Karpatka Sweet Roll: A Polish Dessert to Try for Special Occasions!

This Karpatka Sweet Roll Recipe is a take on the traditional Polish dessert that includes choux pastry dough filled with a creamy filling. The filling is basically a custard-like mixture of eggs, milk, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla that is so delicious with the rich pastry. Often, karpatka is assembled as a kind of pie or cake, but this version involves assembling it as a roll.

To begin making it, you make a choux pastry dough by boiling water with salt, sugar, and butter. Then, you mix in the flour followed by the eggs one at a time. This mixture is then spread on a baking sheet before being baked in the oven. After that, you make a custard on the stove that gets spread on top of the choux pastry before it is rolled up and coated in icing sugar. Making karpatka in a roll form makes it an elegant dessert that is worthy of serving to all your guests.

What is Karpatka?

Karpatska, otherwise known as Carpathian cream cake, is a Polish dessert of choux pastry and a custard filling. Normally, it involves layering two layers of choux pastry crust with a pastry cream that has a rich vanilla taste. This version is a little different as it involves one choux pastry layer that is spread with the cream before it is rolled up. This way, the cake can be cut into slices and each slice has a spiral effect with the cream.

Pro Tips

• When you are making the choux pastry, continuously stir the flour to ensure it doesn’t scorch on the bottom of the pot.
• Quickly work the eggs into the choux pastry dough so that they don’t curdle.
• For the custard, you should continuously whisk it to make sure the eggs don’t start to set.
• If your custard becomes a little lumpy, you can pour it through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the lumps.
• The cream can be made ahead of time and placed in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the karpatka.

What to Serve with Karpatka?

This karpatka can be served as it is with some coffee or tea. However, it is also common to serve this dessert with sweeter white wine or sparkling wine if you are enjoying it for a special occasion.

Can I Freeze Karpatka?

Unfortunately, the assembled karpatka doesn’t freeze well since it contains a custard filling. However, if you would like to make at least a component ahead of when you would like to serve it, you could freeze just the choux pastry layer by wrapping it tightly.

Can I Use Store-bought Custard in Karpatka?

Yes, for ease of preparation, you could use a store-bought custard mix instead of making one from scratch. The homemade custard is delicious, though, and highly recommended!

Can I Add Other Flavours to the Custard?

Absolutely! The beauty of any homemade custard is that it is a blank canvas. If you would prefer it not to be a pure vanilla custard, you could mix in some lemon or orange zest for a citrus custard or some cocoa powder for a chocolate custard.

How to Store Karpatka

Karpatka is best served within a few hours of being made as it can become soggy as it sits. However, if you would like to store leftovers, you can cover it and place it in the fridge where it should keep relatively well for 2 to 3 days.

How to Make Karpatka Sweet Roll

For the pastry, preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C). Combine the water, salt, sugar, and butter in a pot and bring it to a boil on the stove. Stir in the flour until a stiff dough forms.

Stir the eggs into the dough one at a time. Spread the dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake it for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow it to cool completely.

For the custard, heat 1 ⅔ cups of the milk (set the remaining ⅓ cup aside) in a pot on the stove until it is boiling. Meanwhile, whisk the remaining ⅓ cup of the milk with the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cornstarch until combined. Whisk the egg mixture into the milk on the stove; allow to cook while whisking until it is thickened, about 5 to 7 minutes. Set it aside to cool.

Beat the butter until it is creamy. Beat in the cream 1 tablespoon at a time until combined.

Spread the pastry with the custard. Roll the pastry up.

Dust it with icing sugar and serve it immediately!