 minutes to one hour.
- Bake the babka in the oven for about 35–40 minutes.
- Brush syrup over the babka for a glossy look.
Almond Tart
Ingredients
For the tart crust
- 1 ½ cups (220 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 egg
- Vanilla extract
- Lemon zest
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 4 Tbsp apricot jam
For the almond filling
- 1 ½ cups (200 g) almonds, lightly toasted and ground
- ½ cup (100 g) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- Zest of one lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp semolina
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Dash of fine salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- 1 tsp apricot jam and water, as glaze
Instructions
For the tart crust
- Mix flour, sugar, and butter, making sure to incorporate the butter well (either using your fingers or a few pulses in a food processor).
- Add the egg, vanilla, and lemon zest.
- Combine the dough without kneading.
- Spread the dough in a tart pan and coat it with the apricot jam.
For the almond filling
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Mix confectioners’ sugar into melted butter.
- Add eggs one at a time while mixing, then add vanilla, cinnamon, lemon zest, semolina, ground almonds, and baking powder.
- Pour mixture into tart crust.
- Place sliced almonds on top.
- Bake for 30–35 minutes or until golden brown.
- When ready, take tart out of pan, let it cool on a cooling rack, and glaze it with the apricot jam glaze.
Julia Pignanelli
OMS-2, Class of 2024
Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University – Tampa Bay Regional Campus, Clearwater, Florida, USA
Despite the popular trend of baking homemade sourdough during the isolating times of the pandemic, I am proud to admit I began this hobby far earlier. My family is big into the “why buy it at the store if you can make it yourself” mentality – so I got into culturing my own yeast starter and baking my own bread. The process of cultivating, growing, and maintaining a live yeast culture that eventually yields the most delicious loaf of sourdough is extremely satisfying and well worth the effort. It also makes for a great gift idea (and a cheap one for students). Who doesn’t love a fresh loaf of bread?
The recipe itself is very simple: only flour, water, and salt. The most complicated part of the process is the timing – both for the liveliness of the yeast and for your commitment to perfecting the craft. If you still aren’t convinced that making your own bread from scratch is worth it, let me remind you of the health-related benefits of sourdough relative to regular, processed forms of bread you buy at the store. I like to call it my “guilt-free” bread because first, kneading the bread for 10 minutes is no joke. Second, the yeast culture contains prebiotics (among other vitamins and minerals) and the fibers in the bread feed beneficial gut bacteria, which helps with digestion and overall health. After all, bread is chemistry, chemistry is biology, and biology is life – a full circle!
Ingredients
- 800 g all-purpose or bread flour
- 20 g salt
- 450 mL warm water
- 320 g (or more, up to 550 g depending on livelihood of culture) of bubbly yeast culture
Instructions
Feed yeast four hours before making bread.
- Mix flour and salt well in a bowl.
- Add 450 mL of warm water.
- Add 320 g (or more) of yeast culture.
- Mix well with a spoon.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and knead for 10–20 minutes (go by feeling; the dough should be elastic and not sticky).
- Return dough to bowl and proof for four hours covered in a shower cap or similar covering.
- After four hours, take the dough out of the bowl and do a series of six folds by pulling the corners into the center.
- Shape the dough into a circle (pulling the bread toward yourself, creating tension).
- If you want to put seeds on the bread, do so now by rolling the smooth surface of the dough on a plate of seeds of your choice.
- Place the bread in proofing basket (or bowl with a floured dishtowel) and cover with a dishtowel. Let it proof for three hours or put it in the fridge overnight and bake in the morning.
Baking
- Place Dutch ovens into your oven. Preheat to 450°F (232°C). You can play around with the temperature depending on your oven and the color you want your bread to be.
- Once the oven is heated, take the dough out of the refrigerator and put it on parchment paper.
- Score the dough.
- Place the dough into the Dutch ovens. Bake for 25 minutes with the lids on.
- Remove lids, turn the oven up to 500°F (260°C), and bake for another 25 minutes, watching the bread for color.
Sara Jiang
Associate Professor of Pathology
Chief, Head and Neck Pathology Service
Director, Pathology Communications Group
Duke Health, Durham, North Carolina, USA
I couldn’t help submitting two of my favorite and most ridiculous bakes – one related to pathology (mitosis cookies) and one not (cake pops that look like fried chicken, made combining elements from various recipes found on the Internet). The mitosis cookies are made using these 3D-printed cutters from pancala on Thingiverse.
A little bit about me and baking: I enjoyed baking every so often as a kid, but the pandemic (and watching the Great British Bake-Off) renewed my interest. Baking and science go hand in hand and I love to create, experiment, and attempt new things – especially things that are really ridiculous and elaborate.
Hollis Notgrass | Lead Pathologists’ Assistant | Gross Room Supervisor, UT Southwestern, Dallas, Texas, USA
I am a pathologists’ assistant who loves baking things and recently started incorporating my love for all things pathology-themed into my cake decorating skillset. I have some photos – all edible, all either cake or modeling chocolate – I’d like to share, along with at least one “normal” cake. I am a home baker and love to create edible creations for friends, family, and coworkers… especially the crazy requests I get for Lab Week!
My all-time favorite cake is a dark chocolate one that has been in my family a while. It has some surprising ingredients, including black pepper. You have to try it to understand, but it doesn’t even need icing, so it’s good for a beginning baker.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, cut into 1” pieces, plus more to grease the pan
- 1 ½ cups strong brewed coffee
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I prefer dark chocolate), plus 3 Tbsp to dust the pan
- ½ cup honey whiskey
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Put the 3 butter into a medium saucepan on medium heat. Pour fresh hot coffee over the butter until melted, whisking occasionally. Add whiskey, molasses, and cocoa powder and whisk until well incorporated. Add both sugars and leave on the heat until fully dissolved, whisking occasionally. Remove from heat, cover the pan, and let sit until it cools to room temperature. (I usually do this step the night before I plan to make the cake and let it sit on the counter overnight, but you can do it in the morning and make the cake in the afternoon. Just as long as it’s cool!)
- When ready to finish the cake, preheat your oven to 325°F (163°C) and butter a 10” springform pan. Dust the buttered pan with the rest of the cocoa powder.
- Whisk or sift together flour, baking soda, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and cayenne.
- In a separate bowl large enough to hold the completed cake batter, whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract. Then, whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture until combined. Add the dry ingredients, whisking until combined, but do not overmix. Finally, stir in the mini chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan. Set the pan on a cookie sheet in the middle of the preheated oven and cook about one hour to one hour and 15 minutes. When ready, the cake should be firm in the middle and a cake tester (or butter knife) should come out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack. Once you remove the cake from the pan, you can sprinkle powdered sugar on top. (Use a doily and you can make a pretty pattern!)
- Wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator (if there is any left over…). The cake can be stored for up to 24 hours, but you can also cut slices and freeze them individually.
Stephanie Yentsch | POC Coordinator, UPMC Lititz, Pennsylvania, USA
I come from western Pennsylvania, but my husband and I have lived in Lancaster (south central Pennsylvania) for nearly 50 years, or since I came here for my MT internship year. My mother – a wonderful cook and baker – was of Italian ancestry and my father’s family was from Slovakia, so I grew up with a great mix of food choices. Add to that my clinical laboratory training and I have always enjoyed baking and sharing the products with our friends.
Over the last two years of COVID-19, I have explored a lot of new recipes and techniques I found online (even some sourdough) and rediscovered some old family recipes. The first photo is Polish sauerkraut bread; the next three are old family recipes (see below): Italian Easter bread (La Pigna), ricotta pie, and Hungarian apricot cake (melch pie).
I enjoy fruitcakes and have tried different recipes over the years. The last photo is my latest attempt and might be my favorite fruitcake. This one should be made months in advance (which I did not do), so we ate one the month after Christmas. The second is still in our refrigerator, happily resting and being transfigured while it cures!
Italian Easter Bread (La Pigna)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups scalded milk
- 1 stick butter or margarine
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 3-4 Tbsp anise seed (or substitute lemon or orange zest)
- 4 eggs + 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten together
- 7–8 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 pkg dry active yeast dissolved in ¼ cup lukewarm water
- Mix another beaten egg with water to use as an egg wash before baking
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Add butter or margarine, sugar, and salt to scalded milk.
- When milk mixture is lukewarm, add dissolved yeast and anise seed or citrus zest.
- Beat in 3 cups flour, then slightly beaten eggs, and mix well.
- Add remaining 4 cups flour. Keep adding flour if needed and knead a few minutes until elastic to the touch.
- Put into a greased bowl, cover, and keep in a warm area. After 15 minutes, knead slightly in bowl and keep the top well-greased and covered. Let rise until double in bulk (1 ½ to 2 hours).
- Divide into four balls and let sit 15 minutes. Meanwhile, grease and flour four pie pans.
- Make a center hole in each ball of dough by working with your hands.
- Place one round into each pie pan. Use a greased and floured small jelly jar or glass to place in the open hole to keep the center open. Let rise 45 minutes.
- Brush the loaves with mixture of beaten egg and water before baking to give a glossy finish, then bake for 30–35 minutes.
- Remove from pans and cool completely. Can be refrigerated or frozen for longer storage.
Ricotta Pie
Ingredients
- 2 cups ricotta
- ½ cup sugar
- 2–3 Tbsp flour
- 3 beaten eggs (reserve 1 Tbsp)
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- Dash nutmeg
- ½ cup golden raisins (optional)
- 2 prepared pie crusts
- 9” deep dish or 10” regular pie pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Mix ingredients in order and pour into prepared pie crust.
- Make lattice top from second piecrust.
- Use reserved beaten egg to drop in open ricotta squares.
- Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Test with toothpick, leaving pie in oven, until toothpick is clean when removed.
- Cool completely, then dust with powdered (confectioners’) sugar.
- Refrigerate if any is left after one to two days.
Hungarian Apricot Cake (Melch Pie)
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups (440 g) flour
- 1 cup sugar (200 g, for dough) + 1 ½ cups sugar (300 g, for filling), divided
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp shortening
- 8 oz (227 g) butter or margarine
- 2 slightly beaten eggs
- 1 hard-boiled egg yolk
- 1 cup (237 mL) evaporated milk
- Zest and juice from ½ lemon
- 1 lb (454 g) dried apricots
- 11x15” jelly roll pan
Instructions
- Cover apricots with water and cook until tender.
- Mash apricots, add sugar, and mix until fairly smooth.
- Allow filling to cool to lukewarm.
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C).
- Mix all dry ingredients for dough together.
- Add remaining dough ingredients and cut in with pastry blender until just blended.
- Roll out dough to 15x18” and line 11x15” jelly roll pan. Trim excess.
- Fill with lukewarm apricot filling, then use excess dough to create lattice top over filling.
- Bake for 45–50 minutes or until crust is brown.
- Dust with powdered (confectioners’) sugar while warm. Allow to cool completely and cut into squares or diamond shapes. Refrigerate after one to two days.
