This Easter Cake is my version of ‘Sirnica’ which is a traditional Dalmatian/Croatian Easter treat.
I have adapted the original recipe numerous times trying to make it more like my husband’s family friend ‘Teta Mila’ but alas have not yet succeeded.
It is probably somewhere between a traditional ‘Sirnica’ and a ‘Panatone’.
The day before I wish to bake it I combine:
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence,
- ¼ cup rum/brandy
- the juice of the orange I have taken the rind from (see ingredients below) and
- enough milk to total 300 ml
Add to the bread maker bowl together with:
- 200 grams butter
- 200 grams sugar
- Rind of orange and lemon
- 4 egg yolks
- 5 cups bread flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon yeast
Mix and rise using dough setting. I may restart the bread machine if I’m not happy with how the dough has mixed.
Line a tall cake tin with baking paper (I fold a long sheet in half and insert one end under the other), add dough, and decorate with a cross in the top (which usually rises out!) and a generous sprinkling of demara sugar.
Leave to rise in oven overnight (approx 12 hours), the dough should double or even triple its bulk.
This recipe likes best for the weather to be warm and humid, so if you make it in cold weather it won’t rise as much and can be a little gluggy – but I like it like that too…
Then bake for 1 hour 15 minutes at 180° Celsius.
I usually just start the oven without bothering the ‘Sirnica’, so if you have preheated the oven it may not take this long.
Elizabeth Sorić 
Anyone who knows me knows that I am always tweaking my favourite recipes. This year I made the ‘sirnica’ in the mixer, creaming the butter, sugar and eggs before adding the other ingredients. If I were to make it this way again I would reserve the 5th cup of flour, only adding enough to make a slightly stiff batter/soft dough. I find that a soft dough seems to rise better and the amount of moisture required to achieve a soft dough varies depending on the flour and weather, it is hard to predict the correct quantities.
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