Russian Easter, Kulich and Samovar

5th of May we celebrated Easter in Russia. 

I had few ideas of Easter table decoration and stopped at traditional one, with no extraordinary carving :) 
I baked Kulich, a russian easter cake (to my surprise I succeeded,  it was very tasty, believe me!). To add "more traditions" to the party I unpacked my grandma's samovar. 

When I was a child, every summer I had been sent to my grandmother for summer holidays. Some things I loved about her house were her cute dog and a samovar (we had no pets and no samovar in our city appartment). 

We still keep that samovar stored in a board, almost forgotten. So I found it, cleaned and set on the table.

Easter baking (Kulich) and samovar

Recipe of Kulich was taken from "Recipes of Russian Cuisine" blog by Angelica, a Russian lady blogging from Italy. I've never myself baked Kulich before. This recipe is perfect, I made it easily. The recipe ingredients were enough for 3 cakes. 

We left one cake at home, the others were for gifts.

traditional shape of Kulich

Kulich baked in Lekue Pumpkin silicone mold

Russian Kulich baked in Lekue Imperial Monarch silicone mold,
garnished with carved apple

Russian Easter treats and games are Kulich and eggs exchange, eggs fights, making silly faces in the samovar (not sure it's a tradition :)) we did it when were children).

drinking tea with the samovar