Crumbly, Soft to Spicy Dessert Cakes from Poland that Feel like Luxury on a plate

Close to the countries that were the centres of dessert innovations, in particular, cakes (Austria, Hungary and others), Poland has some of its own special dessert cakes that range from dense to light to filled with nuts, poppy seeds and airy creams. The cakes are also a little unusual with shortcut pastry, being used in most cakes and the one with the sponges mostly using a lot of dry fruits and spices to make special cakes for special occasions.

1. Kołocz śląski

A heavy cake quite literally, this rectangular cake is said to weigh 5-6 kilos that comes in 4 varieties. The one without filling and three others with either walnut, poppy seed or cheese fillings. It is said to have been baked since the 10th century by the women who would have a gala time without the men around to bother them. The cake is usually associated with weddings and it is said a bit of this cake at any local wedding, newlyweds would be blessed with children soon after. The filling ranges from being dark grey to amber depending on the filling used and the top is crumbly and dusted with powdered sugar. Today it has become a custom that the cake be brought to wedding guests a few days before the wedding.

2. Sernik

Perhaps the most widely known and famous cake from Poland is the Sernik which is nothing but a burnt cheesecake with a crumbly crust mostly made out of sponge cake. It uses eggs, sugar and twaróg (local curd cheese) and was first baked in the 1600s, post the victory at the Battle of Vienna. Sernik has unbaked varieties as well with the cheese filling mixed in with raisins, fruits or chocolate sauce. The fruits also go as topping at times alongside jelly. There's also a version of Sernik that has a lattice crust that's the Krakowski Sernik.

3. Marcinek

This is an unusual layered cake that is so thin that around 20 layers of shortcrust pastry, which is more biscuitty than spongy held together by cream, stacked to form a cake. The cream is made with whipped cream, sour cream, lemon zest, almond zest, or vanilla. Each layer of the cake is made separately so, it's a time-consuming process to make the Marcinek. The remaining cream covers the whole cake once the layers are assembled. Often cookie crumbs, cocoa, and coconut are used to garnish this unique cake.

4. Karpatka

This cake is quite similar to the creamy Kremówka, which is said to have originated in the 1900s, but instead of the shortcrust pastry that is very crumbly, Karpatka uses pâte à choux with the trademark vanilla pastry cream. The bottom crust might use shortcrust pastry, but the top always has pâte à choux. The name is such because when dusted with powdered sugar, it is said to resemble the Carpathian mountains.

5. Piernik

A spicy ginger cake that uses a lot of honey, Piernik is mostly prepared during Christmas. It's typically made with rye or wheat flour, honey and spices like ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, allspice and pepper with the occasional dry fruits and nuts. It's baked in a loaf pan and sliced to form a layered cake with a thick plum jam in between. It comes from Torun, a small city in Poland that is known for its ginger.

6. Kremówka

A variation of the European Cremeschnitte, the Polish version of this rich creamy cake with a flaky crust, and the Polish version uses vanilla pastry cream that is sandwiched between two thin layers of crispy puff pastry. The top puff pastry tends to be more flakier because of ample room for it to expand. It's dusted with powdered sugar and some varieties even use whipped cream as a topping. In some parts of Poland, this cake is also known as Napoleonka, after the French dessert that uses similar ingredients.

7. Wuzetka

A delicious chocolate cake coming from Poland's Warsaw, it's simply named after the East-West route in the region called Wschód-Zachód, shortened to W-Z. It has two layers of chocolate sponge cake with a filling of whipped cream and chocolate icing on top. The cake tends to use a little bit of rum and the icing is poured over the cake and once it sets it is cut into cubes. It is decorated with a blob of cream and a cherry pressed into it.

8. Kostka kokosowa

On closer inspection, these quite look like the Australian Lamingtons because they are quite similar to them. It's a sponge cake, cut into cubes, that is dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with desiccated coconut. They are popular in Croatia, Slovakia and Hungary as well, known by different names in each country. They are hardly cakes and don't dry out easily and don't spoil easily even when kept at room temperature for a long time.