Blejska Kremšnita (Bled Cream Cake) is a traditional Slovenian recipe for a cake made from pastry cream topped with whipped cream sandwiched between two layers of crisp puff pastry. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Slovenian version of: Bled Cream Cake (Blejska Kremšnita).
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This recipe is for the classic cream cake originating from the region of Lake Bled in Slovenia (the cake is also written as 'cremeschnitte'). This is counted as one of the national dishes of Slovenia.
Bled cream cake was invented by Ištvan Lukačević, a native of Vojvodina, who came to Slovenia as a pastry chef after World War II. It was based on recipes that a son of a baker, whose last name was Ravnik, collected at the turn of the 20th century after traveling in Austria and Germany, including a recipe for vanilla pastry cream.
For this recipe you will need a rectangular springform cake tin.
Ingredients:
500g puff pastry
1.6l whole milk
9 eggs (room temperature), separated
400g caster sugar (divided)
180g plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour
20g vanilla sugar (replaced with 2 tsp vanilla paste)
2 tbsp spiced rum (Domači rum, a spirit produced in Slovenia is traditional)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar (or 1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice, to help stabilize the eggs)
750ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla paste
icing sugar, for dusting
Method:
Begin by baking the puff pastry: Thaw the puff pastry if frozen, then turn out onto a lightly-floured work surface and roll out to form two rectangles of 36x20cm (or to fit your baking tin). Note that the pastry will shrink when baked so you need it to be slightly larger than the dimensions of your baking tin at this stage.
Prick the surface of the pastry with a fork, to prevent tit from puffing up too much when baked. Arrange on baking trays then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 215C. After 5 minutes reduce the oven temperature to 180C and bake for another 15 minutes. Now reduce the oven temperature to 160C and bake for a few more minutes (up to maximum of 10).
Remove the baking trays from the oven and set aside to cool.
In the meantime, prepare the vanilla pastry cream: If you have a stand mixer, put the egg whites into the stand mixer bowl. If not, put them into a large bowl. The volume of this bowl should be at least 7l. Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat them until soft peaks form. Then start adding 100g sugar about 1 tbsp at a time, whilst beating constantly until the beaten egg whites appear glossy and stand in stiff peaks.
Add the egg yolks to a second bowl then beat in 200ml milk, 300g sugar, the vanilla sugar, and 180g flour, mixing until the mixture is smooth.
In a third bowl, blend the cornflour with 100ml milk, beating with a whisk until completely smooth.
Add the remaining 1.3l milk to a large heavy-based saucepan (one that holds at least 5l) and bring to a boil then immediately reduce to a simmer.
Pour the egg yolk and the cornflour mixtures into the simmering milk and beat with an electric mixer continuously until the cream becomes thick (at least 15 minutes). The temperature should not be too high, so that the vanilla cream doesn't burn. This is the most important step — if the vanilla cream is not cooked enough, you will have to serve your kremšnita in a cup. Once cooked take the vanilla cream off the heat.
Now beat the whipped egg white mixture whilst pouring into it the hot vanilla cream. It should not take more than a minute for the vanilla cream to be incorporated into the meringue. Add 2 tbsp of rum and beat to combine.
Assembling the cake: Sit on sheet of baked puff pastry in the base of a springform cake tin. Pour the vanilla custard over the top then set aside until completely cool (about 5 hours).
When ready to finish the cake, beat the double cream with the vanilla paste until thick then spread over the top of the vanilla custard.
Now take the second sheet of pastry and cut into 7x7cm squares (it's easier to cut at this stage rather than trying to cut through the pastry and the cream layers). Just before serving, carefully arrange these pastry squares on top of the kremšnite.
When ready to serve, mark the top of the cream layer into 7x7cm squares then cut the cake (remember to go through the bottom pastry layer).
Transfer the cake sections to serving plates, top with the reserved pastry squares, dust with icing or powdered sugar and serve.
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