Many Ukrainian families get together on Easter Day to go to church or just to enjoy a traditional meal for the Christian holiday.
Taking a central place on the festive table are sweet bread Easter loafs called paskas, which contain pieces of nuts, dried and candied fruit, and which are decorated on top with sugar icing, sprinkles and more nuts and dried fruit.
While many make these cakes themselves, they are widely available at this time of year in stores. The Kyiv Post has picked out five of the best places selling the best paskas, including options for vegans and people with gluten sensitivity.
Reprisa
Reprisa, a chain of high-end café-boutiques in Kyiv, offers a variety of Easter cakes, from a traditional classic cake with candied fruit and raisins to its soft cheese version with candied fruit, dried cherries and orange pieces. The café-boutique also offers a 715-gram lamb-shaped lemon cake and a variety of Easter-themed chocolate eggs, bunnies, and hens, along with honey gingerbread cookies and other candies.
Price: Hr 310-1,430 ($11.5-53)
Reprisa. 40/25 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St., 38 Velyka Zhytomyrska St., 10/5 Sahaidachnoho St. and 26 Velyka Vasylkivska St. +38-067-505-3350; +38-067-131-2223.
www.reprisa.com
Baker Street bakery
Baker Street bakery doesn’t have its own shop, but its products can be found in many Kyiv cafes or can be ordered online. For Easter festivities, the bakery offers three types of Easter cakes, various gingerbread cookies, and baskets filled with cakes, gingerbread cookies, and other candies.
Baker Street’s classic and most popular paska Easter cake contains two varieties of raisins, cranberries, and almonds, and is decorated with sugar icing, dried fruit and nuts.
A raisin-free version is also available, which the bakery recommends eating with unsalted butter.
The bakery’s chocolate Easter cake is a real treat for chocolate lovers, as it includes chocolate and walnut pieces and is decorated with chocolate icing, dried fruit, nuts, orange zest, and more chocolate.
Price: Hr 185-400 ($7-15)
Baker Street’s Easter products can be found (in very limited amounts) at Trattoria No. 5 restaurant at 8 Drahomyrova St. and at Kartata Potata café at 1-3 Pushkinska St. It is best to order directly from the bakery: +380-67-409-7277
www.bakerstreetbakery.com.ua
Wolkonsky
Wolkonsky patisserie and cafe offers a range of handmade Easter cakes, from a traditional one with candied fruit, raisins, dried fruit and orange zest, to a chocolate Italian-style panettone with praline, chocolate drops, and orange zest. A new addition this year is the Pandoro cake, a sweeter option than the traditional Easter cake, which also originally comes from Italy, and which is made with walnuts, cashew nuts, figs, cranberries, cherries and other fruit.
Two less common choices are a cheese Easter cake with almonds and dried and candied fruit, and a marzipan sponge cake in the shape of a lamb. There is also the option of ordering a customized Easter cake or buying other Easter-themed products like gingerbread cookies.
Price: Hr 95-595 ($3.5-22)
Wolkonsky. 15 Khreshchatyk St. +380-44-393-7833, 22 Verkhniy Val St. +380-44-200-0324 and more (for a full list of addresses visit www.wolkonsky.com)
Boulangerie Artisan
An employee displays an Easter cake at Boulangerie Artisan on April 11. (Volodymyr Petrov)
Boulangerie Artisan makes three types of Easter cakes. The first is a traditional one made with raisins and candied fruit and decorated with sugar crystals. A special edition Easter cake, which comes in a gift box, contains a generous amount of raisins and candied fruit and is decorated with large chunks of nuts, strawberries, and other fruit. The Boulangerie Artisan staff says the cake is “very filling.”
Since there is now a lot of demand for gluten-free products, Boulangerie Artisan introduced a gluten-free Easter cake this year. It is made of rice flour, with added candied fruit and sugar, and is decorated with even more candied fruit.
Price: Hr 60-299 ($2-11)
Boulangerie Artisan. 21/20 Yaroslaviv Val St. +380-44-234-0447, 41 Sahaidachnoho St. +380-44-462-5321. www.artisan-boulangerie.ua
Bombom
For those looking for a less traditional but completely vegan-friendly Easter cakes, Bombom vegan bakery is the place to go to. They have very colorful sourdough and soymilk cakes with two raisin varieties, candied lemon and orange pieces, blood orange zest, dried apricots and spices.
Price: Hr 80-120 ($3-4.5)
Order online at www.bombombakery.com or by phone +380-73-052-31-37
