Bosnian Hairy Cakes (Čupavci)

With a name like "Hairy Cakes," this has to be good, right?

RIGHT.

This recipe comes via Adrian, who is a green-card holding Bosnian living and working in Pittsburgh. He's been here since the early 90's, when he and his father fled war-town Bosnia following the death of his mother and siblings.

He is the American dream.

After battling his way through two years in high school when he barely spoke English, he went on to college where he kicked ass and took names. Now he's a computer programmer for a company you've heard of, but that's a story for another day.

Today's story is Čupavci, which happens to translate to "Hairy Cakes." Adrian isn't sure who made them, he just knows they were often around when he was a kid. He hadn't thought about them in a few decades, but then decided he needed to figure them out recently. One thing led to another, and he thinks this is the recipe. He says "thinks" because everyone seems to make them with a white cake, but he grew up with a slightly chocolately through-and-through version, as confirmed by his dad who still doesn't speak a lick of English.

Thanks for sharing your story, Adrian.

I'm celebrating recipes handed down through the generations via immigrants. If you've got one to share, please send it to burghbaby (at) gmail (dot) com. For reals. I've only got about 4 recipes waiting in the wings right now and one of them is a looooong process.

Bosnian Hairy Cakes

Cakes
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 cups milk
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Chocolate
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
12 oz chopped chocolate
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Shredded coconut (dried unsweetened)

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9" x 11" baking dish and set it aside.

2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and cocoa. Add the milk, oil, and eggs and stir.

3. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

4. While the cake is baking, cook the chocolate sauce. Add all of the ingredients to a large saucepan and heat until boiling. Stir constantly and remove from the heat if it seems like it might boil over. Once heated to a boil, lower the heat and cook for 5-7 additional minutes. Stir constantly. It will thicken as it cooks.

5. Cool both the cake and the sauce.

6. Cut the edges off the cake and cut it into 18 squares. (The edges should be given to children to eat while they wait for the finished cakes.)

7. Dip the cake into the chocolate sauce then dip in coconut. Make sure all sides of the cake are covered.

8. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Comments

[Michelle B]

Message for Adrian - We're glad you're here.