A Very Chocolate Mud Cake

Maybe a statement that everybody loves chocolate is a little bit ...hmmm...I even don't know how to call it..untruthful? Because let's be honest - not everybody loves chocolate. Moreover, there are so many kinds of chocolate - white, milk, dark, with nuts, orange zest, raisins and so on and so forth. But when you are told to think of some kind of pastry that will satisfy almost everyone, I have no doubts that it will be a chocolate cake. Am I right?

I've made already different chocolate cakes - Chocolate & Espresso Cake and Kladdkaka. And these two recipes are among the most visited on my blog! But you know that there can't be enough of it! And I should tell you that this Chocolate Mud Cake has the most rich chocolate flavor so far! This cake is for true chocolate lovers and for everyone else, even if you think you are not into chocolate at all. Give it a try. I am sure you will like it.

Easter Bread

Easter bread, called Paska, is traditionally eaten in Ukraine during Easter holidays. Interesting that the recipe for it is similar to Italian Panettone, which is baked in Italy for Christmas. The tradition of eating Easter bread comes from religious reasons - Great Lent. Paska is made of all ingredients that are forbidden during the Lent and people break the fast by eating Easter bread loaded with butter, eggs, milk and sugar. Easter bread can be bought anywhere during the holidays, but there is something mysterious and magical in family tradition of baking Easter bread. The recipe goes from mother to daughter and each family has its own secrets.

I will be honest with you. In our family the right of baking Easter bread still belongs to my mother, because she is the one who keeps the family together. But all the fun belong to me, because I'm responsible for decorating part! Traditionally Paska is decorated with royal icing and sprinkles on the top. However lately in bakeries there are a lot of fancy variations which involve chocolate frosting, ganache, macaroons ans meringues, that I used last year. This time I went for less effortless, though not less beautiful dried fruits and nuts.

And to be totally honest, I wasn't planning to make a blog post out of it. Because I post only those recipes that I make by myself. But as long as I had brought home a huge bouquet of lilac the other day, I just couldn't resist not to use the opportunity.