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Is it possible to bake cakes for the Annunciation. When and how to bake Easter cakes (Paski)



The Annunciation is an important religious holiday. Many believers are interested in whether it is possible to bake cakes on this religious holiday. In addition, sometimes the Annunciation precedes or coincides with Easter.

Is it allowed to bake cakes for the Annunciation

The question of when it is possible and necessary to bake cakes is one of the most important for believers. However, the clarification of whether it is allowed to bake cakes for the Annunciation is considered one of the most significant just before Easter.

Note! As you know, on Great Saturday, which precedes Easter, the consecration of Easter and Easter cakes is already taking place. For this reason, if the Annunciation falls on the day before Easter and on Saturday, it is undesirable to bake cakes. The best solution would be the consecration of Easter baked goods and a visit to the temple, since you need to observe traditions and take care of your state of mind.




On Great Saturday, on which the Blagovest falls, you need to go to the temple for a festive church service. Only after visiting the temple is measured and light work at home allowed, since the Lord did not forbid doing work. Thus, you can bake a couple of Easter cakes, if due to serious circumstances it was not possible to do this earlier.

Baking cakes for the Annunciation even before Easter should be an exception, not a tradition.

When is the best time to bake Easter cakes

Every believer decides on his own when it is best to bake cakes. Many priests advise preparing Easter cakes on Saturday. The ancestors prepared the dough in the early morning, realizing that it would take up to 10 hours to infuse the dough. In addition, today many women work and cannot allocate time on weekdays to prepare Easter cakes.




In some cases, Great (Passionate) Saturday and Annunciation coincide. On this day, it is advisable to give up hard work in the house and from culinary preparations. Thus, it is advisable to plan a complex and lengthy preparation of cakes for Clean Thursday, because this day is associated with homework and cleaning, preparations for the upcoming Easter.

Fact! Quick cakes and Easter cottage cheese can be prepared on Saturday evenings. The priests note: Easter baked goods prepared by the hostess during the Blagovest gain healing properties.




It is undesirable to cook Easter cakes a week before Easter. In situations where it is impossible to start cooking Easter cakes on Friday - Saturday, it is advisable to plan preparation for Easter lunch on Maundy Thursday.

On the eve of such an important and brightest, kind religious holiday like Easter, careful preparation is going on in all homes. Even those who are far from religion and church canons still observe some of the traditions of this day. It is prepared for Easter in advance, and it is not only about spiritual preparation, but also about preparing dishes for the holiday. Easter cakes are the main treat for Easter, and those who bake them on their own should definitely know when to bake Easter cakes in 2017.

Choosing the right time to cook Easter cakes

As a rule, the main preparation for Easter, which concerns household chores, is carried out in the last week before the holiday called Holy Week. In 2017, the dates for this week are from April 10 to April 16. Each day of the final period of Lent is called Great, and each day has its own traditions. So, on some days of Holy Week it is possible and necessary to prepare cakes for the Great Easter.

By tradition, the main work on the preparation of Easter cakes fell on Maundy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday. On Wednesday, as a rule, they bought food, completed renovations, but the Great Four is much more suitable for culinary affairs. On Maundy Thursday, you can start baking a traditional Easter treat only after completing other business. Namely, first you should wash yourself with soap, clean the whole house, and only then settle in the kitchen. If you follow church canons, then you can not start baking calls while the house is dirty. That is why, on Wednesday, it is better to clean up, on Thursday to complete the spring cleaning completely and with a clear conscience, bake cakes.

It was believed that if you bake a cake on Maundy Thursday, it will not deteriorate until Easter, it will remain fresh and soft. It was on Maundy Thursday that the most delicious and most magnificent Easter cakes were obtained, since during their preparation the hostesses read prayers. In general, if we consider the traditions of this particular Great day, when it is possible to bake cakes, then each case should have been approached only with the most joyful and kind thoughts.

But, given the fact that Pure Fours have so much trouble, many housewives simply did not have time to reach the kitchen and even knead the dough, let alone bake a cake. When else can you bake Easter cakes? Great Saturday is also suitable for this business, on this day you can paint eggs. The main thing is not to miss this last chance to prepare traditional Easter dishes on your own.

Is it possible to bake Easter cakes on Good Friday

Good Friday is the most tragic day not only during Holy Week, but throughout the entire Church year. Many prohibitions are imposed on this day, things that cannot be done. And what about baking Easter cakes?

The fact is that on Good Friday you cannot eat until you take out the Shroud in the temples, after that you can only eat water and bread, raw vegetables, dried fruits, nuts are allowed as an indulgence. Baking Easter cakes can provoke an appetite, which is a temptation in itself. But that's not the point. Cutting is also prohibited on Good Friday, so it is difficult to imagine the cooking process. On Good Friday, Easter cakes are not baked, for this there are Pure Fours and Great Saturday.

However, it is worth noting that it was previously believed that the bread baked on Good Friday can heal all ailments and become the strongest amulet, it does not grow moldy and does not stale. The sailors even took such bread on the voyage so that the ship would not be wrecked. Therefore, you can bake bread on Good Friday, but Easter cake is still an attribute of the holiday, and on Good Friday you can neither have fun nor have fun. Remember, this day is the day of sorrow and the crucifixion of our Savior, therefore it must be spent thinking about these events and about your life.

Of course, Easter cakes can now be bought in any supermarket, but they turn out to be much tastier if they are made with love and warmth at home. It is not for nothing that housewives, when making Easter cakes on Maundy Thursday, pray over them. Such cakes are endowed with tremendous mental strength, and therefore it is better to really bake them at home, if time permits, and not to buy store products.

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There are no strict rules regarding the preparation of any Easter meal on Good Friday. And also there are no church prescriptions.

Beliefs about prohibitions came from the fact that it was customary to complete all household and culinary affairs on Maundy Thursday, when that day they washed in the baths, cleaned the garden, barnyard and put things in order in the house.

And kitchen chores can be done on Saturday. Remember that the holiday itself is important, not its attributes. Household chores should not distract from church attendance and prayer.

  • Arguments for"
  • Arguments against"

The essence of the holiday Good Friday




On this day, the Temple commemorates the Suffering of Christ and His death on the cross. And we must not forget about the Passion of Christ and when he sacrificed himself. In the evening, on Thursday, the 12 Passionate Gospels are read, which tells about His Suffering. Once in the Garden of Gethsemane, down to bloody sweat, He read them Himself. And also, when he was led by the guards and at the very crucifixion. After reading each prayer, a bell is usually struck.

Also, on this day, the Tsar's Clock is read. And at 3 o'clock the priests take out the shroud and put it in the center of the temple - this is considered a symbol of the fact that Christ was in the tomb for 3 days and for the same time it is left in the middle of the temple. Time is a reminder of when the death of Christ came.

Arguments for and against cooking Easter cakes



Arguments for"

On Holy Saturday or Bright Sunday, many may simply not have time to prepare festive dishes.

Culinary activities are late on Easter. Still, I want to start celebrating it in the morning, gathering the whole family at the table.

It is more pleasant to eat fresh baked goods, if the cakes stand from Maundy Thursday, they can wind up. Although, in this case, there are many tricks that will save baked goods.

Arguments against"

Everyone has a personal relationship with Christ, so turn to your state of mind more often in this matter.




- Lent ends on Saturday, and on Friday, the pleasant aromas of freshly baked cakes may tempt you to break it.

On such a day, it is better to pay attention to heavenly, and not earthly whims.


Thus, we can conclude that it is possible to deal with Easter paraphernalia on this day. The main thing is to understand that this is secondary. Primary - sincere empathy for the suffering of our Savior, prayer, church attendance. And all the baked goods can always be bought in stores.

Easter is one of the brightest and most joyful Christian holidays, which managed to "survive" in atheistic times, was celebrated even under the Union and is recognized even by people far from church and religion. The custom of dyeing eggs is quite distinctive - and people show a variety of talents in this regard. The laziest at least boil them in onion skins. But, if you do not take into account the purely church rules, customs and traditions, the main thing in Easter is Easter cakes (they are Paski or, as many incorrectly say, Easter).

When and how to do it

If you want to get delicious pastries, and not its pathetic store-bought likeness, find out how Easter is baked by those who have been doing this for many years and, therefore, know all the secrets. By the way, the most important of them is not the composition of the dough, not the temperature in the oven, and not the mysterious mysteries of cooking. The main thing is the right attitude. You should have light in your soul, and let your thoughts remain only light. In some ways, putting the kitchen in order will help a lot - traditionally it is cleaned before the preparation of cakes, so that the very spirit of Easter baking is not overshadowed by both physical dirt and the spiritual remnants of past conflicts. The same applies to dishes - they must be clean, dry and large enough. It is equally important and correct to choose the moment when you can bake Easter. The best time is the evening from Thursday to Friday before Christ's Sunday.

Naturally, the food must be prepared in advance, and it must be of very high quality. You will need milk, eggs, sugar, yeast (and not dry at all), flour, butter and fillers - at least raisins, no cake can do without it. Just look at how different people bake Easter! Of course, each craftswoman has her own recipe, but the hostesses agree on one thing: the "filling" must be present in the pasque. And what they just don't add to it: nuts, and various dried fruits, and candied fruits, and there's no need to talk about vanilla! In general, Easter cakes are a delicate matter, and from the whole variety of recipes you need to find the one that suits you.

Preparation of ingredients

All people, before baking Easter, be sure to get all the ingredients out of the refrigerator. Flour must be sifted, and it is better to do this twice. Milk must be heated - but to human body temperature, not to a boil! Swollen yeast is diluted in it, half of the flour and sugar are added. The resulting composition must be stirred vigorously, but without fanaticism. The dish is covered with a clean towel and put away in the warmth (and without any drafts!). The butter is heated, but it is used warm in the dough, so you will need to give it time to cool down. Some housewives put the dough in a bowl of hot water, but this is unwise: it will heat up more from the bottom and sides than from the top, as a result, the dough will turn out to be heterogeneous, and lumps may form.

Baking Easter: secrets

Before kneading the dough, the eggs must be warmed to room temperature. But then the subtleties begin! Skilled chefs wash and carefully separate the whites and yolks before baking. They should not mix in any way. The proteins are poured into an absolutely fat-free container - if, of course, you want to beat them later with high quality. To guarantee, you can add a few grains of salt or the same amount of drops of lemon juice to them. The dish with proteins is placed in the cold - then they churn into a dense foam. At this time, the yolks are ground with sugar.

"Raisin" subtleties: most housewives simply steam it. And this can spoil the cake! And how do people bake Easter, at which all the neighbors then pray? Raisins are well washed, soaked for five minutes in warm, not hot, water, but better in a strong aromatic drink (rum, liqueur, cognac). Then the berries are dried with a towel and mixed with flour so that they are evenly distributed over the body of the cake.

If we bake paska with nuts, then they also need to be washed, soaked in hot water for a quarter of an hour, crushed, and then either dried or fried, and only then added to the dough.

The most responsible part

When the dough comes up, it will double in volume, then begin to slowly settle. This is a sign that it's time to start baking. Prepared additives are introduced into the dough, the hands are greased with vegetable oil (so the baking will not stick to them), and the mass is thoroughly kneaded. Prepare It is most convenient to line them with greased butter. Fill the containers by one third or half - the amount of dough is determined by the density of the mass. The top - to preserve the shape of the cake - it is better to grease with whipped yolk. And then it remains to watch. It is better to put a container of water in the bottom of the oven, so the heat will turn out to be softer. If the top of the head is already rosy, and the "body" is not baked, the top can be covered with foil or parchment. And if you are going to bake Easter at home, know: the most difficult thing is to remove them correctly! Beyond being careful, it takes patience. It is necessary to put the Easter cakes on their side, without pulling them out of the mold, and sometimes roll them so that they cool down evenly and do not lose their shape. And only after that, the products are removed from the containers and decorated in various ways.

The most beautiful is the "hat"

This is what is eaten first, especially in a home with children. For this yummy you will need to make a syrup. Sugar will go to it about 3 times more than water. Do not forget to skim off the foam - sugar is not very high quality these days. The syrup is ready when, when a drop enters cold water, it curls up into a ball. When the mass has cooled down to 40 degrees, it must be whipped until foamy and greased with the resulting icing on your cake. Happy Easter!

Easter is the most important, the most joyful and solemn of all Christian holidays. Passover is a Hebrew word that means passage and deliverance. Easter for Christians is the passage from death to eternal life. Therefore, this holiday is celebrated most solemnly.

Many people associate it with spring, joyful ringing of bells, exclamations of "Christ is risen", painted eggs and the scent of Easter cakes. But the question is - when do you need to bake cakes and paint eggs? In this article, we will answer it.

Holy Week

There are many things to do in the last week before Easter. We must prepare for this important day both spiritually and materially. How do you manage to do everything?

Maundy Thursday is probably the busiest day of Holy Week. This is the day when the Last Supper took place, at which the sacrament of the sacrament was established by Christ himself. Traditionally, on this day they clean their homes, wash, clean, wash themselves, therefore it is called “Clean Thursday”. And the eggs are best painted on Thursday.

Also, usually on Thursday, the dough for cakes is kneaded, but it is not forbidden to bake cakes on another day, when it is convenient.

It is undesirable to only do household chores on Friday, at least until three o'clock in the afternoon, the time of the crucifixion of Christ. This is the saddest day of the year. It is better to go to church on this day, read the gospel, mentally walk with Christ on his sorrowful path.

On Saturday, after the liturgy, Easter cakes, eggs and beads are consecrated in churches.

When Easter cakes are baked and eggs painted in 2018

Bright Resurrection is a mobile holiday. It is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. In 2018, this day will be April 8th. And here it is necessary to note the peculiarity of this year - directly the Easter holiday will be preceded by another Christian holiday of the Annunciation, which is always celebrated on April 7th.

On this day, an angel announced to the Virgin Mary about her immaculate conception of a divine baby. And she accepted God's will with humility. On this holiday, as they used to say in the old days, the bird does not build a nest, the maiden does not weave braids.

Therefore, it is highly undesirable to leave any work for this day. We must try to do everything in advance so that everything is ready by Saturday. You can, for example, knead the dough in the evening on Wednesday, and bake Easter cakes on Thursday.

Cooking Easter cakes

Now you can talk about how Easter cakes are baked. Traditionally, Easter cakes are usually baked from yeast dough. The whole process takes a lot of time. You need to put the dough, then when it increases by 2-3 times, knead the dough and carefully, within an hour, beat it.

Then it is either left for another hour for 2-3 hours, or spices, nuts, raisins are already added and the molds are filled with butter by 1/3, after which the dough should rise again, and only then bake.

Finished cakes are decorated with icing on top or sprinkled with powdered sugar, crushed nuts and candied fruits.

You can also bake a cake from yeast-free dough. Then, in order for the dough to rise well, special attention should be paid to beating the eggs.

Tips for baking Easter cakes:

  • flour should be taken softly, it is advisable to sprinkle it in a thin layer and dry for 2 days, then sift;
  • Beat yolks and whites separately;
  • the yeast must be fresh;
  • during the entire cooking process there should be no drafts, the room must be ventilated in advance;
  • stock up on butter, since a lot of it is spent on greasing forms.

How to decorate eggs

The traditional way to color eggs is in onion skins. Depending on the amount of husk and the time of dyeing, you can get different shades of beige and brown. If you take the husk of red onion, you can get a beautiful red color.

By the way, the eggs were originally painted red. Different colors can also be obtained using natural ingredients - juices and decoctions of various vegetables and berries: beets, red cabbage, carrots, red grapes, cranberries, blueberries, turmeric. You can use ready-made commercially available dyes, but the staining time in this case should be short so that the paint does not have time to penetrate inside under the shell.

Very interesting and unpredictable patterns are obtained when dyeing eggs in rags. To do this, use shreds or threads that shed heavily (silk, wool), wrap the egg with them, then wrap them with gauze or nylon stocking, fix and boil the eggs for 15-20 minutes.

Egg coloring tips:

  • before cooking, hold the eggs for 15 minutes in warm water;
  • when cooking, do not dip the eggs in boiling water, it is better in warm water so that the eggs do not burst from the temperature drop;
  • before staining, wipe the eggs with an alcohol or vinegar solution;
  • after staining, rub the eggs with vegetable oil for shine.

In general, there are many ways to decorate Easter eggs. You can paint them, you can simply wrap them in beautiful wrapping paper, or use stickers and thermal stickers with various designs from chickens to popular prints. But adornments with the faces of saints should be avoided.

Where does the tradition come from?

Why is it necessary to paint eggs and bake cakes for Easter? The custom of painting eggs dates back to the 1st century. According to legend, Mary Magdalene came to the Emperor Tiberius to tell about the miraculous resurrection of Christ and brought a simple chicken egg as a gift from poverty. The emperor, however, did not believe her and said that a dead person cannot be resurrected, just as a white egg cannot turn red. And at the same moment, the egg in Maria's hands turned red.

This is where the tradition came from - to paint eggs for Easter and give each other. Initially, eggs were painted only in red, but then they began to use different colors and shades. Later, gift Easter eggs made of wood, silver, porcelain and real jewelry appeared, for example, the well-known works of Faberge.

What does Easter cake symbolize? This is the main Easter dish. It is with him that you need to start the festive Easter meal, break the fast. Lush and lightweight, it is the perfect product for the transition from long fasting to fast food.

In form and meaning, it can be called the younger brother of artos, a special church bread, which is consecrated on the day of Bright Resurrection. This custom came from the apostles, who left bread for Christ in the main place at a meal, thereby symbolizing his presence at the table. And the cake also reminds all believers of the Savior's blessing of bread after his resurrection: “... taking bread, he blessed it, broke it and gave it to them” (Gospel of Luke).