Pască

Pască is the traditional Easter dessert of the Moldovans, a cake of enriched yeast dough filled with a rich sweet cheese cream, which is never absent from the celebration table alongside cozonac and the red eggs. With its round shape, symbolising the world, and the cross of dough laid over the filling, pască carries a profound religious charge and is a fixture of the blessing of the food on the night of the Resurrection.

How it is made

Pască is made from a yeast dough similar to that of cozonac, prepared from flour, warm milk, yeast, eggs, sugar and butter, kneaded until it becomes light and elastic. After rising, the dough is shaped into a round form with raised edges, like a small basket, to hold the filling. A cross is also made from the dough and laid on top, the essential element that gives it its identity as a consecrated food.

The classic filling is made from sweet cow's curd cheese, mixed with eggs, sugar, sour cream, raisins and vanilla essence or lemon zest. This is poured into the middle of the dough and baked together with it, until the cheese sets and takes on a golden crust and the dough becomes light and browned. There are also versions with a sweet dough filling, with semolina added to bind it better, or with raisins soaked in rum, depending on the region and the tradition of each family. Some cooks make pască without a cross, but the form with the cross remains the most widespread and the most laden with symbolism.

When it is eaten and its cultural role

Pască is, above all, the food of Easter. It is prepared on Maundy Thursday or Holy Saturday and taken to church to be blessed, alongside cozonac, red eggs, salt and other foods, in the Easter basket. After the Resurrection service, pască is eaten with the family, marking the breaking of the fast and the joy of the feast.

Beyond its sweet, delicate taste, pască has a deep religious meaning. The round shape and the cross on top point to the Christian symbolism of sacrifice and resurrection, and making it is, for many cooks, an act of faith and of respect for tradition, often accompanied by fasting and prayer. Pască thus combines culinary pleasure and devotion in harmony, and is one of the most powerful symbols of Easter in the Moldovan lands.