Ukrainian bake

The granddaughters are spending Easter with their other grandparents which I don't mind at all so it was going to be a quiet weekend until H&F decided at the last minute to come down from Manchester. Finding the cupboards rather bare Huw decided to make a kulich, the festive Easter cake of Slav tradition. (It's supposed to be eaten with the pashka cream cheese dessert I usually make but didn't this year.)

The requisite tall cylindrical shape presented a challenge until I remembered the asparagus steamer which, well-lined, worked perfectly. The cake itself resembles an Italian panettone fruit bread and the icing should run down the sides as shown. (Closer view in extras if you're interested.) 

 It's decorated with forgetmenots and primroses, the colours of Ukraine.

 Next weekend will be Easter there  and among the ten milllion or so refugees who have made it out. I will again email Olga who put the family pile online. She's assured me she's OK 'for now' and doesn't need any help. We still wait to hear if any refugees will be hosted in Pembrokeshire. The Welsh government has offered accommodation for 250 women and children at a youth centre in the adjoining county but it's not clear whether anyone has actually arrived there. It's very remote but at least it's in Europe (sort of).