Bublanina – Czech and Slovakian Bubble Cake
Bublanina is a traditional Czech and Sslovakian cake, “Bublanina” comes from the Czech and Slovakian word for bubble, probably because the batter bubbles up around the fruit. For me it was the name that first caught my eye while searching for a Czech recipe for my “Baking Around the World” challenge. And once I saw what went in it, seasonal fruits in a souffle like batter. I just HAD to make it. And it was delicious.
Bublanina for all seasons
This cake can be made all year round using seasonal fruits, most common fruits are plums, cherries, strawberries, nectarines, apricots and blueberries. The cake reminds me of a French Clafoutis and Polish Plum Cake.
Making the Bublanina
A lot of the recipes I saw required whipping up egg white for extra air, but I decided to go for the one bowl method. Which basically means you add all your ingredients except the fruit into a bowl, whisk it up, top with fruit and put it in the oven. As easy as pie or in this case, cake 🙂
I’ll still go through it all step-by-step
You’ll need, fruit, flour, sugar, eggs, milk, oil, lemon zest, vanilla sugar and baking powder.
In a bowl, add sugar,
Flour,
And baking powder..
Give it a light whisk.
Add eggs.
Oil.
A pinch of salt.
Lemon zest.
Vanilla sugar (I’m using my homemade vanilla sugar)
And milk.
Give it a good whisk till it’s all combined and a smooth batter.
Pour it into your baking tray.
Top it with fruit and put it into the oven.
You’ll end up with a delicious, light, moist cake.
All that’s left to do is grab a slice, take a bite and feel the soft cake just melt in your mouth. delish!
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s start baking!
SAVE PIN: http://bit.ly/2kkCjow
This recipe adapted from and inspired by About Food.
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 45 minutes |
| Servings |
pieces |
- 1 cup caster sugar 250 g (fine sugar)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 300 g (sifted)
- 1 tbsp baking powder 16 g
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil 100 ml
- pinch of salt
- 1 lemon zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar 14 g
- 1 cup milk 300 ml
- 2 cups fruit 500 g (fruit of choice e.g. blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc.)
Ingredients
| |
- Preheat the oven at 175 °C / 350 °F and grease and flour a 10 inch / 24 cm cake pan.
- Add the sugar, flour and baking powder into a bowl and whisk lightly.
- Add in the eggs, oil, salt, lemon zest, vanilla sugar and milk and mix until combined a you have a smooth batter.
- Pour the batter into a cake pan and top with the fruit, spreading on the batter evenly, covering the entire cake pan.
- Put it into the oven for approximately 45 minutes. When a skewer comes out clean the cake is done.
Please note that the cup measurements in this recipe are approximate. I have added cups for those that prefer using cups. The recipe is most accurate using weights measurements.
Hi
Thanks for including our national treasure, bublanina, in your collection.
Just to say, there is no such thing as Czechoslovakia any more, the country split in 1993, sadly, but it irks me, when it’s not acknowledged. Oh and it’s not just a Czech cake, it’s also Slovakian, the word Buba Anina is in both languages, Czech and Slovak, and it means the same in both – bubbles.
Thanks again
Ups… auto correct… *bublanina not Buba Anina…
You’re right. I grew up learning Czechoslovakia and remember the split and relearning it. When writing the recipe I found old recipes from the Czechoslovakian era which and the ‘old’ name, slipped in. I’ve changed the texts accordingly. Thanks for reminding me so I could change it accordingly. I love the cake!
Have it baking in the oven. I have other recipes for this cake but wanted to try one where everything is thrown into one bowl minus the fruit of course.
Plus recipes are best when the ingredients are ones you always have at home.
As kids we nicknamed this spit cake because the cherries still had the pits and you had to be careful not to swallow the pits and spit them on your plate
Such a fun story, thanks for sharing!
I hope you enjoyed the cake 🙂
Excellent ! I love baking with vanilla sugar and this cake was out of this world ! I used sour pitted cherries ?
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the cake! I haven’t tried it with cherries yet, but sounds like a winner to me!
What size cake pan would you use”?
Hi Carl, I used 10 inch / 25 cm cake pan for this recipe.
Something went wrong I used my cast iron pan that works well for all cakes…this cake is not light a fluffy it is dense and like pudding not nice at all. I followed the recipe exactly….sorry we can’t even eat it. I cooked it longer thinking it was under cooked but it didn’t help.
Any suggestions what went wrong?
I’m sorry to hear the cake didn’t work out for you. It’s hard to say what went wrong without seeing exactly what things looked like. Since the cake turned out more dense there are a few things that could be the cause and what you can do.
– Overmixing the batter can cause a cake to become dense. Make sure the batter is mixed just enough to combine everything into a smooth batter.
– Perhaps the batter contained too much liquid, you can try and add more flour next time. (Cause could be extra juice from the fruit used)
– You could try adding more baking powder next time, to help it rise a little more (I would start with adding half the amount extra of what you’re already putting in)
– Oven temperature can differ a lot so I always use oven temperatures as a guide myself and check my oven while baking. If a cake bakes too slowly it can become dense as well.
– Try a different cake pan. I haven’t made this cake in a cast iron pan before so I don’t know what effect that could have on the cake.
These are some suggestions you could try next time.
Look delicious. Thank you for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome 🙂
Great cake, I used palm sugar, just under 1 cup very loosely packed, no vanilla sugar, just extract and 1 liquid cup (dry cup equals 250ml) of buttermilk and frozen strawberries, turned out moist and fluffy with a tiny hint of sour from the buttermilk. Keeper for sure
Hi Klara,
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe. It is so versatile you can change it up into anything you like. Your version sounds delicious!