Cușma lui Guguță

Ingredients

Crêpes

• 400 gplain flour
• 800 mlmilk
• 4eggs
• 2 tablespoonssugar
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt
• 3 tablespoonsmelted butter
• oil, for the pan

Cherry filling

• 1 kgsour cherries, stoned
• or 800 g jarred sour cherries, drained
• 150 gsugar
• 2 tablespoonscornflour

Cream

• 800 mldouble cream, cold
• 100 gicing sugar
• 1 teaspoonvanilla
• or 500 ml cream and 300 g sour cream

To finish

• grated chocolate
• a few whole cherries

Directions

1. Drain them thoroughly before using them. Whisk the eggs with the sugar and salt. Add about half of the milk to it. Whisk until it is completely smooth. Add the rest of the milk to it. Stir in the melted butter as well.
2. Cover it and let it stand for thirty minutes. The batter should be thin like single cream. Add more milk if it has thickened on standing. Cooking the crepes takes some time. Heat a wide pan over a medium heat. Pour in a small ladle of batter. Swirl the pan to spread it thinly. Cook it for about one full minute. Turn it and give it thirty seconds more. Slide it out onto a warm plate.
3. Stack them up as you go along. You want about sixteen crepes. Put the stoned cherries in a pan. Add the sugar to the cherries. Warm them gently until the juice runs. Give them about five full minutes. Mix the cornflour with a little cold water. Stir it into the warm cherries.
4. Cook it for two minutes, stirring. That thickening stops the cake going soggy. Let the filling cool completely. Use very cold cream from the refrigerator. Cold cream whips far better than warm.
5. Whisk it with the icing sugar and vanilla. Take it to soft peaks and no further. Lay a crepe flat on the board. Spoon cherry filling along the middle. Fold the crepe in half over it. Press it gently to hold the shape.
6. Repeat that with all the crepes. Building the cone takes some care. Set a plate or a cake board out. Arrange folded triangles in a ring. Set it slightly inward as you go up. Keep going until it rises into a cone. Spread a little cream between the layers. Spread the remaining cream over the whole cone.
7. Cover it completely with no gaps. Smooth it with a palette knife. Grate chocolate over the whole top. Set a few whole cherries on it. Refrigerate it for at least four hours. Cut it into wedges from the point down. Use a long and very sharp knife. It keeps three days refrigerated.

Technique

• The cake is named for Guguta, the boy hero of Spiridon Vangheli’s Moldovan children’s books, and is built to look like his tall cap.
• Sour cherries are what the cake wants, since their sharpness cuts the cream and the crepes where sweet cherries would not.
• The cherry juice must be thickened with cornflour, or it soaks through the crepes and the cake collapses.

Substitutions

• Jarred or frozen sour cherries work perfectly well and should be drained thoroughly.
• Folding sour cream into the whipped cream cuts the sweetness noticeably.

Variations

• Some cooks use a mix of cream and sour cream for the covering.
• A version with a chocolate coating rather than cream is made in some households.
• Similar stacked crepe cakes are made across eastern Europe.

History

Guguță’s cap: a crêpe-and-cherry cone covered in cream, named after the boy hero of Spiridon Vangheli’s children’s books.

Frequently asked questions

What is Cușma lui Guguță?

Cușma lui Guguță is a dessert from Moldova: crepe stack with sour cherries and cream, ‘Guguță’s hat’. Guguță’s cap: a crêpe-and-cherry cone covered in cream, named after the boy hero of Spiridon Vangheli’s children’s books.

How long does Cușma lui Guguță take to make?

Cușma lui Guguță takes 1 hour plus chilling of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 10. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Cușma lui Guguță?

Yes, within limits. Jarred or frozen sour cherries work perfectly well and should be drained thoroughly. Folding sour cream into the whipped cream cuts the sweetness noticeably.

What is the most important thing to get right in Cușma lui Guguță?

Repeat that with all the crepes. Building the cone takes some care. Set a plate or a cake board out. Arrange folded triangles in a ring. Set it slightly inward as you go up. Keep going until it rises into a cone. Spread a little cream between the layers. Spread the remaining cream over the whole cone.