Ingredients
Units Scale
- 3/4 liter whole milk
- 1/4 liter baked kefir (regular kefir will also work, known as chisleag in Moldovan)
- 12 eggs
- 3 glasses sugar (glass volume 250 g)
- 4 glasses flour (glass volume 250 g)
- 2 glasses neutral oil – Sunflower oil is the traditional choice in Moldova (glass volume 250 g)
- 27 g vanilla sugar
- 50 g brandy
- 1 Tbsp. baking soda (mixed with vinegar JUST before adding!)
- 2 Tbsp. Eastern European-style rose jam (optional but strongly recommended by TFD)
- An oven-safe pan or pot, 11-12 inches in diameter
- Aluminum foil
- Parchment paper for lining the bottom of the cooking pot or pan
Instructions
- It is very important to wrap the pot or pan you are cooking the cake in with at LEAST 2-3 sheets of aluminum foil – both around, below and along the edges. Put a circle of baking parchment paper on the bottom of the pot to facilitate getting the cake out after it is cooked.
- Put the eggs in a deep bowl, add the sugar and beat until the sugar dissolves (2.3 minutes).
- Add the flour with the vanilla sugar and mix them with the whisk so that there are no lumps. Add the oil, mix and a little, while stirring, add the milk, rose jam and chisleag. Add the baking soda and mix well, then add the brandy.
- Grease the inside of the pot with butter, then sprinkle with breadcrumbs or flour.
- Pour the mixture into the pot.
- Bake for 2 hours at 180-200 Centigrade. (Depending on how your oven bakes), reduce the heat to 120-150 Centigrade. and bake it for another 1 hour. DO NOT OPEN the oven as long as the grandmother is baking. After 3 hours of baking, turn off the heat and let the grandmother stay in the oven for another hour, after which you can take it out of the oven.
- If you follow all these steps, you will have a grandmother with a beautiful texture, riddled with holes and possessed of a most light texture. Cut the grandmother when it cools down a bit and serve it hot alongside cut-up apples.
