Babă neagră – dark Moldovan cake

Ingredients

• 10 eggs
• 300 g sugar
• 300 g plain flour
• 8 g bicarbonate of soda
• 5 dl whole milk
• 3 dl kefir
• 2 dl neutral oil
• 2.5 cl vodka, optional
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar
• butter and flour for the pot

Method

1. 1Heat oven to 190°C. Butter and flour a heavy ovenproof pot of at least 4 litres with a lid; batter should fill no more than halfway.
2. 2Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until pale for 5 minutes. Mix flour with accurately weighed bicarbonate.
3. 3Stir oil, milk, kefir and optional vodka into eggs. Whisk in flour mixture to make a smooth fairly thin batter.
4. 4Pour into pot, cover tightly and bake for 2 hours. Reduce to 110°C and bake for another 2 hours. Avoid opening the lid during baking.
5. 5Check centre is set with no liquid batter; bake 20–30 minutes longer if needed. Cool in the pot, loosen carefully and cut into squares.