Polish Mazurka (Mazurek) - Easter Cake

Happy Easter, friends!

Today I'm going to share a recipe for Mazurka. This is a Polish Easter cake that uses a sponge (made with yeast). The texture is kind of flaky due to the butter, and it tastes like a danish to me. It smells like bread while it's baking!

You can use any canned pie filling for this, or make your own topping by cooking some fruit and thickening it with corn starch. I used cherry pie filling for this one.

Save the egg whites!

Above: Here's the first one I made.

Above: Here's the sponge.

Above: Here's the 2nd one. I used a little more milk and some vanilla in the icing so you can't see it as well. It's not as white due to the vanilla, and slightly runnier. 

Polish Mazurka (Mazurek) - Easter Cake
Adapted from About Food

Makes 20 servings

Ingredients

• 1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup scalded milk, cooled to 110 degrees
• 3 large egg yolks, room temperature and lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cubed
• 1 can of pie filling
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon milk (or more)
• vanilla or almond extract (optional)

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the yeast with the milk, then add egg yolks, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1/2 cup of flour until well combined. Set aside and allow the mixture to double in volume. This is the sponge that I was referring to. 
2. In a large bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar and salt. Cut in the butter as if you were making a pie crust. It should be crumbly. 
3. Combine the flour mixture with the yeast mixture until a ball forms. You can do all of this in a mixer or by hand. 
4. Prepare a 15x11 baking sheet using parchment. The recipe said to use cooking spray, but it wasn't necessary at all. I prefer parchment.
5. Roll 2/3 of the dough into a rectangle about 1/4" thick. I rolled it a bit bigger and then rolled the edges back in with my fingers, to make a border all the way around. 1/2" is enough for a border. 
6. Spread the pie filling evenly all the way to the border. 
7. You can either roll the remaining dough and cut strips, or you can do what i did and make snakes by rolling pieces of dough on the counter with your fingers. You can flatten them slightly before you make a lattice design on your cake. 
8. Allow to rise for an hour. 
9. Preheat your oven to 350F. Place your cake inside and let it bake for about 30 minutes. You can check on it to see if the edges are starting to brown. We don't want to burn it. Remove your cake and let it cool completely before drizzling on the icing. 
10. To make the icing, mix the confectioners' sugar with the milk. You can add extract for extra flavour if you wish. You should be able to drizzle the mixture on the cake without it running off. Add more sugar or milk as needed. 

Tips:

• We had our Easter dinner yesterday and I sent some home with friends. This cake probably won't last more than 2 days, but I imagine you could keep it on the counter for 3 or 4. It may start to get stale after that.
• Next, i'll show you how to use the egg whites!