Slovenian Potica

- A traditional Slovenian holiday cake

The Slovenian Potica is typically seen at the table during family holiday celebrations, especially religious ones.

Slovenia is an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation, with about 90% of Slovenes professing the Catholic faith. As such, Christmas and Easter are celebrated, but are much more subdues affairs than in the United States � the focus for Slovenes is spending time with their families on these occasions.

There will be a large meal featuring traditional foods, which will of course include Potica.

Slovenian Potica Ingredients

� 2 Tbsp yeast
� 1� cups milk, warmed to room temperature
� 3� cups all purpose or cake flour
� 1 � cups sugar
� 7 Tbsp (about 1 stick) butter, warmed to room temperature
� 4 egg yolks, beaten
� 1 Tbsp salt
� 4 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
� 2� cups ground walnuts
� 4 egg whites, beaten

Procedure

1. Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs, keeping the yolks in one bowl, the whites in another.
2. In another mixing bowl, combine the yeast with the milk.
3. Add � cup of the sugar, salt, and flour and mix to form a dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
4. Let the dough rise in a warm place, about 30 minutes.
5. Prepare the filling by creaming the butter, 1 cup sugar, and egg yolks together.
6. Add cream and ground walnuts.
7. Preheat oven to 350�F.
8. Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface, forming a large rectangle. Spread the filling in the center of the dough.
9. Roll up the dough jelly-roll style, and place seam side down, onto a cookie sheet. Using a clean pastry brush, brush the dough with egg white.
10. Bake for 1 to 1� hours, or until golden brown.
Serves about 12

Special Note:

Potica will tend to rise VERY high, easily topping out at a height above the edges off a typical angel food cake pan. This is to be expected, so don't panic that you've made some sort of runaway cake here.

Slovenes use specialized ceramic pans to bake their Potica which are even higher than an angel food cake pan. To get this rise, you�ll need everything to be at room temperature or warmer before you start making your Potica � this means your pans, your bowls and your ingredients as well!

It will also help if you have a warm kitchen to make this cake in � if your Potica gets chilly, it will fail to rise as high as it should.

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