Lithuanian Tree Cake

This weekend I had the distinct pleasure of attending the birthday party of one of my favorite people here in Florida, Richelle Mego.  It was held at the local Lithuanian Club (every town has one, right?) and featured tons of Lithuanian food, cheeses, beers, and, most importantly, a Lithuanian tree cake.

Now, I know what you are saying.  Why would you want to eat a cake made out of a tree?  Well, you do have a point, but you should not judge odd customs from other countrys, Lithuanian or otherwise.  And besides, this cake is not made out of trees (I don’t think…), it just looks like a tree.  And no, it does not look like a tree “Ace of Cakes” style.  It actually looks like a tree because they cook the darn thing on a spit and as it turns they drip the batter onto it, giving it its tree-like form.

I’m sure your next question is, “Where can I get a tree cake?” and the answer is, you can’t.  They are from Lithuania.  We had to have this one imported.  But not from Lithuania, from Racine Bakery in Chicago, which is like Lithuania, but colder.  I suppose your next question is, “What exactly does it look like?”  Well, it looks like this:

“But wait!” you say.  “If it was cooked on a spit, shouldn’t the inside be hollow?!”  And, of course, you are correct.  The inside is totally hollow.  You could dump some baking soda in there, pour in the vinegar, and watch as it becomes a Lithuanian volcano cake if you wanted.  Don’t believe me?  Here is photographic evidence:

Ok, it is a little dark in there, but I swear, it’s hollow!  And now you want to know how it tasted?  Well, I’m not going to give everything away!  If you want to know how it tastes, attend some sort of Lithuanian celebration!  I will say that it was very dense, and full of only things that are very bad for you.

The rest of the party was spent with me dancing wildly and generally crashing about, but that is thematically off topic, as this is a blog about cake.  We’ll get to the dancing tomorrow.