My colleague Ausrine recently delighted us with a ‘Tinginys’ cake she had made the previous evening. The cake is popular in her home country of Lithuania where its name means ‘Lazy bones’ or ‘slacker’ and is often referred to as ‘Lazy cake’.
Every Lithuanian family has their own unique way of making a tinginys cake and the recipe passes down from generation to generation. Ausrine learnt this recipe from her grandmother and although similar, admits that it is never the same each time she makes it. The cake is incredibly easy to make which I suppose that is why it is called ‘lazy cake’ and you can pretty much include what you like. I would describe this particular tinginys cake as a cross between rocky road and a caramel slice.
Ausrine combined biscuit, condensed milk, butter and chocolate to create this cake. The cocoa wasn’t very noticeable and I wondered why the cake tasted so much like caramel as opposed to chocolate. It reminded me of the caramel slice I had when in Spain. I can only imagine that Ausrine used more milk and butter than cocoa to produce the rich caramel body. The biscuit used were shortbread so it tasted different to that found in rocky road. I much prefer digestive biscuit but the shortbread meant that the cake could be cut and broken into pieces more easily. The shortbread must have absorbed some of the moisture from the caramel as it was slightly soft. It would have been nice to have that extra crunch throughout the cake but I believe this softening was a one off and if made again, it would have tasted different. I love the fact tinginys cake is so versatile and its taste varies so much, depending on the way it was made.
The cake was incredibly sticky and would have hardened with a little more time in the fridge. This cake certainly isn’t for the impatient as it needs to be kept over 7 hours in the fridge after baking. It is for the hungry though, and acted as a perfect substitute for lunch, keeping me satisfied late into the afternoon. Although filling, the cake wasn’t sickly which is surprisingly considering its ingredients. This means you can enjoy as much tinginys cake as you wish without feeling ill. This traditional Lithuanian cake is a quick and easy treat, perfect for a children’s party. You can add nuts or dried fruit and use different types of cocoa depending on your taste. I think it would be interesting to include salted peanuts which have recently become a growing trend in sweet recipes. If you would like to have a go at making a tinginy cake, this short video will show you how.
Living life, loving cake,
H x