Poland: Kremowka Papieska / "Papal" Cream Cake

It was apparently in 1999 during a visit to his old home town Wadowice that the then-Pope John Paul II mentioned casually that he was very fond of the cream cake or kremówka that he and his friends in school used to pool their funds to buy from one of the bakers in the town's market square. More or less inevitably, the next day the entire town was coming down with kremówka, suddenly rebranded as Kremówka papieska, the "Papal Cream Cake."

As cakes go, kremówka is a fairly simple thing. It's the kind of sheet cake that gets made in big flats and sold by the square piece -- which is why the boy-who-would-be-Pope and his friends could afford it. Another reason it might have been inexpensive is because it looks like what a baker might have been inclined to make at the end of his or her baking day (around noon) to use up ingredients he or she had made too much of and wanted to get rid of before closing time. (Though it should also be mentioned that at least one Polish source says that kremówka also contains a local brandy called winiak, which it seems might jack up the price a little... and make the cake that much more attractive for officially-under-the-drinking-age kids.)

The recipe is simple: it calls for sheets of puff pastry on top and bottom -- or in the less formal versions of the cake, just on the top: the bottom would be regular short-crust pastry, another factor that makes this look like one of those use-it-up, don't-waste-the-leftover-eggs confections. Some versions of kremówka don't use puff pastry at all, just a short-crust pastry on both top and bottom, enriched with egg yolks (probably the whites got used elsewhere in the bakery for meringues).

The cream of the interior isn't whipped cream: it's a golden custard cream similar to créme patissiere or pastry cream -- very rich and yummy, and another commodity that a good central European baker will probably have left over at the end of the day. The thriftiness of this confection, though, in no way detracts from its tastiness.

Click "read more" for the recipe.

For the cake:

Grease well 2 8- or 9-inch baking pans / tins: coat with bread crumbs and set aside.

Then make the cake mixture:

• 8 ounces butter
• 3 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons water
• 3 egg yolks
• A pinch of salt

Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender. Beat the egg yolks into the water: mix into the flour. Mix well. Divide in halves and spread/press each half to completely cover the bottom of one of the baking pans. Bake for approximately 30 minutes in a medium-low oven (325F / 160C): remove and let cool. Remove from pans when cooled.

For the custard cream:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• A pinch of salt
• 6 egg yolks

Scald the milk and vanilla. In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, salt, and egg yolks. Stir until very well blended (ideally, whisk to make sure there are no lumps). Add milk gradually. Cook over low flame, stirring constantly, being careful to scrape bottom of pan.

Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 3 minutes. Pour cream into a bowl and let cool. Stir occasionally until cold.

When the custard cream is cold, spread over one of the layers of baked pastry. (If the custard is at all runny, put one baked layer back in one of the baking pans and then do the spreading.) Top with the second baked layer. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Cut and serve (possibly with thick whipped cream on top, if you like).