A culinary birthday greeting on Latvia’s National Day. RSU staff and students participate in dessert masterclass

On 13 November, in the spirit of the National Day of Latvia, employees and students of Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) participated in a masterclass to learn how to make a traditional rye bread dessert in the canteen of the RSU Main Building.

‘If it's your birthday, you also need a dessert, and Latvians, of course, know how to make it even from rye bread,’ explained Roberta Vītola, Internal Communication Project Manager of Public Relations Department, the event organiser and the author of this creative idea. 

‘Layers of rye breadcrumbs, whipped curd cream and juicy cherry jam create a unique bouquet of flavours and the red-white-red of the Latvian flag.’

Masterclass – a delicious and exciting adventure

The masterclass was led by Valērija Orlova, a master’s degree student in nutrition science, and by the members of nutrition science student interest group. All the ingredients were prepared in advance in the training kitchen of the RSU Medical Education Technology Centre, so all the participants had to do was to arrange them beautifully in jars and decorate them. 

More than 100 participants, most of them women, attended the event. Among the students, it was the foreign students who showed most interest, as they wanted to learn about our culinary traditions of celebrating this holiday. 

Feedback 

• ‘Delighted and surprised by the long-known rye bread dessert. It is particularly delicious and beautifully presented in this way, not like in the canteen of my childhood.’
• ‘I fell in love with the rye bread layer dessert again!’
• ‘I didn't like the rye bread dessert before, but this is excellent!’
• ‘I will definitely organise a masterclass like this for my relatives during the holiday season, so that everyone can create their own desired proportion of ingredients.’
• ‘This dessert is like Latvia – everyone has its own, but we all share it and it's deliciously festive.’

Photo gallery

Recipe

Preparation

1. Slice the bread and bake in the oven at 150°C for 10-15 minutes. Cool, blend into crumbs and mix with the honey.
2. Whip up the sweet cream with sugar and cottage cheese.
3. Arrange in a bowl: cream layer, breadcrumbs, jam. Repeat until the bowl is full.
4. Finally, sprinkle the breadcrumbs, chopped dark chocolate and cranberries over the top.