A Cherry For Your Thoughts

Being back in the States is always an opportunity to catch up with old friends. Last Saturday, I went to meet B.'s new daughter – a six-month old cutie, soon to be the recipient of frou-frou French baby clothes. B. is a great cook - she's the one who supervised my first béchamel. There was also an unforgettable Thanksgiving in London, which found us, the night before, wondering if we should sleep with the frozen turkey between us (dinner was served, nobody died).

B. made a lunch of all my favorite things – simple oven-roasted salmon, a lightly dressed arugula salad with roasted butternut squash, red onions, walnuts and lumps of goat cheese. And for dessert, a beautiful Hungarian cherry cake.

For whatever reason, many of my closest friends, even in the States, have ended up in inter-cultural relationships. B. is married to a man from Hungary. The first time she had his parents for dinner, she made her world famous (utterly divine, not to be argued with) carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It elicited a strangely muted response; no doubt it was too sweet for their European palette. Since then, B. has given herself a crash course in Hungarian pastry. Hence, the cherry cake.

Food is a great way – sometimes the only way, to snuggle up to a new culture. Language takes time (and French is A LOT easier than Hungarian), but food translates instantly, making people feel viscerally comfortable, warm and welcome.

When I think about the first days of my marriage – the beginning of my life in France, I know I used food in this way. With the most important parts of my personality amputated by my halting French, I was desperate to find another way to communicate. My husband's friends didn't know if I was intelligent, charming, or witty. What they did know is that I made a mean sweet potato puree and - after watching Gwendal a few times – a festive chicken, apricot and coriander tagine.

I tasted all of this in the tender crumb of B.'s cherry cake – a loving (and very tasty) way to bring herself closer to her new family – a culinary dent in the cultural divide.


She was kind enough to send along the recipe:

"This cherry cake is from George Lang's Cuisine of Hungary. George Lang owned the Cafe Des Artistes in NY, but was originally from Hungary. He died recently, and his obituary was in the New York Times. He led a very dramatic life, full of both glamor and tragedy (his parents died in Auschwitz and his daughter in a CA wildfire; he himself escaped post-war Hungary hidden in a coffin). His cookbook is one of the better Hungarian cookbooks because it is very precise in the way of American recipes - most are grandma-style books, with directions like (as my grandma once said) "cook it until it looks like fudge", which is useless if you've never seen it (never mind eaten it!).

His recipe calls for fresh cherries, and I have made it that way when they are in season. Last weekend, I made it with jarred Morello Cherries from Trader Joe's. The recipe is very typically Hungarian in that it calls for the eggs to be separated and then the whites whipped until stiff to lighten the cake, rather than using a chemical leavener like baking soda or powder, as in American sweets. It is also much less sweet than American desserts, which my husband prefers.

"Anyám csereszneyés lepénye" -- My mother's cherry cake, adapted from George Lang's Cuisine of Hungary

1 jar Trader Joe's Morello Cherries, well drained
1.5 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
bread crumbs
Vanilla sugar (I buy my vanilla sugar in packets either in Hungary or from a Hungarian store here. You might find it in another Eastern European store (Polish stores, for example, of which there seem to be many!) or you can make it by burying a vanilla pod in sugar. You could also just dust with confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix butter well with half of the sugar. After a few minutes of vigorous whipping, add egg yolks and continue whipping. Finally, add flour and salt.

Beat egg whites with remaining granulated sugar til the mixture is stiff and forms peaks. With a rubber spatula, gently fold it into the butter mixture.

Butter a baking pan 10x6 inches (I used my 9" round cake pan) and sprinkle it with bread crumbs. Put dough in pan and sprinkle the cherries evenly over the dough (should basically cover it).

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 min (takes longer in my oven). Cool 5-10 minutes on a wire rack, run a knife around the pan edge and then turn out to cool completely. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar.

Serves 6-8