Shocksap Cake

Shocksap cake is a delicacy favored by the nobility. Made with shocksap needle paste and cooked quickly over extremely high heat, it's a crispy, strongly-flavored, rejuvenating dessert. It's served at a lot of traditional Karkovian festivals. Variants sometimes stack multiple layers of cake with flavored fillings between them (stone fruits such as peaches and apricots are favored for this filling) or crumble them into a custard.

History

The tradition of eating sparksap cakes goes back at least 200 years into Karkovia's history, but it may be older than that. Elves and halflings have been cooking with sparksap needles since before humans knew they were edible. Elves in particular have a sort of breaded 'needle mat" that they eat called a strakleel; in that dish, the needles are not ground or crushed, but lined up in a dense, rectangular bundle on top of a square of dough, drizzled with honey as a binding agent, and then folded into the dough square and baked. It is a very potent, spicy, and tough dessert, requiring strong sinuses and a strong jaw to chew, but it's very energizing and, once the taste is acquired, delicious and unlike anything else. Both the elven and halfling sparksap desserts are also eaten in spring time and to celebrate life and growth, but nobody seems to have the story of how long it's been thus. The halfling sparksap dessert is asort of bread pudding made with bread soaked in a strong sparksap tea. It's a much milder, smoother-flavored dessert. The main body of the dessert is left unsweetened, but it's drizzled liberally with a sparksap-infused syrup before serving. The result is a luxurious, complex flavor experience, much like a lot of halfling cuisine.

Observance

Shocksap cake is traditionally served around festival times, particularly in the winter (where is represents the coming of spring) and during spring festivals (where it represents spring's promise kept). It is also sometimes eaten at the birth celebration of a child or another notable beginning - the stimulant effect of the needles and the sharp, pleasant flavor carries a feeling of vigor which has lead to the dessert being symbolic of life.

Related Ethnicities